Evan Thomas Takes a Closer Look at War and Other Stuff in New Book

Evan Thomas was not, as Imus put it, “in a rush to trash poor ol’ Theodore Roosevelt” with his latest book The War Lovers. He merely shows how Roosevelt, a “great President" who “belongs up there on Mount Rushmore,” was "a little crazed" during the lead-up to the Spanish-American War in 1898.

“He wanted to go to war with Mexico, or Canada, or Britain, or Germany, or Spain,” said Thomas. “Any war would do.”

There have been negative pictures painted of Roosevelt lately, like in James Bradley’s book The Imperial Cruise, and Thomas acknowledged it’s not difficult to do. “If you look at Roosevelt’s letters, he was a big time racist by our terms,” he said. “It’s offensive today, but in the 1890s, that’s the way people wrote, that’s the way they thought.”

The idea for The War Lovers struck Thomas in 2006, when he was writing about the Iraq War for Newsweek and became fascinated with the idea of “war fever” taking hold in a country.

“It seems to happen about once a generation, and just endlessly repeats itself,” said Thomas, who was initially hawkish about Iraq, and then had second thoughts. As he looked back throughout history, the war with Spain stuck out as a perfect example of a country getting swept up with the idea of going to war.

In 1898, the catalyst for war was the “bombing” of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor, a fabricated event. “It was a faulty boiler,” said Thomas, adding that the U.S. Navy proved as much years later. “They essentially covered it up because they needed an excuse for war, they needed provocation.”

Using Cuba’s desire for independence and the sinking of the Maine as justifications, along with a heavy dose of nationalism and public outcry, Roosevelt and other warmongers, like Henry Cabot Lodge and publisher William Randolph Hearst (who really just wanted to sell as many newspapers as possible), began a war.

“We hadn’t had a war since the Civil War,” said Thomas. “We had forgotten how horrible war was.”

But the Spanish-American War actually helped heal some old wounds; Southerners waved American flags for the first time since the Civil War. “It was a splendid little war,” Thomas said. “Until it got ugly.”

Which is what war tends to do. Suddenly the United States inherited The Philippines, where they were viewed as occupiers even though they liberated its people from Spain. “The situation obviously has echoes from Iraq,” said Thomas. “It was an ugly war that Americans eventually turned against.”

Roosevelt ultimately declared the war over, but the sour taste in America’s mouth would not last long.  “This kind of stuff happens over and over again,” said Thomas, who is not surprised by the continual need men have for war. “If we haven’t had a war for a long time, we kind of need one. It’s scary, because weapons are getting nastier and nastier, and wars so rarely turn out the way you think they’re going to.”

He added, “They’re brutalizing, and debasing, and then everybody feels bad about it. Until the next time.”

It’s not entirely unlike being a guest on this show.

-Julie Kanfer