Books: A Constructive Radical

THE LETTERS OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT, VOLS. VII and VIII (1,621 pp.)—Edited by Elting E. Morison—Harvard ($20).

Theodore Roosevelt became a myth ahead of his time. This was partly due to a heroic combination of energy and diverse talents. The U.S. has had few public officials who could get equal enjoyment from shooting a charging rhino or writing an essay on Dante, from outwitting Manhattan's Tammany politicians or swapping opinions on Roman history with British scholar friends. It was also true that later generations, notably those raised under the administration of Teddy's cousin, Franklin Delano, could see Teddy, politically speaking, only in...