President Theodore Roosevelt: Foreign Policy Statesman or Bully?
Related Academic Subjects: US History, Civics and Government, US Foreign Policy, Latin America
and the Caribbean studies
Grade Level: (7-12)
Time Required:
• Three days to implement the Opening Activity, PowerPoint, and Activity One: Developing
Supporting Questions (class criteria for assessing the foreign policy of a president).*
• One additional week of homework and/or classroom time to implement the Newsroom Debate.
*For a shorter version of this lesson: Implement only the Opening Activity, PowerPoint, and Activity
One, after which you can assign different students to view different film clips and assess Theodore
Roosevelt’s presidency.
Lesson Overview:
In this lesson, the clock is turned back to January 6, 1919, the day that former president Theodore
Roosevelt died. Upon announcing Roosevelt’s death, a newspaper wants to formulate an even-handed
assessment of TR’s foreign policy legacy for its readers and, in the process, answer the Compelling
Question (CQ) of the lesson: “To what extent did Theodore Roosevelt’s record on foreign policy mar or
enhance his record as US president?” An Editorial Team of four students sets up the “newsroom,” and
listens to two sides of every issue in a debate presented by the “foreign policy experts.”
Before setting up the Newsroom Debate, class members analyze the powers of the president to conduct
foreign policy according to the US Constitution, after which they formulate three criteria by which a
president’s performance in foreign policy should be assessed.
Lesson Objectives:
Students will:
• Analyze the US Constitution as it pertains to the powers of the president to formulate and
implement foreign policy.
• Establish criteria by which to judge the performance of a president’s record in foreign affairs and
apply those criteria.
• Debate Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy using primary and secondary sources according to the
criteria they establish.
• Analyze multiple perspectives of the following topics in US foreign relations: the SpanishAmerican War (1898), the Rough Riders (1898), the US in the Philippines (1899), Panama
Canal, Roosevelt Corollary (1904), Treaty of Portsmouth (1905), and United States entry into
World War I (1914).
pbs.org/the-roosevelts
Materials Needed:
• Video clips for the lesson can be found online (http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/theroosevelts/classroom/lesson-plans/#statesman). If the teacher uses The Roosevelts in DVD
format, intro and exit time codes, listed throughout this lesson, are close estimates.
• PowerPoint presentation “Theodore Roosevelt: His Foreign Policy Legacy in the Balance”
(http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/classroom/lesson-plans/#statesman)
• Assigned reading for the entire class: “TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt, Foreign Affairs,”
PBS American Experience, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/generalarticle/tr-foreign/
• Handout 1: “Who Is the Man Who Became President X?”
• Handout 2: “Developing Criteria by which to Judge a President’s Record in Foreign Affairs”
• Handout 3: “Role Assignments”
• Handout 4: “Viewing Questions”
• Handout 5: “Primary Source Documents”
• Handout 6: “Contemporaries and Historians Weigh In”
• Handout 7: “Form for Evaluating the Debate”
• Handout 8: “Rubrics”
Lesson Procedure
Timing Options:
• Opening Activity and PowerPoint, Show & Discuss: one class period
• Activity 2: Developing Supporting Questions: one class period
• Activity 3: Assigning Roles: 15 minutes
• Homework time: Approximately four to five days of outside work to prepare for the debate and
set up the Newsroom; meanwhile, continue to teach about other related matters as per your
curriculum.
• Activity 4: Debate: 1 hour 15 minutes
Opening Activity: Who Is the Man Who Became President X?
1. Distribute Handout 1, “Who Is the Man Who Became President X?” to pairs or small teams of
students. Review the directions with students.
2. Reconvene the class and review the questions to determine possible solutions as to the identity of
President X.
•
With input from the class, write a working definition of “imperialism” on the board.
•
Which US wars fit the definition of “imperialistic”? (Answers may vary.)
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Who is President X, and why do students think so?
3. After students have made their predictions, tell them that X is Theodore Roosevelt, US president
from 1901 to 1909. Before becoming president, TR fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War
(April-August 1898), and as president made decisions about US foreign policy.
4. The conundrum: Is it conceivable that despite the negative sentiments in the quotations,
Theodore Roosevelt could hold a place of high esteem as US president? Entertain different
scenarios from the class. For example, he might have lived at a time when the United States was
under threat; he might have held militaristic views but not chosen or been able to convince the
electorate that they were right; his views may have moderated over time.
