In January 1932, President Hoover appointed Theodore Roosevelt Jr. to the position of Governor General of the Philippines. Fresh from a four-year tour as Governor General of Puerto Rico, Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor, and their daughter Gracie left their home in New York and journeyed via rail and ship to the Philippines. The Roosevelts boarded the President Taft in Seattle for the trip across the Pacific with stops in Japan and China before arriving in Manila.
After the month long journey, the President Taft arrived in Manila and as the ship docked, Roosevelt stood alongside the rail and shouted Mabuhay to the waiting crowd. According to a Manila newspaper, the resulting cheer continued until the roar of a seventeen-gun salute eclipsed it. The estimated size of the crowd was thirty to fifty thousand.
A battalion of US Calvary honored Roosevelt and contingent of Philippine Scouts escorted him to Luneta, the largest town square in the city. At Luneta Roosevelt became the first Governor General to take the oath of office in the Philippines vice Washington. Roosevelt purposely gave up a month’s salary to make a point to the Filipino people. Roosevelt wrote his own speech and broadcast it live throughout the islands.
Roosevelt Entertains George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw and his wife stopped in the Philippines during their cruise of the world. The Governor General and his wife entertained the Shaws in the Governor’s palace. According to Mrs. Roosevelt she engaged in a good natured argument with George Bernard Shaw about “split infinitives, misplaced prepositions, and long Germanic sentences that ended in verbs,” a habit of her husband. Shaw responded that his wife “often wanted to get her hands on his sentences.
After lunch Roosevelt’s aide, Major Matt Ridgway, gave the Shaws a sightseeing tour of Manila. Upon completion of the tour, the Shaw’s returned to their steamer and sent a thank you note to the Roosevelt’s along with an inscribed copy of The Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God.
Roosevelt Tours the Islands
In March of 1932, Roosevelt toured 48 of the 49 Island provinces, more than any preceding governor general had accomplished. Roosevelt has a reputation as a big game hunter from his experience in Southeast Asia obtaining specimens for the Chicago Museum of Natural History. During his tour, the local Filipinos asked Roosevelt to hunt wild Carabao. Roosevelt did not want to hunt the Carabao but felt it would be bad for his image to refuse. Instead, while a group of reporters and people watched he shot a running Carabao and brought it down with a single shot. Thereafter the Filipinos called him “one-shot Teddy.”
The Philippines Herald commented on the hunting excursion by saying: “A Governor General who does not mind being bitten by jungle mosquitoes, who can fall into wild Carabao barrows and like it, who can drink Igorot wine and lick his chops, who can be really human without losing his grin –he is some kind of Governor General.”
The Roosevelts Meet a Colony of Lepers
Roosevelt and his wife visited a leper colony on the island of Culion. There were six thousand lepers on the island and all that could came out to greet the Governor and his wife. Initially Eleanor thought about not going to the island, but when she reached the island, she realized she made the right decision. As the Governor and his wife, they saw a huge arch, erected in their honor that said, “Mabuhay Governor General and Mrs. Roosevelt.”
Dr. H. Windsor Wade, an executive board member of the Leonard Wood Memorial Foundation administered the colony. After addressing the crowd that came out to see him Roosevelt went to the hospital to meet the rest of the lepers. Roosevelt did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings and shook the hand of all the lepers that presented themselves. Mrs. Roosevelt said her saddest memory of the leper colony was a troop of boy scouts, including their leader, that were in the colony.
Roosevelt Visits Bontoc
The Governor General and his wife also ventured into the former headhunter country of the Igorots. After staying in the mountain city of Baguio, the Roosevelts took a seven-hour ride to Bontoc. In Bontoc, they met the head of the local hospital Dr. Hillary Clapp. A missionary took Clapp to the United States when he was a boy, and Clapp returned to his native Bontoc as a doctor. Clapp told tales of the headhunting days and showed the Governor the walls that heads hung on to dry.
The same night the natives entertained the Governor with a series of dances, or canao, in the town square. First, the Bontoc natives danced, led by their presidente, then another tribe, the Ifugao danced, followed by the Kalingas. Mrs. Roosevelt gave the children candy and the dancers knives from Manila. In return, the Filipinos gifted the Roosevelts with two head axes, two spears, and a shield.
Roosevelt Submits Legislation to the Philippine People
Roosevelt had three major goals that he expressed to the legislature: reorganize the government to conform to its income, aid small farmers by reforming the land laws, and extending and improving elementary and vocational education.
The response from all areas was overwhelmingly positive. Carlos Romulo wrote an editorial that said, “Theodore Roosevelt has established the first era of good feeling that our government has ever known” Roosevelt was so liked by the Filipino people that both house of legislature passed a joint resolution expressing, “the appreciation of the Philippine Legislature of the administration of Governor General Theodore Roosevelt.” The legislature framed the resolution in silver and presented it to Roosevelt.
Election of FDR Means Goodbye for Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the presidential election. As is customary, after the presidential inauguration the Governor General submitted his resignation. Unfortunately, even though related, the Roosevelts did not get along. In fact, when Theodore ran for Governor of New York, Franklin’s wife, also named Eleanor, campaigned against Theodore. When asked about his relation to the president Theodore replied, “Fifth cousin about to be removed.” Roosevelt was correct and his resignation was immediately accepted.
On March 16, 1933, Theodore Roosevelt left the Philippines. Throngs of Filipinos lined the dock to see him off and shouts of God Bless You and Mabuhay filled the air. Two seventeen gun salutes greeted the Roosevelts as they left under the escort of four destroyers. That night the huge guns of the island fortress of Corregidor boomed in salute of the former Governor General.
References:
Roosevelt, Eleanor B. (Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.), Day Before Yesterday, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1959, 478pp.
Larry Putt - Larry Putt is a Steam Plant Operator, Radiological Controls Technician, Nuclear Chemist, and an Episcopal Lay Preacher. A veteran of the ...
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