Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power

Since its initial publication in 1956, Howard K. Beale’s Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power has remained the definitive study of the foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt. Beale examines the transformation of American under Roosevelt from an isolationist nation to a global power with active interests in European, Asian, and Latin America affairs. He concentrates upon Roosevelt’s attempts to cement an Anglo-American entente, to hold the growing power of Germany in check, and to improve the United States’ competitive position in the Far East, and he studies Roosevelt’s use of force to strengthen the nation’s new position.Roosevelt, according to Beale, was far better equipped to understand and deal with the problems of foreign affairs than most presidents before or since. He perceived the growing interdependence of the world and the intricate involvement of America in that world, and predicted with surprising accuracy the roles that individual nations would play in an evolving world order. Yet for all his activity and tremendous influence, Roosevelt failed in each of his most important foreign policy objectives. In Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power, Beale ponders the long-range implications of these failures for America and the world in terms that are as provocative and important today as they were when the book first appeared.