The “slacker malgré lui” accepted the gravest disappointment of his life as he did any other disappointment—eyes forward, shoulders squared, and head thrown back. It was hard for him, however, to busy himself, as he said, with what he considered “utterly pointless and fussy activities,” when his whole soul was in the great conflict on the far side of the water, from which one of his boys was not to return, and where two of the others were to be seriously wounded.
Writing on October 5, 1917, he says: “Of course I stood by Mitchel.” This refers to a hot campaign which was waging around the figure of the young mayor of New York City, John Purroy Mitchel, who had given New York City the best administration for many a long year and was up for re-election but, unfortunately, due to many surprising circumstances, was later defeated. My brother had the greatest admiration for the fearlessness and ability of the young mayor, and later, when that same gallant American entered the flying service and was killed in a trial flight, no one mourned him more sincerely than did the man who always recognized courage and determination and patriotism in Democrat or Republican alike.
About the same time, in speaking of General Franklin Bell, who was in charge of Camp Upton, he says: “The latter is keenly eager to go abroad. He says that if he is not sent, he will retire and go abroad as a volunteer.” By a strange chance, a snapshot was taken of the first division of drafted men sent to Camp Upton just as they were passing the reviewing-stand, on which stood together Franklin Bell, John Purroy Mitchel, and Theodore Roosevelt. The expression on my brother’s face was one so spiritual, so exalted in aspect, that I am reproducing the picture.
From a photograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood.
A review of New York’s drafted men before going into training in September, 1917.
Neither Colonel Roosevelt nor his companions to the left and right, General Bell and Mayor Mitchel, lived to see the final review.
All through that autumn he gave himself unstintedly to war work of all kinds, and amongst other things came, at my request, to a “Fatherless Children of France” booth at the great Allied Bazaar. The excitement in front of the booth as he stood there was intense, and as usual the admirers who struggled to shake his hand were of the most varied character. We decided to charge fifty cents for a hand-shake, and we laughed immoderately at the numbers of repeaters. One man, however, having apparently approached the booth from curiosity, said “it wasn’t worth it.” The indignation of the crowd was so great that immediately there were volunteers to pay for three and four extra hand-shakes to shame the delinquent!
Shortly before that, a friend of Colonel John W. Vrooman’s wrote to him about a certain meeting at the Union League Club called to witness a send-off to some of the soldiers. The writer says:
“The moment Colonel Roosevelt appeared on the reviewing stand he was recognized and the vicinity of the Club was in an uproar. Later on when visiting a party in the private dining room, he had only been in the room about three minutes when he was recognized by the girls and boys who were looking at the review from a building on the opposite side of the street. Just to show you how he reaches the heart of the people, they cheered and waved at him until his attention was attracted and he had to go to the window and salute them. Although he was an hour and a half in conversation in the club, he did not forget his little friends across the way but on leaving, went to the window and waved goodbye to them. Every youngster present will relate this incident, I am sure, for a long time to come. In leaving the Club house, he was set upon, it seemed to me, by the youngsters of the East Side so that he had to beg his way through the crowd that had been waiting in the rain three hours just to see him, and in getting into the automobile, they appeared to an on-looker to be clambering all over him, and I would not be surprised if he carried a few of them away in his pockets as he carried most of their little hearts with him.”