Theodore Roosevelt Just a Month After His Great Amazon Trip: “It is impossible at my age to have gone through Brazil, in the manner I did, and not pay something for it”

He also defends his canal treaty with Panama, saying “it does not seem to me that I could advance a theory that a section of a treaty I negotiated is unconstitutional”

 

Many believe that this trip to Brazil in 1913-14 hastened his death

The Hay-Herrán Treaty, negotiated with the nation of Colombia in 1903, allowed the United States rights to the land surrounding the planned Panama Canal. The Colombian Senate refused to ratify the treaty, but Panama was in the process of seceding from Colombia. President Theodore Roosevelt therefore supported the cause of Panamanian independence with the Canal in mind. His support paid off, and on November 18, 1903, the United States signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, establishing permanent U.S. rights to a Panama Canal Zone that stretched across the isthmus. This was the only major treaty TR negotiated with a foreign nation that affected the United States during his time in office. At some point afterwards, there were questions about its constitutionality, but it remained in effect and was one of Roosevelt’s enduring achievements.

After losing a bid for a third presidential term in the 1912 election, the government of Brazil suggested that TR accompany famous Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon on his exploration of the previously unknown River of Doubt, the headwaters of which had only recently been discovered. Roosevelt, seeking adventure and challenge, agreed. The expedition started in Caceres, a small town on the Paraguay River, in December 1913. They traveled to the headwaters of the River of Doubt. From there, the expedition traveled northwest, through dense forests and then later through the plains. They reached the River of Doubt on February 27, 1914. At this point, due to a lack of food supplies, the Expedition split up, with part of the Expedition heading towards the Madeira River. The remaining party – Roosevelts, Colonel Rondon, American naturalist George Cherrie, and 15 Brazilian porters – then started down the River of Doubt.

Almost from the start, the expedition was fraught with problems. Insects and disease such as malaria weighed heavily on just about every member of the expedition, leaving them in a constant state of sickness, festering wounds and high fevers. The heavy dug-out canoes were unsuitable to the constant rapids and were often lost, requiring days to build new ones. The food provisions were ill-conceived forcing the team on starvation diets. By the time the expedition had made it only about one-quarter of the way down the river, they were physically exhausted and sick from starvation, disease, and the constant labor of hauling canoes around rapids. By its end, everyone on the expedition except for Colonel Rondon was either sick, injured, or both. Roosevelt himself was near death, having received a gash in his leg that had become infected, and the party feared for his life each day. Eventually they made it out. Roosevelt nearly died. Three weeks later, a greatly weakened Roosevelt made it home to a hero’s welcome in New York. His health never fully recovered after the trip, and he died less than five years later of related causes. One known issue related to his throat, lungs and breathing.

Sponsored in part by the American Museum of Natural History, the party returned in late May 1914 with many new animal and insect specimens. The river was eventually named “Rio Roosevelt” for the former president. The journey was the subject of the popular history book “River of Doubt.”

Typed letter signed, on his Outlook letterhead, June 26, 1914, to Progressive Congressman William Hinebaugh, about his trip to Brazil, with a remark on the Constitutionality of his treaty with Panama. “It does not seem to me that I could advance a theory that a section of a treaty I negotiated is unconstitutional.

“It is fine to hear from you. My throat is not in good shape. I suppose it is impossible at my age to have gone through Brazil, in the manner I did, and not pay something for it. I shall be able to make a certain number of speeches, but I shall not be able to make anything in the nature of a ‘car-tail’ campaign, or to speak more than three or four days consecutively, or except in halls.”

A very uncommon letter characterizing his physical condition after his trip to Brazil. In fact, it is the first we have had.