Summary

Although Roosevelt pledged publicly to sustain and move forward the policies of the slain President McKinley, conservatives in the Republican party were nervous that he might go off on a "liberal" tangent and somehow threaten their wealth and status. To a hand-picked group of journalists, Roosevelt seemed a different individual and politician. William Allen White, for one, was "astonished" at such openly defiant rhetoric, but he knew Roosevelt was sincere.

Roosevelt was delighted at the turn of events and the fact that his political opponent, Boss Platt, had lost his political right arm (McKinley) in national politics. William Allen White visited Washington, D.C. to write a profile of Boss Platt for McClure's Magazine and met up with Lincoln Steffens. When White returned to Kansas, he noted that he'd used "my best and most burning adjectives expressing my scorn...