THE APPROACHING STORM

A meticulously researched examination of the dynamic among three important American newsmakers of the early 20th century.

Jane Addams was the vociferous pacifist, and Theodore Roosevelt was hellbent on military buildup. President Woodrow Wilson straddled the fence as long as he could. In this chronological work, Lanctot, the author of two books on early professional baseball, delineates the incremental influence each person had on the other two as Europe became enmeshed in a bloody conflict and the U.S. tried to stay neutral. Addams, founder of Chicago’s Hull House, “where dedicated men and women lived among the urban poor while providing much needed social services,” was an important voice in progressive causes such as protection for workers and women’s suffrage. She advocated for diplomacy among the world leaders and actually traveled to meet them. Roosevelt, former president and leader of the progressive Bull Moose Party, believed the U.S. should take an active military lead. While his sons participated in a “War Department–run military training camp” in upstate New York, he pushed for universal military service as a boost to his political comeback in 1916. Wilson, obsessed after his wife’s death with widow Edith Galt, with whom he shared state secrets, had originally campaigned on neutrality. He held off the hawks even after German submarines torpedoed the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, while Roosevelt believed he was instrumental in getting Wilson to accept his view that “unless America prepares to defend itself she can perform no duty to others.” Germany’s continued aggressive submarine missions gradually helped turn American opinion until the spark of the Zimmerman Telegram, which revealed a German plot to enlist Mexico in an invasion of the U.S. Lanctot’s book is too long and his prose too wordy, but he delivers an interesting take on how Addams, Roosevelt, and Wilson interacted in alternately cooperative and competitive ways.

A rigorous, dense historical study that reveals how three individuals helped pave the way for the American century.