The Rough Rider and the Professor

"Jurdem’s exploration of the relationship between Roosevelt and Lodge poses enduring questions about political friendships as well as America’s current course as it faces many of the same challenges the two politicos encountered during the Gilded Age. The Rough Rider and the Professor serves as a reminder that people are not simply swept up by the currents of history. Their actions — in this case, byproducts of the internal struggles, divided loyalties and deeply held beliefs championed by Roosevelt and Lodge — can alter the direction not just of their lives but of a nation."

"This fascinating study reveals a new perspective on both Roosevelt and Lodge, and the impact of friendships on the course of events. Jurdem ably navigates the huge cache of letters exchanged between the two—some 2,500 in all—to tell a story rich with personal detail."

“Essential reading. Biography, in Mr. Jurdem’s capable hands, becomes an act of restoration.”

“Few American leaders have had as long and consequential a friendship as the rambunctious Rough Rider and the reserved Bay State Brahmin that Laurence Jurdem explores in this impressive new volume.”

"Few political friendships have been as consequential as that of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge. The two wrote or spoke to each other almost daily for decades, exchanging ideas, reading each other's books, promoting shared policies. As a congressman and senator, Lodge worked to advance TR's career; then an assassin's bullet made TR president, and the strains began to grow. By focusing on this pair, Laurence Jurdem shrewdly illuminates not only a fascinating personal relationship, but the making of modern politics and government at the dawn of the American century."

"Laurence Jurdem captures Roosevelt's passion and Lodge's prudence in this scintillating dual biography. It holds lessons for today."

"In this insightful study, Laurence Jurdem offers us the story of how two patrician politicians, one known for his embrace of the strenuous life and the other for his reflective nature, worked together to make their way through the complex world of American politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to bring the United States to a place on the world stage abroad and moderately progressive politics at home. Essential reading for those interested in how Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge balanced principle and pragmatism in the pursuit of policy through politics.”

"A tale of two U.S. politicians and their struggles to obtain and keep power. Jurdem documents the decades long relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, offering glimpses of both men at their best and worst as they made decisions that impacted American domestic and foreign policy. The author sheds new light on the intricacies of the Roosevelt-Lodge friendship."

“Friendships shape presidents. But those friends are often hidden in the shadows of history. With The Rough Rider and the Professor, Laurence Jurdem shines a bright light on a forgotten figure who shaped Theodore Roosevelt, and, therefore, modern America as well.”

"This fascinating study reveals a new perspective on both Roosevelt and Lodge, and the impact of friendships on the course of events. Jurdem ably navigates the huge cache of letters exchanged between the two—some 2,500 in all—to tell a story rich with personal detail."

"Laurence Jurdem captures Roosevelt's passion and Lodge's prudence in this scintillating dual biography. It holds lessons for today."

"In this insightful study, Laurence Jurdem offers us the story of how two patrician politicians, one known for his embrace of the strenuous life and the other for his reflective nature, worked together to make their way through the complex world of American politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to bring the United States to a place on the world stage abroad and moderately progressive politics at home. Essential reading for those interested in how Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge balanced principle and pragmatism in the pursuit of policy through politics.”

"A tale of two U.S. politicians and their struggles to obtain and keep power. Jurdem documents the decades long relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, offering glimpses of both men at their best and worst as they made decisions that impacted American domestic and foreign policy. The author sheds new light on the intricacies of the Roosevelt-Lodge friendship."

“Friendships shape presidents. But those friends are often hidden in the shadows of history. With The Rough Rider and the Professor, Laurence Jurdem shines a bright light on a forgotten figure who shaped Theodore Roosevelt, and, therefore, modern America as well.”

"The impulsive and fiery Teddy Roosevelt would seem to have little in common with the stoic and cerebral Henry Cabot Lodge, but as Laurence Jurdem points out in this insightful and highly enjoyable book, the two men shared an unshakable belief in American exceptionalism and a progressive faith in using government to tame the excesses of unrestrained capitalism. Jurdem skillfully highlights how their thirty-year friendship offers a window into understanding American society in the first decades of the twentieth century. Highly recommended!”