New Books Network Andrew Porwancher, "American Maccabee: Theodore Roosevelt and the Jews" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Dec 28, 2025
Andrew Porwancher, a historian and professor at Arizona State University, explores Theodore Roosevelt's surprising connections with the Jewish community. He discusses Roosevelt's admiration for Jewish valor, drawing parallels between his childhood struggles and the immigrant experience. Porwancher reveals Roosevelt's contradictory attitudes towards Jews, citing instances of both support and prejudice. The conversation delves into Roosevelt's response to Jewish crises abroad and how his legacy is more complex than commonly understood.
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Roosevelt's Maccabee Mirror
- Theodore Roosevelt equated his personal story of turning frailty into strength with Jewish immigrant journeys to manhood in America.
- He admired the Maccabees as Jewish models of valor that Jews could embrace while becoming American.
Philo-Semitism Coexisting With Prejudice
- Roosevelt combined genuine philo-Semitic admiration with repeating common anti-Jewish stereotypes of his elite peers.
- Porwancher argues these contradictory attitudes often worked together rather than cancelling each other out.
How Roosevelt Handled A Hate-Monger
- When anti-Jewish agitator Hermann Allvard planned a Lower East Side lecture, Roosevelt assigned only visibly Jewish police to guard him.
- Roosevelt used the spectacle of Jews protecting a hater to undercut hateful propaganda while defending free speech.