President Flavel Sweeten Luther (left) and Theodore Roosevelt (right) at commencement, June 17, 1918. Photo credit: Trinity College Archives

On June 16, 1918, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, invited by his friend President Flavel Sweeten Luther, visited Trinity and gave a speech during an open-air ceremony to over 5,000 people before Commencement. The place where he stood on the Long Walk to deliver the speech was later honored with a plaque.

Roosevelt centered his speech on the current conflict–the Great War, or World War I–as flags of the allied countries of Belgium, Britain, Italy, and France hung next to the flag of the United States over Roosevelt. In his speech, he spoke against “boasting,” the tendency for Americans to claim glory and power over the opposing forces, mainly Germany, but not following through with actual participation in the war. He quoted a Bible verse: “One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.” This quote in its original Latin is found on the Roosevelt plaque.

Though he never mentioned his sons who were fighting the war, President Roosevelt did make reference to his cousin, Frank Roosevelt, who was a Trinity graduate. He had died while on duty for the National Guard in New York, and President Roosevelt used Frank's story as an example of the American nationalism and spirit he wanted to see in American citizens. He criticized those who had wanted peace during the Civil War and fought for neither side, stating that it would have only delayed inevitable wars later on. Roosevelt critiqued current pacifists of the World War, he himself only wanting to give peace to “a Germany beaten to her knees.”

The closing statement to Roosevelt's speech was “Our business is to win the war and to win it now.”

Trinity and the Story of Two Presidents (2008) by Ward S. Curran, pp. 4-5.

Trinity Tripod, 06/22/1918.

Trinity College Bulletin (Commencement), 1918, pp. 3-15.