Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin: Madness, Vengeance, and the Campaign of 1912

Description

Prologue: "Avenge my death!" -- "We stand at Armageddon" --"God has called me to be His instrument" -- "We want no king" -- "A perfect stranger" -- "I'm not a fancy fencing match" -- "It was a new thing to me" -- "A decent, respectable reception" -- "I want to be a good Indian, O.K." -- "He pinked me, Harry" -- "The wound is a trivial one" -- "I am not a lunatic" -- Epilogue: "I have already lived and enjoyed as much of my life as any other nine men I know.";John Flammang Schrank?a lonely Manhattan saloonkeeper?was obsessed with the 1912 presidential election and Theodore Roosevelt. The ex-president?s extremism and third-term campaign were downright un-American. Convinced that TR would ignite civil war and leave the nation?open to foreign invasion, Schrank answered what he believed to be a divine summons, Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin is the dynamic unfolding account of the audacious attempt on Roosevelt?s life by a lone and fanatical assailant. Based on original sources including police interrogations, eyewitness testimony, and newspaper reports, the book is above all a fast-paced, suspenseful narrative. Drawing from Schrank?s own statements and writings, it also provides a chilling glimpse into the mind of a political assassin. Rich with local color and period detail, it transports the reader to the American heartland during a pivotal moment in our history, when the forces of progressivism and conservatism were battling for the nation?s soul?and the most revered man in America traveled across the country campaigning relentlessly against Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Socialist Eugene V. Debs in what historians agree was the first modern American presidential contest.