About this change. Good afternoon. I am very excited to introduce the next speaker. Im going to share a personal to exemplify his passion for Theodore Roosevelt. I entered jerrys orbit when we serve together as instructors in jacksonville, florida. Career i was in my negotiating orders for a followon to her. For background, this tour is unique for officers. Areandbased aviators, we sent to seek to learn real knowledge in the navy. For example, officer on the deck in the airconditioned bridge sounds good. Sunny san diego or florida or the deployment schedule. A nice med cruise would suffice. As a lieutenant commander, jerry had already completed his tour. For teddyere his zeal roosevelt became apparent. When asked about his carrier assignment he said, Theodore Roosevelt, no question. I wouldve taken any job to deploy on tr. If you needed a working party to scrape barnacles, you could count jerry in. Not understanding his rationale, i requested further explanation. Jerry went on to describe his affection for the statesman, and he connected teddies naval strategies on americas ability to achieve our national interests. This was the first time i observed such passion for history and strategy in a naval officer. Teddywas bleeding roosevelt. I take pride in introducing himself him as a scholar, but i am prouder to introduce him as a shipmate. Ladies and gentlemen, dr. Jerry hendrix. [laughter] by the way, i wanted a ted cruz, so i deployed on eisenhower. Dr. Hendrix in life you get a chance to serve with some people who have a direct impact on you. I took over command of the vehicle roosevelt on a dark night when it backed into a cruiser. That was my introduction to the ship. I didnt know how long it would be, but i was not the Commanding Officer at the time. One thing i knew was, i needed to have a Brilliant Team with me. Whoof those young officers was my tactical action officer, worked in operations, was jerry hendrix. If you look at the program, you will see we honor every year a junior officer from the theater roosevelt for leadership. In 1997, if you look at that date, you will see the name jerry hendrix. He was my first pick is a junior leadership award. He is someone i value greatly, and someone i am proud to introduce as well. Thank you. [applause] this time of covid denies you certain privileges. You, one of the privileges i was just denied the ability to hug my sea daddy. Leave me, such as my affection archdmiral arches l izelle. There is a lot of good memories there. It is a great privilege to be here. It has been a few years since i the had a chance to address Roosevelt Association on topics historical or contemporaneous, so it is good to be back here. I always want to start out i have a tendency to speak fast, slow want to slow myself down here a little bit. That was a great panel that came before. I enjoyed the conversation from the three scholars. I was struck by items that came from each one of them. I have all of theater roosevelts letters, all eight volumes. They are tremendous for me. Having done my doctorate on roosevelts use of the navy as an instrument of coercive diplomacy, i really got into those letters, specifically looking at roosevelt and the navy. Since then, i have had the chance to read the letters for how he viewed other topics. For instance, his conversations or letters with t washington are national treasures. Looking at the conversation and dialogue going on, at a critical turning point, the conversations and letters he has with his daughter are instructive to me as a father of daughters about how to have an adult conversation with your daughter who is highspirited. I am fortunate to have two highspirited daughters take after their mother, who is also highspirited. Theyre great anecdote about alice roosevelt, who became the wife of the speaker of the house of representatives. She used to keep a pillow that said, if you dont have anything nice to say about someone, come sit next to me. [laughter] that gives you a sense of where i decided i was going to take up this historic topic. Roosevelt i looked at , what really emerged was the fact that he set out to build one fleet, then he ended up having to build another. Why was that . There had to be a reason. Is there something advance this for me . Slide. [laughter] anyway, Theodore Roosevelt went through a time of unprecedented growth. President , we dealt 16 battleships, seven cruisers, 24 submarines, and 20 destroyers. In nearly every case, these ships were built as the result of his direct by a very youthful president , the youngest president ever in the history of our country with the members of the appropriate house and Senate Congressional committees that were in charge of naval shipbuilding. If you think naval Ship Construction is political today, it was just as political then as members lobby to have seats on those committees, because those committees meant jobs in their home districts as well as the placement of those ships and ports in their home districts. It should be noted that there was a significant imbalance in his ship building plans. In 1903, the general board of the navy, which was made up of nine flag officers, made a proposal to the president that the fleet we should have by 1920 was to have early six battleships, 36 24 cruisers, and 48 scout cruisers for a total of 36 battleships and 120 cruisers. Audit ratio, what he they built which was big question was and by the way, all seven cruisers were built in roosevelts first term. Essentially built and authorized from 19011905. Noting in 1905, there were cruisers during his first full term as president or his second term in the executive office. Fourid he just build