[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2066]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




AUTHORIZING AWARD OF CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. WILLIAM (BILL) CLAY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 8, 1998

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, if there had been a recorded vote rather than 
a voice vote on H.R. 2263, a bill to confer the Congressional Medal of 
Honor on Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, I would have voted ``no''. To 
honor the former President some 100 years after his alleged act of 
bravery during the battle of San Juan Heights, Cuba, would be just 
another example of how American history is constantly and erroneously 
revised.
  Common sense should dictate that if Mr. Roosevelt accomplished the 
great and valiant deeds of heroism that he (Mr. Roosevelt) claims, then 
he would have been awarded the medal many years ago. If Roosevelt's 
popularity immediately following the Spanish American War played a 
major role in his being elected governor of New York and helped his 
many friends in the highest places of government, why was he denied the 
honor?
  Roosevelt enlisted the aid of his political powerful friend, Senator 
Henry Cabot Lodge to pursue the matter and still was rejected. The 
primary basis for the rejection was there were no eyewitnesses to Mr. 
Roosevelt's courageous actions. His superior officers, Generals Leonard 
Wood, Joseph Wheeler and William Shafter all submitted glowing 
endorsements of Roosevelt's ``distinguished gallantry'', but they were 
viewed with little merit as none of them actually witnessed his alleged 
heroic charge. The only credible eyewitness was Roosevelt's personal 
publicist, Richard Harding Davis, who accompanied Roosevelt to Cuba.
  Hundreds of highly decorated units of black soldiers were among the 
first to be sent to Cuba in 1898 to fight in the Spanish American War, 
including the 9th and 10th Calvary and the 24th and 25th Army 
Regiments. These heroic soldiers waged a furious battle, capturing El 
Caney and charging the enemy from the summit at San Juan Hill. Their 
acts of bravery enabled Colonel Roosevelt and his ``Rough Riders'' to 
win San Juan Hill the following day. According to an article which 
appeared in the Washington Times on February 8, 1991, ``Neither Col. 
Theodore Roosevelt, whose name is most commonly associated with the 
battle of San Juan Hill, nor any other Roughrider reached the summit 
before the black calvary''.
  The Americans outnumbered the Spanish militia 10 to 1, but the 
undermanned Spaniard troops fought fiercely from their concrete 
blockhouses. American casualties were heavy. More than 200 were killed 
or injured. Five Negro soldiers won Congressional Medals of Honor for 
bravery in the battle at El Caney and San Juan Hill. They were Dennis 
Bell, Edward Baker, Fitz Lee, William Thomkins and George Wanton. 
Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, lauded them as being the ``bravest 
men'' he had ever seen.
  Mr. Speaker, Teddy Roosevelt was no hero at San Juan and his 
insistence that he was is not sufficient to justify the House of 
Representatives authorizing the President to award him the 
Congressional Medal of Honor. This high distinction is reserved for 
those who have performed extraordinary fetes of bravery.

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