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5. Ask students to share what they already know or think they know about Theodore Roosevelt.
6. Share the following Fascinating Facts about TR:
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TR was the first sitting president to travel outside of the United States. (He traveled to
Panama.)
He was the first of three US presidents to win a Nobel Peace Prize while in office. (The
others were presidents Wilson and Obama.)
All four of TR’s sons fought in World War I, and his beloved youngest son, Quentin, was
killed in an aerial dogfight over France.
Activity 2: PowerPoint Presentation, Show & Discuss
(PowerPoint presentation “Theodore Roosevelt: His Foreign Policy Legacy in the Balance”
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/classroom/lesson-plans/#statesman)
1. Introduce the Compelling Question of the lesson:
• To what extent did Theodore Roosevelt’s record on foreign policy mar or enhance his
record as US president?
2. Explain to the class that they are turning the clock back to January 6, 1919. Newspapers have
just announced the death of the former president, Theodore Roosevelt. Their task is to evaluate
his legacy in foreign affairs to determine what the newspaper will say about his record the
following day.
Show & Discuss Slide 2: New York Times Headlines 1919
•
•
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What US or foreign wars frame TR’s life? (He lived through the Civil War and died just after
World War I.) Did he fight in any wars? (Tell the class that he fought in the Spanish-American
War (1898)). He was president at the dawn of the 20th century. In foreign affairs this was a
turning point for the US coming-of-age on the world stage.
The New York Times considers TR’s death a major world event and reports that our flag is at
half-mast on seas and on land throughout the world.
Try to help students contrast the US role in the world from 1858 to 1919. Explain to students that
this lesson will help them understand to what extent TR’s presidency contributed to the rise of
US power worldwide.
Show & Discuss Slide 3: Newspaper Headlines 1919
•
How important is foreign policy when evaluating a president’s legacy?
•
For what foreign policies, ventures, and outcomes do we remember presidents of the past 50
years? (Ask students what stands out in their minds about former presidents. For example,
Johnson’s failures in Vietnam overshadowed his domestic successes with his Great Society,
while Nixon’s visit to China—a landmark of the Cold War years—is overshadowed by
Watergate.)
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Show & Discuss Slide 4: Cartoon “Two Views of the President”
Explain that there was plenty of controversy about Theodore Roosevelt during and after his presidency,
best summarized by this cartoon.
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•
•
•
•
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Ask the class to analyze the cartoon in pairs or as a whole class. You may wish to distribute the
“Cartoon Analysis Worksheet” from the National Archives at
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/cartoon_analysis_worksheet.pdf.
What remains similar in both images?
Compare his clothing in the two images, the accoutrements at his desk; why is there “red ink”
and a trash basket in the left image, and an orderly set of papers on the right?
Why the animal skin on the wall? The image of Mars?
Count the images of weapons on the left. What takes their place in the office on the right? Can
we deduce which side of the question the cartoonist favored and why?
How does the left side of the cartoon compare with the historians’ assessments of TR in Slide 2?
What types of papers is he signing and how many of them are there?
Show & Discuss Slide 5: World Map 1898
Explain that at the next class period, students will begin debating TR’s foreign policy legacy as if they
were living in 1919, just after the end of World War I, when he died. In order to see the world as it was
then, they need to analyze these maps.
•
Imagine you were living in the world of 1898. By now telegraphs connect the United States and
Europe, and steamships cross the Atlantic in about a week’s time.
•
Would you feel threatened by Europe’s growing dominance and colonization of Africa? Look at
the expansion of Britain and France and name areas in which each one has established colonies.
Ask students about Spain: They should note that South America is no longer composed of
colonies of either Spain or Brazil. Also review with them that Spain once owned Florida, and as
well as all of the territory we acquired from Mexico in 1848. What territories does Spain still
dominate? (Cuba, the Philippine islands, among other islands.) Do these possessions pose a
threat to the United States, why or why not?
•
In 1919, would you feel that the United States was threatened by any European power? Were the
two oceans enough protect it? On what basis should the United States intervene or not in a
dispute between the residents of a European colony and the European country that owned it?