submarines in the first term and no destroyers, then pivoted to build 20 submarines and 20 destroyers in his second term . What was the reason for this change in fleet architecture . Why did Theodore Roosevelt, the advocate for building up the navy, turn away from cruisers and why did he place such emphasis on submarines and destroyers in his second term . To understand these decisions, we must understand the outline of the four eras of the Roosevelt Naval thought. Back one slide please. Thank you. Roosevelts formative years. Its not hard to find good photographs of him as a young man. His early years reveal a deep and abiding interest in Naval Affairs. His mothers two brothers, james withrban bullet, served distinction in the confederate war. And the american civil james was an Intelligence Officer and urban serve on board the battleship alabama which fought against and james fire the last shot by the alabama against it before she sank. Theodore to visit roosevelt and his family in new york prior to going into permanent exile in england after the war. Roosevelts mother would tell her Children Stories about her brothers. Theodore himself would later recount that as a child, he heard tales of ships, ships, ships, and the fighting of ships until they sank into the depths of my soul. Because of his childhood asthma, roosevelt also spent much of his time engrossed in the reading of books. Autobiography,s one that touched him greatly was the 19th century fiction series mr. Midshipmen easy which was britain written by British Royal navy captain. Theodore roosevelt interest in the age of sail carried over into his time at Harvard College where his senior thesis on the war of 1812 would later become a published classic which continues to be appreciated today. The Naval Institute still publishes a version of this. The of us as scholars of war of 1812 still use it as a primary resource to this day. It is a very good work of 22. Ory that he does at age this book and his effort in that represents a serious effort not only to understand individual ship tactics also how fleets can be employed to advance national interest. Roosevelt, even as a young man, demonstrated an ability to in understand the intersection point between key Technological Advancements and national strategy. Soaking was his perception that many of the key principles of seapower that would later form another workn of appeared in one form or another in roosevelt very first book. Roosevelt remained interested in Naval Affairs in the years that followed, examining key aspects of naval strategy and his two subsequent books. They appeared in 1887 and 1888. Book ultimately did appear in 1890, roosevelt was such an outstanding naval theorist, that the Atlantic Monthly opposed him to write the review. It was at this time that these two men began an active correspondence on naval matters that would endure until the formers passing. The extent said that of roosevelt interest in the navy was limited to his desire that it be larger and that it supported carving out an american spirit of influence in the western hemisphere under the Monroe Doctrine. It is important to note that during this time of his life, he seldom if ever specifically called out naval architecture or ship design issues beyond some mention in his letters of the need for armor piercing rounds, rapid firing guns, and a significant critique of the Kentucky Class battleships superimposed terror. I read all those letters and thats the only time he gets into detail. He was unable strategist, but not a naval technologist at this point in time in his life. Was because of roosevelts enduring interest in naval issues as well as his growing participation in republican politics that he was nominated to be the assistant secretary of the navy during the First Administration of William Mckinley in 1897. Greek mathematician archimedes once said that if someone would give him a long enough lever at a place and a place to stand, he could move the world. In december 1896, William Mckinley handed Theodore Roosevelt a really big stick. Asking him to be the assistant secretary of the navy under John Davis Long who had served in the house of representatives with mckinley as before. Man. Was an elderly its important to understand the nature this relationship between the senior and the junior. He had recently married for a second time after his first wife is pat had passed. His second wife was very young, and they had a very young son. Long head to children with his first wife and now he has a young child and he is involved in this relationship with his wife and this young child. Were, leftion as it titanict a man with energies to oversee the departments daytoday activities. Long was not enthusiastic about roosevelts desire to grow the United States navy, but roosevelt dug in and engaged with the various technical Uniformed Bureau chiefs who oversaw the running of the navy. Roosevelt went to see often to view the fleet exercise and he fired a naval gun more than once for the sheer joy of it. He writes entire letters about firing naval guns and he would grade the different calibers. Roosevelt attempted to convince long and his boss William Mckinley that a larger navy was an investment in maintaining global peace. During this time, roosevelt engaged in a correspondence with the senator from massachusetts and generally supported senator lodges large policy which aimed onlytend control over not the western hemisphere, but also over the territorial possessions far out in the pacific to include hawaii which roosevelt was an advocate for annexing and the philippines, ultimately. Roosevelt also continue to write and speak with who