The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

'INTRODUCTION 5
of dealing with some one who has an appreciation of the place
from the professional politician's standpoint. Every politician
knows there is a vast amount of work connected with the
position, a description of which they would not care to have
presented to the public.
Theodore Roosevelt is not a politician-made President.
He is the candidate of the people in the Republican party and
not of the politicians. They favor him only because it is in
their interests to do so.
More than a year ago, when I said to President Roosevelt
that I proposed to write a book about him, he said that he
believed the time for a man's biography to be written was
after his death.
"I desire to write an account, the best I can, of the history
that you have made and are making, Mr. President," 1
answered him, "rather than a biography or a 'life' in the°gen-
eral acceptation of that term, and I believe the people are
entitled to that." And every public man, the I^resident more
than any other probably, realizes that the public are entitled
to know about their public servants.
Mr. Loeb, the President's secretary, afterward remarked
that the President might not be nominated, and cautioned me
that I might have all of my work of more than a year collect-
ing material for a cause that might not prove of interest to
people generally.
"Not at all; the people everywhere in this country will not
lose interest in Theodore Roosevelt, even though such an
improbable contingency might happen that some other Repub-
lican gets the nomination," I answered. And so I believed.
Theodore Roosevelt is the greatest personal force in this
country, and the record of no other man's life can be so full