Dear Editor,

I read the editorial below in the opinion page of the St. Louis Dispatch from March 20. I thought this needs to be shared with the readers of The Kewanee Voice.

To me it is amazing that Mr. Roosevelt’s words spoken over 125 years ago still have real meaning in our world today. I wonder if all leaders of world powers would heed these words that there would be less strife in the world and more peace. Just wondering

What Teddy Roosevelt Can Teach Today’s Leaders About Power

I find myself looking to past leaders for some sign of reasoned governance in these turbulent times.

While reading Bret Baier’s recent biography of Teddy Roosevelt, I came across a speech that then–Vice President Roosevelt delivered at the 1901 Minnesota State Fair. In it, he laid out his philosophy for guiding foreign and domestic policy decisions. See if Roosevelt’s words resonate with you as they do with me.

“In private life there are few beings more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting, and if the boaster is not prepared to back up his words, his position becomes absolutely contemptible. So it is with the nation. It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification and, above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples. Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power.

Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate, we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace, the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people.”

If only our current leadership understood how to manage our might while speaking softly and preserving peace in the world.

R.W. Hafer is the former Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Greg Christakos
Kewanee, Illinois