Show & Discuss Slide 6: The Impetus for Empire 1866 to 1900 and Slide 7: Opposition to
American Imperialism
•
Explain that Americans held different views about US imperialist goals and that those goals were
shaped in part by the media of the time (especially Yellow Journalism) and that like today, views
changed and evolved.
•
How did anti-imperialists make their stance more patriotic by using quotations from Patrick
Henry and Abraham Lincoln?
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•
Ask the class for some examples of different views held on foreign policy issues today. Where
are the “hot spots” on the map? Do we have options to intervene militarily? Place sanctions on a
nation threatening US interests? Are the best solutions obvious to everyone as events unfold?
Activity 3: Developing Supporting Questions Needed to Debate TR’s Record on
Foreign Policy
•
Distribute Handout 2, “Developing Criteria by which to Judge a President’s Record in Foreign
Affairs.”
•
Students can complete Handout 2 as homework, and then share with the whole class and reach a
consensus as a class.
•
Alternatively, provide 20-30 minutes of class time and distribute Handout 2 to pairs of students.
(By assigning this as a think-pair-share activity, each student will have a greater opportunity to
share his/her opinions in a small group.) The class then reconvenes and reaches a consensus
based on teamwork done in class.
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Review results on Part 1: According to the Constitution Article II, Sections 2 and 3, the president
is commander in chief of armed forces; may submit treaties to the Senate for ratification (by a
two-thirds majority); may appoint ambassadors and cabinet ministers such as the secretary of
state, etc., subject to the approval of the Senate; and may receive foreign ambassadors. (Note that
Article I, Section 8, gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war.)
•
Have student groups complete Part 2, The Balance Scales. Remind them they must reach a
consensus on the balance scales.
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For Part 3, help the class rephrase each criteria as a question. For example, if one criteria is that
the president prioritize defending US interests, the question for debate purposes is “Does the
president defend US interests?” Remind the class that these criteria will be used later in the
lesson to evaluate the relative success or failure of TR’s foreign policy.
•
Post the final chart so that it can be referenced in debate.
Activity 4: Assigning Roles and Viewing Clips from The Roosevelts: An Intimate
History
•
Explain that if we were living on January 6, 1919, the staff of major newspapers would need to
sum up the impact of Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy on the United States and the world in a series
of headlines, news articles, and editorials geared toward answering the CQ: “To what extent did
Theodore Roosevelt’s record on foreign policy mar or enhance his record as US president?” Four
students will role-play newspaper editors who have convened two panels of experts on Theodore
Roosevelt: Team A of experts who view TR’s foreign policy in a positive light, and Team B who
view it negatively. The goal of the newspaper editors is to arrive at a fair and balanced view of
TR’s legacy.
Option: Share with the class this “insider” point of view about writing obituaries, which are often
written under pressure of unanticipated deadlines. According to obituary writer for The New York Times,
Bruce Weber,
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“I’d say that many obituary subjects who have written memoirs or had biographies written about
them end up being advance obit subjects, so I can actually spend the time reading the books
rather carefully. I realize that not every newspaper gives its writers that luxury, and it’s certainly
true that on a number of occasions I’ve had to cram. In situations like that, secondary sources, by
dint of what they emphasize, will often point you to the key sections of the primary sources. …
Otherwise, what I do is become as well informed as I can in the time I have, make my best
judgments about what to include and what to leave out and then keep my fingers crossed. …
There is a deadline for obituaries that need to run in the paper the next day. … which means the
obit has to be written and edited and fitted for space by then.”
(“Talk to the Newsroom: Bruce Weber,” September 22, 2008, at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/business/media/22askthetimes.html?pagewanted=al)
•
Assign the following reading to all students as homework before they view the film clips. This
brief reading gives an overview of all topics covered in this lesson and will provide context for
the film clips.
“TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt, Foreign Affairs,” PBS American Experience,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tr-foreign/
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For advanced students also assign:
“Theodore Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs,” The Miller Center, University of
http://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/essays/biography/5
Virginia,
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Fill in, distribute to students, or post electronically Handout 3, “Role Assignments.” Assign
strong students to Roles 7A and 7B as both act as chairs of their teams and summarizers of all
the arguments made. The Newspaper Editorial Team (four students) will also need to grasp a
wide array of information quickly.
