b'What WouldTheodoreRoosevelt Do?PART 1 By Alan RockmanHopefully, by the time this article is printed and distributed, the novel coronavirus will be pretty much behind us, but it would be quite interesting to see how a 19th - century Cowboy - Politician, ironically also from New York, would have handled the crisis we face as I write this.So. . .what would Theodore Roosevelt do?We already know that this man, this Cowboy president packed at least two or three lifetimes in the relatively short lifespan of his, dying at age 60. Despite several recent books on the subject what remains in question is if going out west not only shaped his character but whether his experiences in the Badlands shaped him for the rest of his life. Y ou will note that throughout this story there willcommon, especially in regards to Naval history. Rooseveltto get lively with lumberjacks, hunters, cattlemen, saloon be 11 observations (my own) of the character traitshad just published the work that his Bulloch Confederatekeepers, bawdy gals, foreign investors, (including one by the and actions this young New York man of privilegeduncles, who had fought Gorringe during the Civil War,name of Marquis De Mores whom Roosevelt would soon background picked up in the egalitarian West. Characterencouraged him to write called The Naval War of 1812.have more than a passing acquaintance with) cowboys, and traits of being able to talk, work, and listen to almostOf even greater interest to both men was the developmentoutlaws milled about, shoulder-to-shoulder(Di Silvestro, anyone, and accomplishments that not only stayed with himof the West. In their talk, Roosevelt mused aloud that heTheodore Roosevelt in the Badlands, pp. 36-37).throughout his lifetime but also provided him a pathway tohad always wanted to shoot a buffalo, Gorringe informed1 ROOSEVELT HAD THIS SENSE OF ADVENTURE, A the highest office of the land. him that he had a ranch out in the Dakota Badlands that supplied cattle to the U.S. Army, the CantonmentWILLINGNESS TO TRY AND DO NEW THINGS, WHICH As with most children, Roosevelt\'s desire to go west startedCumba, and that the last free-roaming buffalo in theWOULD STAND HIM WELL IN THE YEARS TO COME.with a dream. Yes, it is true he came from a wealthy familyDakotas grazed not too far from his ranch. Roosevelt hadThese were, as noted historian David McCullough has and would have been able to do almost anything. Youngalso heard of the "Beef Bonanza" then growing strongcommented - "The Glory Days of Medora" - a time when Roosevelt was no stranger to adventure. When he was notout West, and he too wanted to get in on the profits.the last buffalo herds were being killed off, and thousands of quite a teen his family took an extended vacation to EuropeGorringe then invited the young politician to join himcattle driven north as investors sought to capitalize on what where he climbed the Alps, then went on to Egypt where heat the ranch later in the fall. When Roosevelt was readyformer Second Cavalry major, Custer antagonist, and cattle saw the Pyramids and added to his little museum of animalinvestor James Shanks Brisbin would call "The Beef Bonanza."and natural curiosities at his home back in New York. Henry HoneychurchFor a Roosevelt who grew up in affluence, Medora at that Having seen the natural curiosities of much of the world,Gorringe had been mosttime resembled nothing much more than a rudimentary he wanted desperately to know about the lands, naturalfrontier town with the obligatory saloon and hotel. In and animal life that lay beyond the Mississippi. It was a tripknown for his acquisitionRoosevelt\'s case, the aptly-named (in honor of co-owner made by his younger brother Elliott, out west to Texas whereGorringe) Pyramid Park Hotel. The manager, an ex-he did what Theodore had always wanted to do, hunt bisonfor the United States fromsteamboat captain, and crony of Gorringe\'s named Captain (buffalo) that had spurred his imagination and provided anEgypt the celebratedMoore heard Roosevelt knocking on the door, swore impetus to the then 18-year-old about to enter Harvard toprofusely, which was a habit of his, then escorted him up fulfill that dream of himself going west and doing the same.Cleopatra\'s Needle, whicha staircase with no handrails to a large room shared with But college, the tragic death of his father, political ambitionhe helped erect in Newabout a dozen fellow residents who were not too pleased and love interfered for at least the next five years until awith being awakened at 3 a.m. by the arrival of this dude chance meeting at a political event at New York\'s Free TradeYork\'s Central Park. from the East. Roosevelt slept soundly for several hours, Club with a former U.S. Navy officer who himself had madethen, no doubt excited by the possibilities of the hunt woke quite a name for himself, and who himself had a ranch outup early, and after a typical rushed frontier, communal in the Dakota Badlands would make that dream a reality. to go, however, Gorringe bailed out, whether it was frombreakfast decided to take a walk around Medora. In doing the accident that would eventually kill him or that heso he made his first important contact, the son of Captain Listening to the reform-minded young Republicandidn\'t want Roosevelt to see how run-down his ranchMoore, Frank, who co-owned (with Gorringe) the hotel assemblyman from New York\'s 21st District deliver a barnwas isn\'t known. It was Roosevelt alone, who took theand was as affable as his father was crusty. Knowing of burning lecture on corruption, tariffs, and sin in politics atfive-day journey west with stopovers in Chicago andRoosevelt\'s desire to hunt buffalo, Frank Moore suggested that May 1883 gathering was Henry Honeychurch Gorringe. St. Paul, Minnesota before his Northern Pacific trainhis Canadian friends, the brothers Joe and Sylvane Ferris, Gorringe was a distinguished, though ex-U.S. Navy officerfinally arrived in Medora - the center of the Badlands,and their partner Bill Merrifield, seasoned scouts who who had enlisted as a sailor in the Union Navy in 1862at 3 a.m. on the morning of September 7, 1883 (Rogerowned the Maltese Cross ranch just outside of town by the and had risen to the rank of lieutenant commander afterL. Di Silvestro, Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands,Little Missouri River take him.the Civil War. Until his forced resignation from the U.S.MJF Books, New York, 2011, p. 27; Marshall Sprague, A Navy for openly criticizing the then Secretary of the Navy,Gallery of Dudes,Little, Brown and Company, New York,Joe Ferris\'s first impressions of the scrawny-looking dude Gorringe had been most known for his acquisition for the1966-1967, p. 215). with the big-rimmed glasses who looked so out of place United States from Egypt the celebrated Cleopatra\'s Needle,on the frontier were not positive, to say the least: "He was which he helped erect in New York\'s Central Park. But heRoosevelt had arrived in a region where the Indian Warsa slender-looking fellow and I had my doubts whether he was also a man of the West as well as the sea. had barely ended. In fact, Sioux from the same Standingcould stand the long (hunting) trip. To be honest about it I Rock Reservation where Sitting Bull was now a virtualexpected to take care of him on the trip - saddle his horse, Gorringe went over to the young Roosevelt after theprisoner hovered around the train platform trying to sellshow him the customs of the plains, see that he got his grub speech, and the two men found they had quite a bit incurios and trinkets. Where things were just beginningregularly and the other little things that come up on the 44 June 2020'