ABSTRACT

President Theodore Roosevelt attempted to give his country a fresh sense of direction. Like America’s founders, Roosevelt differed with Machiavelli on significant points, but, again like the founders, he frequently partook of the Florentine’s logic. Over the course of his career, Roosevelt presented a collection of principles that could, in theory, form the basis for a new American grand strategy. His points about globalization, the common interests of putatively civilized nations, America’s obligations to the world and the dangers of selfish complacency among the citizenry foreshadow many arguments that remain influential in the twenty-first century.