•
Review Handout 3 with students to ensure they understand their assignments.
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Distribute or post on a class website Handout 4, “Viewing Questions.” Team A and Team B
Roles 1 through 6 watch the film clips only relevant to their assigned topic. They will then
research and prepare debate speeches. Team A and Team B Role 7 and the Newspaper Editorial
Team (four students) should try to watch all of the film clips. Film clips can be viewed on
computers at school, or at home for homework.
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Explain that to debate well, and to comprehend arguments, students need to anticipate both sides
to an argument.
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Distribute to each member of the class Handout 5, “Primary Source Documents.” In these
documents, TR defends his own foreign policy point for point. Students defending his record can
accentuate these points, while students critical of TR will need to refute his statements.
•
Distribute Handout 6, “Contemporaries and Historians Weigh In.” These selections include a
wide variety of commentators over time. They will help to spark ideas for arguments on both
sides.
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Distribute Handout 7, “Form for Evaluating the Debate,” to the Editorial Team (seven copies to
each team member).
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Timed Debate Segments
Constructive Speeches
Rebuttal Speeches
2 mins.
2 mins.
12 speeches
12 speeches
Responses to Q&A posed by editors
Summary Speeches
(last two debaters on each side)
24 mins.
24 mins.
6 topics, 1 responder from each side
(1 min. per Q) 12 mins.
2 speeches
6 mins.
3 mins.
Total Time
66 mins.
Debriefing:
o Allow the Newsroom Editorial Team to explain and defend how they wrote their headlines, and
why they sequenced them as they did. In effect, they “judge” the debate, but instead of deciding
on the basis of “winners take all,” they arrive at more nuanced conclusions.
o Return to the quotations from the Introductory Activity. Has a president so described in the
quotations been assessed overall favorably or not? Explain.
Assessment Suggestions:
• Assess students on the Team of Experts 1 to 7 on their debate speeches. For this purpose
distribute Handout 7, “Form for Evaluating the Debate,” to all debaters as they work. Then use
this form to assess each speech made. Also use Handout 8, “Rubrics.”
• Assess students on their ability to work effectively together.
• Assess the Newspaper Editorial Team on their ability to find relevant pro and con images with
which to decorate the newsroom.
• Assess the Newspaper Editorial Team on the questions posed to the debaters.
• Optional: Ask every student to write an editorial for the newspaper summarizing and evaluating
at least two aspects of TR’s foreign policy.
Extensions/Adaptations:
• Ask each student to write a news article to accompany one headline. The headline in effect
serves as the thesis statement, while the body of the article provides facts and arguments to
support it.
• Take one example of a “hot spot” in the world today. How and why does it pose a problem for
the United States and world peace? How would Theodore Roosevelt solve it were he president
today?
• Compare the Dollar Diplomacy of Taft to foreign policy of TR.
• Compare TR’s attitude to FDR’s Atlantic Charter and Eleanor Roosevelt and the UN Declaration
of Human Rights.
• Imagine that you are a student in the Philippines, Cuba, or another Caribbean country. How do
you think Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy might be covered in textbooks from those
countries? (If you have students from any of the countries affected by TR’s policies, ask them to
share what they know.)
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About the Author:
Joan Brodsky Schur is a social studies consultant to the City and Country School in New York City. Her
work for PBS includes writing lessons for The American Experience, POV, and various documentaries
by Ken Burns, including The Civil War, Jazz, The West, The Statue of Liberty, The War, and
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. She is a contributor to the NCSS bulletin
Teaching Reading with the Social Studies Standards (2012) and a former classroom teacher with over 25
years’ experience.
