Theodore Roosevelt; an Intimate Biography
Excerpt
In finishing the correction of the last proofs of this sketch,
I
perceive that some of those who read it may suppose that
I
planned to write a deliberate eulogy of Theodore Roosevelt.
This
is not true. I knew him for forty years, but I never followed
his
political leadership. Our political differences, however,
never
lessened our personal friendship. Sometimes long
intervals
elapsed between our meetings, but when we met it was always
with
the same intimacy, and when we wrote it was with the same
candor.
I count it fortunate for me that during the last ten years of
his
life, I was thrown more with Roosevelt than during all
the
earlier period; and so I was able to observe him, to know
his
motives, and to study his character during the chief crises
of
his later career, when what he thought and did became an
integral
part of the development of the United States.