ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Michael Patrick Cullinane is acclaimed as at the top rung of Theodore Roosevelt scholars of his generation.
His latest book, Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet, has garnered enthusiastic reviews, including in the Wall Street Journal.
Cullinane combines a scholar’s exacting standards with an entertaining, readable prose style. Recognizing the parallels of Roosevelt’s era with our own, he makes history relevant and vivid.
In this wide-ranging discussion, Cullinane pulls the curtain back on the extraordinary group of informal advisers that our twenty-sixth president summoned to service as he pulled the presidency and the nation into a new century. As ever, TR’s life and work yield timeless lessons for rising generations facing new challenges.
Publisher’s Summary
In his final days in office in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt invited dozens of friends to the White House for lunch. They had never met as a group, but they had one thing in common: Each played tennis with the president and advised on policy matters. Roosevelt half-joked that the public would never know how much these tennis partners did to make his administration a success. Journalists dismissively called them the “Tennis Cabinet,” making light of their contribution, but Roosevelt knew otherwise.
This inner circle led the administration’s campaigns against corporate greed, investigated public health violations, and formulated consumer protections. They founded environmental conservation policies, prosecuted civil rights violations, and implemented bureaucratic efficiencies that saved the government billions. Roosevelt’s tennis mates shaped the nation’s diplomacy, ending wars and promoting American interests abroad.
Never had a more eclectic group advised a U.S. president. The Tennis Cabinet included legendary frontier lawman Seth Bullock and the starched-shirt corporate lawyer Henry Stimson, who served in five presidential administrations. Texas wolf wrangler Jack Abernathy played with stuffy bureaucrats like Labor Commissioner Charles Patrick Neill and social activist James Bronson Reynolds. The French ambassador Jean Jules Jusserand spun yarns with football hero George Washington Woodruff and Roosevelt’s college friend and banker Robert Bacon. James Garfield, namesake son of a martyred president, sipped mint juleps with Supreme Court Justice William Henry Moody. And J. P. Morgan’s silver-spooned son-in-law Herbert Satterlee kept company with rugged soldier Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly.
For all their differences, these men shared a desire to help the president transform the nation from a parochial nineteenth-century republic into an imperial and industrial global power. They have escaped the attention of reporters and historians only because of Roosevelt’s towering celebrity. Turning away from Roosevelt as the singular force behind his administration, it is possible to see how the contributions of his Tennis Cabinet quietly sowed the seeds of the American Century.
Critical Acclaim
“The story of the Tennis Cabinet has largely been untold until now—but it clearly had an impact on the development of our Republic.” —Tevi Troy, Wall Street Journal
“What the ‘team of rivals’ was to Abraham Lincoln, the ‘Tennis Cabinet’ was to Theodore Roosevelt. Michael Cullinane brings to vivid life an unusual menagerie of confidants and compatriots who met on the court to reshape a nation. This wonderful book reminds us that while many names are lost to history, no president, perhaps especially the great ones, works alone.” —Edward F. O’Keefe, author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation
“Michael Cullinane has written a lively and perceptive book that will become essential reading for understanding Theodore Roosevelt’s effectiveness as president. TR stands as a towering presence in presidential history because of his modernizing energy and his eagerness to address real-life problems of the American people, but until this book we have not really understood how his many accomplishments came about. Read this book to understand how TR listened to forward-looking experts in his Tennis Cabinet and then debated with them how to get great things done.” —Kathleen Dalton, author of Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life
“Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet is a prescient book that brings the contributions of certain men surrounding the president into sharp focus. While Roosevelt is often portrayed as the lone ‘man in the arena,’ Michael Cullinane reveals him as someone who regularly sought counsel from dozens of close advisers. . . . Cullinane’s book reveals a president who was far more aware of his limitations than many biographers would have us believe, and although still a strong man, Roosevelt emerges from the pages as a wise man too. This is an important, and eye-opening, book that is both timely and enjoyable to read.” —Darrin Lunde, author of The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, a Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History
“The twenty-sixth president was so larger-than-life that Michael Cullinane’s Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet comes as quite a surprise. This delightful study reveals the diverse and complex cast of characters that profoundly but quietly (for the most part) contributed to the long list of activities and accomplishments routinely attributed to Roosevelt alone. Cullinane sheds new and important light on Roosevelt and his administration. In doing so, he also provides a timely reminder of the power and significance of the advisers, official and unofficial, who allow even those presidents who appear to go it alone to, for better or for worse, expand their reach and exercise more control.” —Nancy C. Unger, author of Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer
“Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet is an important examination of Roosevelt’s inner circle, those who helped him implement and carry out his policies. Michael Cullinane writes with flair and clarity, showing that Roosevelt could never have become a legend without his Tennis Cabinet. Highly recommended.” —Benjamin J. Wetzel, author of Theodore Roosevelt: Preaching from the Bully Pulpit
“To say that TR was a ‘people person’ is an understatement. But in particular, Roosevelt loved interesting people. He treasured folks from whom he could learn something new or, even better, who might accompany him on an adventure. That verve for connection is what makes Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet such a treasure. In flowing prose and with deft attention to the ties that bound, Michael Cullinane tells the stories of the men who made up TR’s most important advisory group. What a fascinating bunch! It’s a rare book that can both tell buddy stories and offer exacting political analysis, but Michael Cullinane does it here. Dig in, you’ll be glad you did!” —Ryan Swanson, author of The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete
“Theodore Roosevelt was such a force of energy that he eclipsed others in his orbit. Michael Cullinane’s book brings these individuals to the stage. In compelling portraits, he illuminates the bureaucrats, diplomats, lawyers, and others who stewarded Roosevelt’s vision, fostered alliances, and preserved our nation’s natural heritage. Cullinane has made yet another important contribution to Theodore Roosevelt studies, giving us a necessary and wonderfully written lesson on governance.” —Gregory A. Wynn, chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Association
About the Author
Michael Patrick Cullinane is a historian, an award-winning author, and the Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies at Dickinson State University. He also serves as a Public Historian for the Theodore Roosevelt Association and contributes to the design and curation of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
In addition to Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet, he’s the author of Remembering Theodore Roosevelt (2021), Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost (2017), The Open Door Era: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century (2017), and Liberty and American Anti-Imperialism. He has published several scholarly articles and editorials in The Hill, the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, the Conversation, History News Network, BBC History Magazine, and have given commentary on C-SPAN, BBC, History Channel, Sky News, NPR, and CNN.
A sought-after speaker, Cullinane regularly talks at universities, corporate events, libraries, professional associations, and other public venues.
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Image Credit | Author photograph, Theodore Roosevelt Center.
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