Presidential Parlance: Theodore Roosevelt on "The Man with the Muck Rake" (1906)

Learn these words from Roosevelt's April 14, 1906 speech that calls the press to treat its subjects with objective moderation. During his two terms in office, Theodore Roosevelt made the White House the center of news every day, which he facilitated by giving reporters a special room. Coverage was mostly favorable, but when Joseph Pulitzer published accusations of misconduct in the building of the Panama Canal, the President tried to charge him with libel.
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words only definitions & notes
  1. filth
    any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant
    In Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck Rake, the man who could look no way but downward, with the muck rake in his hand; who was offered a celestial crown for his muck rake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake to himself the filth of the floor.
  2. vile
    morally reprehensible
    Now, it is very necessary that we should not flinch from seeing what is vile and debasing.
  3. service
    work done by one person or group that benefits another
    There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck rake; and there are times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed.
  4. potent
    having or wielding force or authority
    But the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck rake, speedily becomes, not a help but one of the most potent forces for evil.
  5. exposure
    presentation to view in an open or public manner
    There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man, whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, business, or social life.
  6. merciless
    lacking pity, compassion, or forgiveness
    I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform or in a book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.
  7. mendacity
    the tendency to be untruthful
    The liar is no whit better than the thief, and if his mendacity takes the form of slander he may be worse than most thieves.
  8. exaggeration
    extravagant embellishment
    It puts a premium upon knavery untruthfully to attack an honest man, or even with hysterical exaggeration to assail a bad man with untruth.
  9. indiscriminate
    failing to make or recognize distinctions
    An epidemic of indiscriminate assault upon character does no good, but very great harm.
  10. assail
    attack in speech or writing
    The soul of every scoundrel is gladdened whenever an honest man is assailed, or even when a scoundrel is untruthfully assailed.
  11. endorsement
    the act of approving
    Some persons are sincerely incapable of understanding that to denounce mud slinging does not mean the endorsement of whitewashing; and both the interested individuals who need whitewashing and those others who practice mud slinging like to encourage such confusion of ideas.
  12. unscrupulous
    without principles
    One of the chief counts against those who make indiscriminate assault upon men in business or men in public life is that they invite a reaction which is sure to tell powerfully in favor of the unscrupulous scoundrel who really ought to be attacked, who ought to be exposed, who ought, if possible, to be put in the penitentiary.
  13. praise
    express approval of
    If Aristides is praised overmuch as just, people get tired of hearing it; and over-censure of the unjust finally and from similar reasons results in their favor.
  14. excess
    immoderation from going beyond sufficient limits
    Any excess is almost sure to invite a reaction; and, unfortunately, the reactions instead of taking the form of punishment of those guilty of the excess, is apt to take the form either of punishment of the unoffending or of giving immunity, and even strength, to offenders.
  15. reckless
    marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences
    Gross and reckless assaults on character, whether on the stump or in newspaper, magazine, or book, create a morbid and vicious public sentiment, and at the same time act as a profound deterrent to able men of normal sensitiveness and tend to prevent them from entering the public service at any price.
  16. corrupt
    dishonest or immoral or evasive
    At the risk of repetition let me say again that my plea is not for immunity to, but for the most unsparing exposure of, the politician who betrays his trust, of the big business man who makes or spends his fortune in illegitimate or corrupt ways.
  17. lurid
    glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism
    Expose the crime, and hunt down the criminal; but remember that even in the case of crime, if it is attacked in sensational, lurid, and untruthful fashion, the attack may do more damage to the public mind than the crime itself.
  18. indispensable
    essential
    The men with the muck rakes are often indispensable to the well being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck, and to look upward to the celestial crown above them, to the crown of worthy endeavor.
  19. distinction
    a discrimination between things as different
    If the whole picture is painted black there remains no hue whereby to single out the rascals for distinction from their fellows.
  20. generalization
    an idea or conclusion having broad application
    To assail the great and admitted evils of our political and industrial life with such crude and sweeping generalizations as to include decent men in the general condemnation means the searing of the public conscience.
  21. cynical
    believing the worst of human nature and motives
    There results a general attitude either of cynical belief in and indifference to public corruption or else of a distrustful inability to discriminate between the good and the bad.
  22. disinterested
    unaffected by concern for one's own welfare
    There is any amount of good in the world, and there never was a time when loftier and more disinterested work for the betterment of mankind was being done than now.
  23. generosity
    the trait of being willing to give your money or time
    The forces that tend for evil are great and terrible, but the forces of truth and love and courage and honesty and generosity and sympathy are also stronger than ever before.
  24. sobriety
    abstaining from excess
    The men who with stern sobriety and truth assail the many evils of our time, whether in the public press, or in magazines, or in books, are the leaders and allies of all engaged in the work for social and political betterment.
  25. virtue
    any admirable quality or attribute
    But if they give good reason for distrust of what they say, if they chill the ardor of those who demand truth as a primary virtue, they thereby betray the good cause and play into the hands of the very men against whom they are nominally at war.
  26. poise
    a state of being balanced in a stable equilibrium
    This truth should be kept constantly in mind by every free people desiring to preserve the sanity and poise indispensable to the permanent success of self-government.
  27. acquiescence
    acceptance without protest
    Bad though a state of hysterical excitement is, and evil though the results are which come from the violent oscillations such excitement invariably produces, yet a sodden acquiescence in evil is even worse.
  28. agitation
    disturbance usually in protest
    So far as this movement of agitation throughout the country takes the form of a fierce discontent with evil, of a determination to punish the authors of evil, whether in industry or politics, the feeling is to be heartily welcomed as a sign of healthy life.
  29. condone
    excuse, overlook, or make allowances for
    We can no more and no less afford to condone evil in the man of capital than evil in the man of no capital.
  30. denounce
    speak out against
    No good whatever will come from that warped and mock morality which denounces the misdeeds of men of wealth and forgets the misdeeds practiced at their expense; which denounces bribery, but blinds itself to blackmail; which foams with rage if a corporation secures favors by improper methods, and merely leers with hideous mirth if the corporation is itself wronged.
  31. zealot
    a fervent and even militant proponent of something
    But in addition to honesty, we need sanity. No honesty will make a public man useful if that man is timid or foolish, if he is a hot-headed zealot or an impracticable visionary.
  32. discontent
    a longing for something better than the present situation
    On the other hand, the wild preachers of unrest and discontent, the wild agitators against the entire existing order, the men who act crookedly, whether because of sinister design or from mere puzzle headedness, the men who preach destruction without proposing any substitute for what they intend to destroy, or who propose a substitute which would be far worse than the existing evils—all these men are the most dangerous opponents of real reform.
  33. provoke
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    If they fail to get their way they will still do incalculable harm by provoking the kind of reaction which in its revolt against the senseless evil of their teaching would enthrone more securely than ever the evils which their misguided followers believe they are attacking.
  34. sympathy
    sharing the feelings of others, especially sorrow or anguish
    More important than aught else is the development of the broadest sympathy of man for man.
  35. welfare
    a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous
    The welfare of the wage worker, the welfare of the tiller of the soil, upon these depend the welfare of the entire country; their good is not to be sought in pulling down others; but their good must be the prime object of all our statesmanship.
Created on Tue Mar 28 14:20:18 EDT 2017 (updated Mon Sep 09 13:47:57 EDT 2019)

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