The Wilderness Warrior - Douglas Brinkley [365]
Moved by Hay’s gesture, Roosevelt wrote back that he was wearing the ring and would do so when taking the oath of office on March 4. (Later, Roosevelt claimed to have encountered Lincoln’s ghost a few times in the White House corridors.69) The ring was a farewell gesture. On July 1 Hay died at his summer home in Newbury, New Hampshire, from what doctors believed to be a pulmonary embolism. His death was harder for Roosevelt to absorb than the assassination of McKinley. Without delay, however, Roosevelt appointed the intensely loyal Elihu Root to be Hay’s replacement at the State Department. It was an inspired choice, for in the coming years Root would successfully remove the consular service from the “spoils system” by placing it under the direction of the Civil Service, maintain the “open door” policy in the Far East, help create the Central American Court of Justice, and eventually win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912.
Roosevelt’s inauguration parade of March 4, 1905, was quite a spectacle. In the presidential stand 1,200 dignitaries from all over the world sat arm-to-arm. A light blanket of snow was draped over the White House, creating a fine, calming white hush. The half inch of snow wasn’t enough to create serious problems.70 In fact, a mild front had blown into town, making Washington pleasant though still cold. Once again, Roosevelt was lucky. Acting as the impresario for his own inauguration, he had imported the heroic staff figures from the Saint Louis world’s fair representing colorful pioneers, plainsmen, and scouts.71 At his request, thirty Rough Riders strode next to him as his special guard throughout the day. Representatives from every state and territory participated in Roosevelt’s gala parade. Bands blared and boys’ glee clubs sang. More than 2,000 American flags were handed out by the War Department so they could be waved by onlookers as the parade went by. A cold northwest wind swept through Washington, but throngs of sunburned cowboys from Texas and Oklahoma arrived to cheer Colonel Roosevelt.
At Roosevelt’s request $2,000 from the inaugural planning committee’s kitty had been appropriated to bring six renowned Native Americans to participate in the parade. They were the chiefs Geronimo (Apache), Buckskin Charlie (Ute), Little Plume (Blackfoot), America Horse (Brule Sioux), Hollow Horn Bear (Rosebud Sioux) and Quanah Parker (Comanche).72 Quanah, in a traditional costume, saluted the president flatteringly as the “Great White Chief,” initiating a lifelong friendship. Roosevelt promised Quanah—whom he admired greatly—that they would soon hunt wolves together in Oklahoma’s Big Pasture–Wichita Mountains. But for the time being, Roosevelt hoped the six chiefs would enjoy themselves in their capital city.
Old Seth Bullock—“the Captain”—Roosevelt’s conservationist protector of the Black Hills forest reserve, arrived in Washington, bringing with him the best broncos from Nebraska and cayuse ponies from South Dakota to march in the grand event. From Bullock’s perspective Roosevelt was the only president to understand the American West. For people from the rangelands, riding in Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural parade had replaced Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show as the highest honor. Cleverly, Bullock had asked the cowboy star Tom Mix to ride at his side, causing the girls in the audience to scream with delight. Roosevelt was so naturally close to Bullock that they “spoke” in sidelong looks, understanding everything in a mere glance. Following the parade Roosevelt appointed Bullock the U.S. marshal for South Dakota.73 “Seth Bullock is really a big fellow,” Roosevelt wrote to his son Ted. “He belongs to the Viking age just as much as Harold Hardraade, or Olaf the Glorious, or Gisli