In the Arena Read online

  More praise for In the Arena

  “With America’s free society being strangled by progressives and bureaucrats at home and America’s leadership assaulted by Islamists and globalists abroad, Pete Hegseth lays out a citizen-led road map for rejecting decline and forging another American century.”

  —Mark Levin, nationally syndicated radio host and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Plunder and Deceit

  “Pete Hegseth has written an impassioned, wide-ranging book that is a rallying cry for engaged patriots to get in the arena, where we belong.”

  —Rich Lowry, editor of National Review

  “Pete Hegseth just can’t seem to stop serving his country. He has defended America and then served its defenders. And now, in this extraordinary book, he shows how civic rhetoric, properly understood, can help recover civic spirit. This intellectual case for active patriotism could hardly be more timely.”

  —Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs

  “Pete Hegseth has written a contemporary update to Theodore Roosevelt’s iconic ‘man in the arena’ speech, one that makes for insightful and important reading.”

  —Ambassador John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN

  “In the Arena is a timely reminder of citizenship’s call to defend the American experiment. Pete Hegseth reminds us we’re each capable of the enduring commitment to advance freedom, whether through military service or by pursuing the American dream here at home.”

  —Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK), Iraq and Afghanistan veteran

  “Pete Hegseth tells the hard truths about what America needs, at home and overseas, to make the 21st century an American century. A must-read for patriots who want to fight for a free and strong America.”

  —Kimberly Guilfoyle, FOX News co-host of The Five and author of Making the Case

  “Be careful picking up this book, because it will motivate you to take action. This book grabs you by the shirt collar. Pete Hegseth makes an impassioned and informed case for a tough-minded foreign policy as only he can. Pete already went to war for us—read In the Arena and find out why.”

  —S. E. Cupp, CNN commentator and author of Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity

  “In this engaging, well-written book, drawing on the courageous virtues Teddy Roosevelt championed a century ago, Hegseth exhorts America to renew herself. It is a challenge . . . and an inspiration.”

  —Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review contributing editor and New York Times bestselling author of The Grand Jihad

  “Every page, clear and concise, forces the reader to pause and to think: What sort of America do we want, and how do we get there? A smart, combat-proven soldier with a resounding message, Pete Hegseth is a modern-day Teddy Roosevelt. He writes with verve.”

  —Bing West, bestselling author of One Million Steps: A Marine Platoon at War

  “America needs this book now more than ever. Pete Hegseth brilliantly resurrects one of the finest speeches in history and illustrates how a great republic is maintained through citizenry, family, honesty, and patriotism.”

  —Robert J. O’Neill, SEAL Team Six

  “Pete Hegseth has written a book that’s at once informative and inspiring, educational and captivating. His hero Teddy Roosevelt would have enjoyed it. So will you.”

  —William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard

  “This book gives voice to our generation’s fight and makes a convincing case for applying the lessons we learned—strength, resolve, and leadership, among the many—to a continued world of dangerous threats. If you love America, and are concerned about our future, you should read this book.”

  —Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Iraq and Afghanistan veteran

  “Pete Hegseth, who was among those who bravely risked their lives for our beloved nation in Iraq and Afghanistan, has given us a fine book explaining what it means to be “in the arena” and why it is critical for all of us to stand up and speak out for limited government and fidelity to the Constitution and the fundamental freedoms it protects.”

  —Robert P. George, author of Conscience and Its Enemies

  “A wake-up call from an American patriot, soldier, and father that our nation’s greatness depends on each one of us getting into the fight.”

  —Buck Sexton, TheBlaze radio and television host and former CIA officer

  “Hegseth breaks down the poignant truths of an iconic American hero. This is a must-read for anybody who desires to know what America really stands for and the underlying principles that make our country great.”

  —Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Iraq and Afghanistan veteran

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  For my three sons, Gunner, Boone, & Rex: May you fear God, love America, and serve both unapologetically.

  CONTENTS

  An Invitation: The Man in the Arena

  Introduction: The Strong Man Stumbles

  PART I

  THE GOOD CITIZEN | ROOSEVELT’S SPEECH AND OUR REPUBLIC

  1: Hold Your Own: The Virtues and Duties of Citizenship

  2: Great Republics: Why France Fell and Why America Could

  3: The Orator: The Left’s Cultural Seduction

  PART II

  THE GOOD PATRIOT | OUR WAR AND AMERICA IN THE WORLD

  4: Citizen of the World: The World the Left Wrought

  5: Is It Right to Prevail?: Our Fight for Iraq

  6: Fight Hard: Learning the Right Lessons Since 9/11

  PART III

  THE POWER OF LOOKING AHEAD | THE FUTURE OF OUR REPUBLIC

  7: Equal of Opportunity: Revitalizing the American Dream

  8: The Wise Statesman: Threats to a New American Century

  A Prescription: Advancing Citizenship in a Republic

  An Exhortation: The Great Devotions

  Acknowledgments

  The Speech

  About Pete Hegseth

  AN INVITATION

  The Man in the Arena

  Like every soldier of every generation, I have a few Army-issue green duffle bags that travel with me everywhere—from my home state of Minnesota to Guantanamo Bay, from the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan to the sinkhole of American politics, Washington, D.C. Always stuffed inside one of those duffle bags is a piece of plain white copy paper encased in a durable black plastic frame. Inside is a quote, printed in plain font. The words, known by many, come from a speech delivered in 1910 by former president Teddy Roosevelt at a famous university in Paris, France. Following a yearlong African safari—an intentional hiatus from American politics—Roosevelt was at the height of his postpresidential popularity when he gave the speech. He titled it “Citizenship in a Republic,” and it contained the quote in my plastic frame:

  It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

  Teddy Roosev
elt’s words—commonly known as “The Man in the Arena”—challenge me every day when I wake up and every night when I lay my head down, every time I succeed and every time I fail.

  Am I striving valiantly?

  Is my face marred by dust and sweat and blood?

  Am I spending myself in a worthy cause?

  Am I daring greatly?

  Am I in the arena?

  In June 2004, with America at war, I found myself stepping off a plane in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The first thing that struck me about “Gitmo” was the signature dry heat of the Cuban coast—followed by an authentic sense of purpose. Guarding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, while not combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, was a controversial and highly scrutinized mission, a legal-limbo-land that housed some of the world’s most dangerous Islamic militants. I was proud to be there. We’d be there for eleven months, a long eleven months, mostly confronting early mornings, late nights, monotony, menial tasks—and banana rats, the freakishly large rodents that roam Gitmo. The arena is a dirty place, always is.

  Squinting in the midday sun, my infantry platoon—hailing from the New Jersey Army National Guard—descended the long stairway from the plane, saluted a general at the bottom, and shuffled into an Air Force hangar. After falling into quick formation, we dropped our duffle bags with a simultaneous thud. For at least a minute, it was silent, and I stood behind my thirty-four men, absorbing the new surroundings. I had no idea what to expect—and did my best to hide a nervous energy. During that silence I remember looking down at my two extremely full green duffle bags and noticing the corner of that black frame sticking out from one of them. I took a deep breath.

  What I didn’t realize at the time was the direct connection Teddy Roosevelt’s words inside that black frame had to the reason I was standing on American soil on the island of Cuba. I knew that Guantanamo Bay was leased from the Cuban government for two thousand dollars a year, and that the communist government under Fidel Castro had refused to cash the checks since the Cuban Revolution ended in 1959. But my knowledge stopped there, as revealed by the first line of my journal entry from that day—“nothing but a desert by the sea”; the observation of an infantryman more consumed with finding the new chow hall than mulling the significance of an international flash point.

  Following victory in the Spanish-American War, Guantanamo Bay became sovereign United States soil when President Teddy Roosevelt signed the Cuban-American Treaty of Relations in 1903. The treaty outlined seven U.S.-dictated terms for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Cuba—the seventh of which allowed for the lease of Cuban land to the United States for “naval stations.” Soon thereafter, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay was born—seventy-one square miles of American soil and sea on the island of Cuba.

  Those who deem the post-9/11 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay controversial would view the 1898 war that gave birth to its existence as equally controversial. The Spanish-American War was brief, but consequential. Following the mystifying sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine off the coast of Havana, calls from hawkish Democrats and anti-Spanish journalists—“Remember the Maine!”—led America to war. Isolationists (dubbed “anti-imperialists” then) decried the war, and the U.S. military was ill-prepared for tough combat in the hot climate (sound familiar?).

  But thanks to the ineptitude of the Spaniards, and some good fortune for the Americans, Cuban independence was quickly secured—and along with it, American regional dominance. Lasting less than four months and costing three thousand American lives (2,500 from disease), the “splendid little war” reshuffled the global chessboard. A younger, confident, and increasingly powerful America asserted itself against an experienced Spanish foe—effectively ending the Spanish Empire in the Caribbean.

  On one of Cuba’s rolling hills—located just forty miles from where my green duffle bag landed in Guantanamo Bay—the trajectory of the free world was changed forever. On San Juan Hill, a decisive battle was won and a future president forged. Charging up a gradual hillside in the sweltering July heat of 1898, Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his volunteer “Rough Riders” were met with withering Spanish gunfire. While unheralded Buffalo Soldiers bore the brunt of the fight and a new technology—the Gatling machine gun—substantially aided the Americans, all accounts of the battle place Colonel Roosevelt at the front of the charge up San Juan Hill. It was a daring maneuver that earned Teddy Roosevelt the Medal of Honor and catapulted him into the American consciousness.

  Standing atop San Juan Hill with his Rough Riders—an iconic photo in American history—Teddy Roosevelt became a national figure. He returned home a war hero, an emblem of American guts, swagger, and strength. He was elected governor of New York as a Republican the following year, elected vice president in 1900 (coining the phrase “speak softly and carry a big stick”), and, following the assassination of recently reelected William McKinley, he assumed the presidency on September 14, 1901. Three years later he would earn the presidency in his own right, winning the popular vote decisively. Upon leaving the presidency and choosing his presidential successor, Teddy embarked on a yearlong African safari—physically distancing himself from domestic politics. He was America’s international celebrity, her rugged exemplar.

