Lost Chapters
Speak Softly, Carry Big Stick: Quartz Item
Theodore Roosevelt used the saying "Speak softly and carry a big stick" in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 1901, when he was vice president. He called it a proverb, and it came to describe his foreign policy as president, which paired calm diplomacy with a strong military.
- Cost
- 5 crystals
- Type
- Item · Weapon
- Color
- Quartz (Founders & Revolution)
- Rarity
- Common
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Equip: +3/+3 and Guard.
Roosevelt's diplomatic philosophy that works best when your navy is larger than the next two combined.
The real history
On September 2, 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the Minnesota State Fair in Minneapolis. The Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University holds a typed draft of the address with his handwritten corrections. In it he called for justice at home and abroad and offered the proverb that became famous, "Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far." The Center describes it as an African proverb and one of his favorite sayings.
Roosevelt explained what he meant. A man who constantly blusters and lacks civility will not be saved by a big stick, and speaking softly does no good if there is no strength behind it. He said the same was true for a nation. Twelve days later, on September 14, 1901, President McKinley's death in Buffalo, New York, made Roosevelt president at age 43, the youngest in history.
His foreign policy came to be called big stick diplomacy. He backed Panama's independence from Colombia, and in 1903 a treaty gave the United States rights to build the Panama Canal. In December 1904 the Roosevelt Corollary said the United States would act as a regional police power in the Western Hemisphere. It was used to justify interventions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and it caused lasting resentment in Latin America.
The big stick was not only force. Roosevelt helped end the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906, the first American president to win it. He also sent sixteen battleships on a world cruise, the Great White Fleet, from December 1907 to February 1909 to show American naval strength.
Sources
- Address of Vice President Roosevelt, Minnesota State Fair, Minneapolis, Sept. 2nd, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University
- Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far, Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University
- Theodore Roosevelt: Foreign Affairs, Miller Center, University of Virginia
- Roosevelt and the Monroe Doctrine, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
How the card plays
Speak Softly, Carry Big Stick costs 5 crystals and is a Common Quartz Item (Weapon). Its card text is Equip: +3/+3 and Guard. The equipped character gets +3/+3, and Guard lets it block without resting.
That means the character can attack and still stand ready to block, which is exactly the point of the saying. Put it on a character you do not want to lose, since +3/+3 on a Guard blocker is hard for most decks to attack through. Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt gives your Adventurers +1/+1, so the stick suits an Adventurer. Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider is a fast attacker who gains even more punch from the extra power. Fort Sumter Fort Sumter gives your characters +0/+2, which makes your armed Guard blocker even tougher.
- Playable in decks led by George Washington, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Quartz.
- In the Washington starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-BhoCgAKBAYIBgwGEAYUBhgKHAYgBiQGKAYsBjAKNAY4BjwGQAZEBkgGTAZQBlQGWAZcBmAGZAZoCmwGcAZ0BngGfAaABoQFBjA - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Speak Softly, Carry Big Stick
When did Roosevelt say speak softly and carry a big stick?
He used it in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 1901, while he was vice president. McKinley died twelve days later and Roosevelt became president.
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