The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin - A 30-minute Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

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This is an InstaRead Summary of The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

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Preface

Doris Kearns Goodwin spent seven years researching and writing The Bully Pulpit. She set out to write a book about Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era, but soon found that there were three important strands to the story. First of all, Theodore Roosevelt is considered one of our greatest presidents because of his use of the “bully pulpit” to focus a national movement to ethically use governmental action to control the effects of the rapid growth of America.  Secondly, Roosevelt built an intimate and beneficial relationship with the press, especially with investigative reporters Ida Tarbell, Ray Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Allen White. Working with Roosevelt, these reporters helped educate the public and motivate them to take action to move the country towards its ancient but extremely important ideals. Thirdly, William Howard Taft played a significant role in the Roosevelt administration as a friend, confidant, and as Roosevelt’s secretary of war. Taft is often remembered as an unsuccessful president, but he was actually the one that Roosevelt entrusted as “acting president” whenever he left Washington for business or pleasure. Taft’s admitted downfall was his inability to use the press and his “bully pulpit” in the same way that Roosevelt had. This had more to do with his personality than anything else. As Goodwin got further and further into her research, she became passionate about asking and answering the question of how Roosevelt, the muckrakers, and Taft instigated such incredible change within the country.  

1: The Hunter Returns

Theodore Roosevelt received a hero’s welcome upon his return to New York from his expedition to Africa on June 18, 1910. He was surprised by the reception since he had worried that his star had dimmed and the public no longer supported him. Refusing to run for a third term, Roosevelt had selected his trusted friend William Howard Taft to succeed him and had put all of his energy behind helping Taft win the election. To Roosevelt’s dismay, he quickly discovered that Taft had aligned himself with old-line conservatives and was compromising Roosevelt’s progressive hard-won advances. Speculation about whether Roosevelt would side with old-line conservatives or with the “insurgents” had been rampant in the press throughout the spring. Aware that anything he said would be hurtful to one side or the other, Roosevelt decided to err on the side of caution and say nothing until he could learn more about what had truly happened while he was away.