  On his way home from Africa in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt toured Europe, greeting adoring crowds from city to city. In many ways the myth was as large as the man. Everyone wanted to meet the American cowboy, the Rough Rider. Does he really carry a big stick? they wondered. He personified the confidence of the young American nation as it entered the twentieth century, and Europe took notice. One of his final stops before heading home to record-breaking crowds in New York City was at the leading university in Paris. It was there, at the Grand Amphitheatre at the Sorbonne, that he delivered “Citizenship in a Republic.”

  Which brings me back me to the words inside that black frame in my green duffle bag. Words that have forged my life’s path, and words that chart the course for America’s reinvigoration. Words that invited me to enter the arena, and words that still challenge:

  Am I striving valiantly?

  Is my face marred by dust and sweat and blood?

  Am I spending myself in a worthy cause?

  Am I daring greatly?

  Am I in the arena?

  Are you? Our fragile and imperiled American experiment asks.

  INTRODUCTION

  The Strong Man Stumbles

  It’s important to note that Roosevelt gave his “Citizenship in a Republic” speech in France not as president of the United States, not as an elected official, not as a candidate, and not as a soldier. Roosevelt instead spoke as a citizen who had seen the greatest heights of his republic. Through the crucible of war, and after a meteoric political career, 1910 was an “in-between time” for Teddy Roosevelt. He was two years removed from the end of his two Republican terms in the Oval Office and his failed effort to return to the White House under the banner of the Progressive (or “Bull Moose”) Party in 1912 still lay two years ahead. Positioned between his Republican presidency and Progressive candidacy, and following a year on African safari disconnected from civilization, the speech was mostly free of partisan patronage. Roosevelt spoke with a clear and detached mind, doing his rhetorical best to both confront the worst manifestations of developed societies while elevating the timeless, if inconvenient, principles needed to cultivate the “good citizens” and “good patriots” of Great Republics.

  In his opening words, Roosevelt presented himself to the audience as a humble representative from a rugged “new world,” while also paying homage to the ancient academic institution he was addressing. “This [Sorbonne] was the most famous university of medieval Europe at a time when no one dreamed that there was a New World to discover,” said Roosevelt. Yet it is clear Roosevelt was eager to use his pulpit at the Sorbonne—also known as the University of Paris—to suggest that Americans might have something to teach the French about republics and citizenship. When Roosevelt took the stage to speak, the American republic was 134
years old, while France’s “Third Republic” was just 40 years young.

  As Americans, we often take for granted the stability of our republic, but the famous Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville originally called us a “great experiment.” In our minds, we rarely contemplate the alternatives; of course the American republic has lasted since 1776. Of course we won a revolutionary war against the world’s preeminent empire. Of course we have always survived challenges—divisions over self-rule, slavery, the brutal Civil War, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the civil rights era, Vietnam, and terror on 9/11. We tell this to ourselves even as so many other democratic “experiments”—even “great republics” like France—have slowly crumbled under the weight of human nature, hubris, and history.

  At the time Roosevelt spoke, France’s efforts at republican government had twice before fallen into chaos—replaced for long periods by the return of absolute rule by monarchs and emperors. The Third French Republic to which Roosevelt spoke would also eventually come to an end—under the jackboot of Hitler’s Nazi invasion in 1940. As Roosevelt reminded his audience, republican governance has never been inevitable, and what makes freedom—and America—truly exceptional is the willingness of each generation to actively perpetuate it.

  Most Americans remember only the famous “man in the arena” quote from the speech—a quote worth knowing, memorizing, and jamming into your duffle bag of life. But the entire speech has prophetic resonance that should serve as a wake-up call—and blueprint for action—for America today. Roosevelt’s 1910 speech serves as the frame for this book.

  But this book is not about Teddy Roosevelt. These pages do not seek to defend or litigate Roosevelt’s life, policies, political philosophy, or historical significance. Dozens of historians have done that work before me. I also have no illusions regarding Roosevelt’s reputation among my fellow conservatives. Glenn Beck summarized their sentiment a few years ago, saying, “Are you a Theodore Roosevelt Republican? Because if you are, may history forget that you were my countryman.” Others say worse. While I proudly count Roosevelt as my fellow countryman, I recognize his unfortunate political metamorphosis. I entered this project, and submit it to you now, with eyes wide open about Teddy Roosevelt the man, the leader, and the president—especially regarding the negative manifestations of his legacy. These include his leftward lurch from Republican reformer to founder of the Progressive Party, laying the groundwork for the modern administrative and regulatory state, an extraconstitutional view of executive power, and the active redistribution of wealth by the state. Roosevelt’s 1912 third-party candidacy also gave the world the misfortune of Woodrow Wilson’s two terms as president. To say that Roosevelt failed “while daring greatly,” on many occasions and in many ways, is an understatement.