Online Resources:
TR’s Presidency
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/roosevelts)
PBS American Experience, “TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt, Foreign Affairs”
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tr-foreign/)
The Miller Center, University of Virginia, Theodore Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs
(http://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/essays/biography/5)
National Parks Service, Theodore Roosevelt Timeline (http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/theodoreroosevelt-timeline.htm)
Theodore Roosevelt Almanac (http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trpresident.html)
Theodore Roosevelt Association
(http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/site/c.elKSIdOWIiJ8H/b.8684643/k.9DB0/Brief_Biography.htm)
Spanish-American War
National Parks Service, “TR: The Rough Rider”
(http://www.nps.gov/thrb/historyculture/tr-rr-spanamwar.htm)
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, “Philippine-American War 1889-1902”
(http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/empire-building/timeline-terms/philippine-american-war)
Library of Congress, “The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War” including a timeline
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/index.html)
PBS, “Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War,” including background essay, interviews with
historians, and the film transcript
(http://www.pbs.org/crucible/)
Fordham University, “Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League, 1899”
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1899antiimp.asp)
pbs.org/the-roosevelts
PBS American Experience, America in 1900, “Walter LaFeber on the Anti-Imperialism in the United
States”
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/filmmore/reference/interview/lafeber_antiimperialism.html)
Ludwig von Mises Institute, The Anti-Imperialist League
(http://mises.org/daily/2408)
Roosevelt Corollary
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, abridged
version
(https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inlinepdfs/Corollary%20to%20the%20Monroe%20Doctrine%20%28abridged%29.pdf)
PBS American Experience, Interview with Historian Walter La Feber, Roosevelt Corollary
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/tr-lafeber/)
Milestone Documents, Roosevelt Corollary
(https://www.milestonedocuments.com/documents/view/roosevelt-corollary-to-the-monroe-doctrine)
The New York Times, “The Doctrine That Never Died” by Tom Wolfe
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/opinion/30wolfe.html?pagewanted=print&position=&_r=0)
Panama Canal
Digital History University of Huston, “A Man, A Plan, A Canal”
(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3157)
Miami Herald, “Remembering the History of the Panama Canal”
(http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/24/3110742/remembering-the-history-of-the.html)
Treaty of Portsmouth
Nobel Lecture: International Peace (Acceptance Speech)
(http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1906/roosevelt-lecture.html)
Japan-America Society of New Hampshire, Treaty of Portsmouth
(http://www.portsmouthpeacetreaty.com/index.cfm)
Asia for Educators Columbia University, Excerpts from the Treaty of Portsmouth and DBQ
(http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/japan/portsmouth.pdf)
TR and World War I
Gilder Lehrman, Theodore Roosevelt and the Sinking of the Lusitania
(http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-i/resources/theodore-roosevelt-sinkinglusitania-1915)
pbs.org/the-roosevelts
AH America History TV C-SPAN, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Great War”
(http://series.c-span.org/EventCheck/History/317407-1/)
US Department of State: Milestones Office of the Historian
•
“1866-1898: Continued Expansion of the United States Interests”
(http://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898)
•
“The Spanish-American War, 1898” (http://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanishamerican-war)
•
“1899-1913: Defending US Interests” (http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913)
•
The Platt Amendment [and Teller Amendments] (http://history.state.gov/milestones/18991913/platt)
“The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902” (http://history.state.gov/milestones/18991913/war\)
•
“The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1904”
(http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/roosevelt-and-monroe-doctrine)
•
“The Treaty of Portsmouth and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905”
(http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/portsmouth-treaty)
•
“Building the Panama Canal, 1903-1914” (http://history.state.gov/milestones/18991913/panama-canal)
•
“1914-1920: World War One and Wilsonian Diplomacy”
(https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920)
Books
Beale, Howard K., Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins Press, 1956.
Curti, Merle and Richard H. Shryock et al., An American History. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950.
Krabbendam, Hans and John M. Thompson, America’s Transatlantic Turn: Theodore Roosevelt and the
Discovery of Europe. New York: Palgrave, 2012.
Watts, Sarah, Rough Rider in the White House: Theodore Roosevelt and the Politics of Desire. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2003.
pbs.org/the-roosevelts
Standards
NCSS C3 (College, Career, and Civic Life) (http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/c3/C3Framework-for-Social-Studies.pdf)
Dimension 1: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries
Dimension 2: Civics
• D2.Civ.3.9-12: Analyze the impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements
on the maintenance of national and international order.
• D2.Civ.9.9-12: Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
Dimension 2: History
• D2.His.3.9-12: Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the
significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
• D2.His.17.9-12: Critique the central arguments in secondary works of history on related topics in
multiple media in terms of their historical accuracy.
Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence
• D3.2.9-12: Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of
views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources
to guide the selection.
CCSS Reading Standard for History/Social Studies
(http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary
and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of
the text as a whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9: Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and
secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8: Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by
corroborating or challenging them with other information.
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