The Rough Riders · Question
How does The Rough Riders develop the theme of Individual Initiative vs. Bureaucracy?
Answer
The Rough Riders by Theodore Roosevelt develops Individual Initiative vs. Bureaucracy across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
Roosevelt contrasts the resourcefulness and 'individual initiative' of volunteer soldiers with the inefficiency and red tape of the military bureaucracy, which he criticizes for hampering the war effort.
Roosevelt contrasts the men's independent spirit with the need for military discipline, showing how they adapted without losing their initiative.
Roosevelt contrasts European militarism with American volunteer spirit, emphasizing the need for personal resourcefulness to overcome red tape and logistical chaos.
Roosevelt and others take personal initiative to secure supplies and recover lost equipment, overcoming the army's inadequate transportation system.
Evidence in the book
- Raising the Regiment
Roosevelt contrasts the men's independent spirit with the need for military discipline, showing how they adapted without losing their initiative.
- To Cuba
Roosevelt contrasts European militarism with American volunteer spirit, emphasizing the need for personal resourcefulness to overcome red tape and logistical chaos.
- General Young’s Fight at Las Guasimas
Roosevelt and others take personal initiative to secure supplies and recover lost equipment, overcoming the army's inadequate transportation system.
- V: In the Trenches
Roosevelt criticizes the military's administrative breakdown and describes how he bypassed absurd regulations to secure food and supplies for his men.
- VI: The Return Home
Roosevelt criticizes the War Department's panic and poor planning, contrasting it with the resourcefulness of officers who improvised to get food and medicine.
- Appendix A: Colonel Roosevelt’s Report to the Secretary of War of September 10th
Roosevelt details how regimental commanders had to improvise and seize resources due to systemic failures in the Army's supply and transportation systems.
- Appendix B: The "Round Robin" Letter
Roosevelt takes the initiative to write directly to Shafter and the press, bypassing official channels to force a decision, contrasting with the bureaucratic inertia of the War Department.
- Appendix C: Corrections
Roosevelt defends General Wheeler's decision to engage at Las Guasimas as a necessary initiative, contrasting with bureaucratic caution, and praises Washington for overruling retreat proposals.