encouraged him to grow the navy especially the number of battleships and cruisers in the fleet. Sevelt also demonstrated to make investments in additional dry docks in order to have ample repair facilities to maintain the fleet that he envisioned. Roosevelt also saw ahead that the navy would be involved in wars and that time of wars, it would need to have an Industrial Base sufficient to repair the ships that were damaged in battle. He was also innovative. He urged investment in new torpedo boats as well as urging secretary long to support financially Research Efforts of professor Samuel Langley as he saw sought to construct a flying machine. Roosevelt anticipated the coming war with spain and also the United States larger role in the world in the 20th century. When he left the Mckinley Administration in 1898 to join the rough riders and go to cuba to fight, he urged secretary atlanticonsolidate the battle fleet near cuba and to strengthen the United States hold over the newly one philippine islands. It hadtle at manila curbed for the secretary left. With these responsibilities in mind, he urged sec. Long and president mckinley to build six new battleships. For on the east coast and to on the west coast. Specific because he was not only looking to build battleships, he was looking to build the Industrial Base and he wanted to make sure we were investing on the west coast where there was not that much shipbuilding at the time to match the east coast. In addition, he urged them to add a 75 torpedo boats, 25 in the atlantic. In roosevelts mind, the threat to the United States as he left the Navy Department were germany and europe. This was 1898 and roosevelt was looking ahead saying this is where the fleet threat will be. After leaving the Mckinley Administration to fight with the rough riders, roosevelt had returned to the United States a hero and was elected to the governorship of new york. Soon, anxious to be rid of the young double making reformer, the states political bosses convinced mckinley to add Theodore Roosevelt to the ticket in 1900 as his Vice President to replace the recently deceased Garrett Hobart. We dont have good names like Garrett Hobart anymore. It was thought that he could do little harm to the powers that be from the vice presidency. However, mckinleys assassination six month after the inaugurations left roosevelt very much in charge. As the senator from new york, one of the heads of the Republican Party said, look the dam cowboy is president of the United States. Roosevelt thinking in 1901 with regard to the architecture of the fleet early in his administration revealed that he largely picked up where he had left off as assistant secretary a few years later. In october, one month after becoming president , roosevelt wrote a letter in which he expressed an interest in increasing the tonnage and firepower of the american fleet, that he was also interested in finding the cheapest path to a more effective navy. A few days later in a letter to the influential senator william chandler, roosevelt asked the senator to put three new battleships into the naval bill. He stated that he really wanted for battleships, but the three represented the limit of conservation. He went on to say quote of course i want cruisers, gunboats and torpedo boats in addition and above all, i want men. Its important that he realized not only as he grew the navy in size and ships, he wanted to make the investment and manpower, operations, maintenance, and infrastructure. That all must be grown in balance with each other. Was about was already at this point on his second secretary of the navy as his former boss, john long, who had been mckinleys friend, had tendered his resignation. It is important to realize that over the next seven years, he would have two secretaries of state, he would have six secretaries of the navy. What became quickly apparent to all observers both contemporaneous and historical is that the owner roosevelt was his only secretary of the navy. Else was just getting tryouts for positions in his government. Two of his six secretaries of the navy went on to become attorneys general. One did not impress him, so he sent him off to a lesser important job as a lesser judge of the supreme court. During his first three years in office, Roosevelt Naval acquisitions emphasized battleships, torpedo boats, and destroyers. 200edo boats came in at tons. Destroyers were 400 tons. Today, destroyers are 9500 tons. Destroyers have become battleships, but i digress. He also did order cruisers in this first term. Seven of them. For large armored cruisers of the tennessee class that when combined with mckinleys six Pennsylvania Class cruisers became the big ten. If you have ever wondered how it is that the midwestern athletic conference got its name, the navy lent the name of its big ten cruisers to the big ten athletic conference which as a graduate of purdue, i take some pride in. He also built three scout class salem cruisers. These were small, slight, very fast cruisers whose job it was to rapidly advance ahead of the battle force to scout for the enemy then radio back where the enemy was. 1904, Theodore Roosevelts correspondence with regard to the navy began to change as it came under the influence of the ideas of commander william sims. Roosevelt had been aware of sims while he was assistant secretary and he did not think much of him then. He thought he was hysterical and a troublemaker. Sims was nearly evangelical in his advocacy for improving the accuracy of gunfire within the force. Advancing the then radical idea that it was the accuracy of guns not the volume of fire that one battles. Now some six years later,