Teddy’s Tantrum
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The Tantrum
In February of 1973, the U.S. Army issued an apology to the men of the 25th Infantry and awarded the sole surviving battalion member (Dorsie Willis) back pay.Written for the general reader, Teddy’s Tantrum revisits a little-known 1906 incident in Teddy Roosevelt’s administration and finds an epic “lost” story of intrigue, combat, politics and redemption. This is the first chronicle of the entire Brownsville story, treating Weaver and the troops’ exoneration as an equal part of the narrative.
In the autumn of 1906, President Theodore Teddy Roosevelt lost his temper.
It was a ferocious tantrum. The young men of the 25th Infantry regiment, stationed in Texas, were the object of Roosevelt’s terrible anger. What happened in that summer would change hundreds of lives forever, rock the U.S. Senate, and set off a ferocious national debate.
On November 5, 1906, Roosevelt issued Presidential Special Order 266, dismissing 167 members of the 25th Infantry in what historian Lewis Gould calls “one of the most glaring miscarriages of justice in American history.”
Sixty years later, a journeyman writer named John D. Weaver, the son of a clerk at the 1906 hearings, embarked on a campaign to exonerate the soldiers. He investigated documents of the original trials and Senate hearings on the episode as well as letters among the prominent characters; he visited the small Texas town where the soldiers had been stationed and retraced the steps of every eyewitness.
In 1971, Weaver published a book setting forth his version of the true story behind Special Order 266.
In February of 1973, the U.S. Army issued an apology to the men of the 25th Infantry and awarded the sole surviving battalion member (Dorsie Willis) back pay.Written for the general reader, Teddy’s Tantrum revisits a little-known 1906 incident in Teddy Roosevelt’s administration and finds an epic “lost” story of intrigue, combat, politics and redemption. This is the first chronicle of the entire Brownsville story, treating Weaver and the troops’ exoneration as an equal part of the narrative.
In this web site and ebook, author Tom Durwood scratches the surface of Special Order 266 and finds a confluence of rich characters and enduring themes. It is a story of military heroism and redemption, loyalty and betrayal, presidential influence and the power of narrative. Through interviews with Weaver’s colleagues and analysis of recent historical theory, Teddy’s Tantrum sets the neglected episode in its historical context.
One of the worst moments of our one of our best presidents,” Durwood calls it. The tantrum and its aftermath casts a new light on this most fascinating character in American history, on the dynamics of literature and empire, and on the rise to honor of the black soldier in America’s military history.
Revisiting the roots and consequences of the order provides a fresh look at Teddy Roosevelt. His behavior in the Brownsville episode can now be tied to other incidents in his personal life and administration. Original scholarship provides the first historical account of John D. Weaver’s two-decade campaign for exoneration. Also featured is a rich cast of supporting characters including William Taft, Joseph Foraker, and Colin Powell.
copyright ©2012 Tom Durwood. All rights reserved.
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