Imperial Cruise Paperback – Illustrated, November 8, 2010

Author James Bradley's title "The Imperial Cruise" is not so much an irrelevance to his story as it is an aside that tells you what was going in the places that made up the cruise's itinerary: Hawaii, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Beijing, Korea, and Japan. The passenger manifest included 23 members of Congress, the Secretary of War, Howard Taft, and the darling of the press, Alice Roosevelt, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt. With the spotlight on the effervescent Alice and her boyfriend, Teddy was free to conduct his foreign policy on the sly without notice of Congress, the country, or the Nobel Committee.Avoiding Congress and impeachment requires a better understanding of the 26th president, who he was, what he believed, and the image he nurtured so carefully right down to the letters he wrote to his children, knowing that they would someday be read by others.Our image of Theodore Roosevelt is a man's man, a rancher, boxer, wrestler and "Great Bwana," or great white hunter, but the boy whose asthma was so bad, few thought he would survive to adulthood. As a young New York Assemblyman his high pitched voice and purple velvet suit allowed his colleagues and the press to invent derisive metaphors. Roosevelt strove to burn a new image when virility, Aryan superiority, and power were man's highest level of self-actualization. He made it a point to have many photos of him looking resolute in hunter's garb, rifle in hand, complete with fake background, and he would never allow a photograph of him in tennis whites.Roosevelt continued his image building by going west in deluxe Pullman accommodations to South Dakota, the "Aspen Colorado" of the 19th Century. Giving the impression that he spent years raising cattle and running his own ranch, he spent no more than a few months in as many years, having spent half his inheritance when he eventually sold the failing business.This need to appear manly was part of his education where he learned that the Rome Empire fell to the Teutonic savages because they were overcivilized and had gone soft. The Teutonic Germans melded with the Anglo-Saxon heritage where it honed its advances in civilization to become the dominant Aryan race that should influence the world and tame the "Pacific negroes." Teddy was convinced the White Christian civilization should be spread across the globe because every other race was distinctly inferior.As president, Roosevelt had the power and the timing to give expression to his beliefs. He issued the "Roosevelt Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which is instilled in every American today: the U. S. will be the international policeman and reserves the right to interfere in the internal affairs of any other country if it suits our interest. The country goes from a doctrine that is defensive in nature to one that is belligerent. Roosevelt's Secretary of State was ill and near death. His Secretary of War, William Taft was compliant, jovial, and eager to please. He would be Roosevelt's "diplomatic pouch" to the nations he visited by imperial cruise.Bradley's account affords a whole new, disturbing insight into American History that is unpleasant to read but profoundly interesting. It was Roosevelt who annexed the Philippines after promising them their independence. It was Roosevelt who encouraged Japan to take Korea and fight Russia, with the promise that they would leave the Philippines alone. It wasn't Roosevelt that brokered an agreement between Russia and Japan as much as playing both to get what he wanted for American interests. And it was Roosevelt who suggested that Japan adopt its own Monroe Doctrine. We would hear of it later as the East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. It was from Roosevelt the Japanese culled their mistrust of anything western and white. It also resulted in World War II. In the continuing irony of history, one Roosevelt chastised a country for what another family member told that country to do.Bradley goes into the Open Door Policy the west demanded, and the Closed Door Policy the U. S. practiced. The annexation of the Philippines is nothing more than a forerunner of the Nazi regime four decades later, as Filipinos are put in concentration camps where disease and starvation take their toll. Moros tribesmen are slaughtered to the applause of the president. Besides the introduction of Christianity to the Sandwich Islands, the missionaries bring pestilence and covetousness that decimates a population and robs the natives of their land. In the final irony the actions of Roosevelt and his contempt for the "inferior Asian races" would be the slow, long-burning fuse that would ignite Asian nationalism and pride.This is a book that is as easy to read as it is sickening to read. (It has many fascinating details that cannot be added here). It is a necessary book for Americans to learn more about what really happened beyond the glossy presentations taught in history classes. It is an important book because many Americans think in terms of a Roosevelt Corollary without being able to explain what it really means.When I was finished, I sat back and pondered. The book made me think and still does after I read the last page, last night. I suppose that is the mark of a book's success, one that stays in your mind, long after its over."Annex" a copy for yourself and learn what really happened in American History.You'll even learn what happened to Alice.

I have read 2 other books by this James Bradley, Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys. Both of those books were well written and interesting, but somewhat narrow in scope. Bradley's father was one of the men in the iconic flag raising on Iwo Jima. This book Imperial Cruise is a very strong historical book about the pathway to WWII. I think Bradley really makes a very strong case.I had always known about our "somewhat" imperialistic tendencies toward the end of the 1800s that was clearly a follow on to our slaughter of the "native" Americans. I'm not sure I buy their having any more claim to the Americas than the white man. Though it is certainly true we brutally, unjustly dispossessed them of land they did occupy. Understanding they were as brutal as the white man given the opportunity. We grabbed everything in sight and laid down the Monroe Doctrine. Our treatment of them after conquest being another matter.Bradley essentially concerns himself with our Pacific adventures in imperialism. But certainly not to the total exclusion of other grabs at the same time like Cuba. Our duplicitous assistance especially to the Hawaiians and Filipinos is quite detailed. A good deal of the book deals with Teddy Roosevelt's dishonest broker's hand along with accomplices like Big Bill Taft.I had always thought Commodore Perry was a great American who opened the doors of Japan. In reality he was an armed intruder who ushered in the end to 400 years of relative tranquility in Japan, truly did awaken a sleeping giant and taught it to be as aggressive and savage as we were. A quote from Mark Twain that was included in the book: "There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage then the other savages." We clearly demonstrated our infinite capacity for savagery.Myths frequently don't stand up to honest revelation. Teddy was not quite the rugged outdoorsman he portrayed himself to be. He was if anything an excellent spin doctor. The Panama canal was built explicitly in adherence to Thayer Mahan's plan for projection of naval sea power. Which of course Teddy used to further the white man's expansion. Without giving too much away one can see from Teddy's machinations in Asia all the way to our failed adventures in Korea and Vietnam.This book was recommended to me by a friend. I looked the book up on Amazon and checked out the reviews. So many people were giving it one star with the epithet that it was just left wing liberal propaganda I had to read it. Honest history is not propaganda. It is reality and who we are.I would rather know our history as it truly was/is then subscribe to a fantasy world that never existed. Bradley's book has the ring of well researched authenticity. I very highly recommend it to anyone genuinely interested in modern American history. Its a great backdrop to how we got here. The phrase "little brown brother" takes on a whole new meaning to me now. It is not an altogether pleasant read, but certainly one of the most enlightening books I've ever read.