Decorah public opinion., 1910-10-05
ROOSEVELT'S ONLY DEFEAT.
Boyhood Friend of EX-President
Tells of His Defeat for Mayor
of New York.

[ mysterious manner in which destiny
n in a way unforeseen by any of his
, early friends, made his career pos
E sible, without recalling instantly ar
= intensely interesting experience
a had with him one night of his first
and only elective defeat.
/ was with Roosevelt much oi
the time during his campaign OF
3 1886, when he ran for mayor OF
S New York City," continued this
: boyhood friend of Col. Roosevelt
"He had come back from his North
: Dakota ranch to be enthusiastically
5 greeted by his party, and, although
2 he was not then 80 years of age,
| it had nominated him almost un-
: animously as its candidate for
mayor.
You never saw a candidate for
public Office work harder than
Roosevelt in that campaign. He
was everywhere in the city. He
dominated the campaign committee.
He was the same Roosevelt then
that he afterward was when he be-
came engaged in national politics.
/ had many talks with him dur
ing the course of the campaign and
he outlined to me his political am
bitions, which, he said, depended
upon the outcome of the campaign
he was making. If he could serve
as mayor for two terms, and make
the kind of mayor he hoped to
make, then he felt, he could reason
ably expect to be elected governor
of New York, then reelected, and
then-well, it was clear that at that
early day he had his eyes on Wash
ington.
On the evening of election day
went with Roosevelt to republican
campaign headquarters in the old
Fifth Avenue Hotel. The very first
returns that came in satisfied ex-
perienced campaigners that their
candidate had lost. But Roosevelt
was perfectly sanguine; he had be-
; lieved right along the reports
brought to him that thousands OF
Democrats were going to vote for
, him. Not until about II o'clock did
he give up hope and concede that he
: had been defeated.
By that time, Roosevelt, myself
and one or two others were the only
ones left in headquarters of the
large number who had gathered
there early in the evening to heal
!. the returns; he rest had skunk
away as bad report followed hastily
on the heels of bad report. Roose.
velt was tremendously detected. He
put on his overcoat and asked me tc
: walk home with him.
you are not going to walk
homer" I exclaimed in surprise.
Certainly, l am" he replied.
But there is a crowd of 10000
cheering Democrats right here OF
o the street and in the square in from
h of us. Many of them would recog
y nize you, and you would undoubted
= ly hear things said"
r Il don't care what they're say
ing" Roosevelt snapped. II an
not going to stink away"
: Finally, however, persuaded
him to take a cab. AS he entered
: the vehicle he fell into a corner. HI
was completely detected, and l have
always believed that he broke dowr
then and there for a moment. The
only thing l could think to say was
l Don't give up like that Roose.
t velt."
How can help it? My career
is ended" he replied, hopelessly.
'Nonsense!" / said. "You are
q not thirty years of age yet. You
have made race for mayor in q
, democratic city. Keep on as you
have begun in politics and you will
surely be governor of New York
state some day"
do you really think SOP" he
said, Frightening up. you do
Well, l am going to shake off this
detection. OF course, for the nom
ent I am disappointed. But I'll keeI
on"
Then it was / realized that Theo.
dore Roosevelt's political ambi
tions, instead of being crushed BY
this defeat, had really been stimu.
lated by it. And when left him 9
little while later at his home he was
again the animated, courageous
Vivacious Roosevelt of history"
The Vicfnr NnS;o