A Bittersweet Journey

This book follows the pattern of the author's other five volumes in constructing a first person diary of the President's 1902 tour of the New England states in the late summer of 1902, similar to ex-President Roosevelt's accounts of his trips to Africa and South America. Similar to the other three volumes in the series, no attempt has been made by the author in this edition to paraphrase or interpret the sources used in creating this account of President Roosevelt's 1902 New England tour, as the author's approach is to provide the reader with contemporaneous facts, speeches and other relevant information, and then allow the reader to arrive at his or her own conclusions regarding the merits of the journey. The title to this volume, along with the cover photo of the President, was intentionally selected to represent the the President's admiration for his chief Secret Service agent, William Craig, who died a tragic death on September 3, 1902, the last day of this trip, and exactly 120 years previous to the publication of this volume. The President is photographed during his stop in Rutland, Vermont, just two days prior to the fatal accident described at the end of this volume. President Roosevelt appears to be mourning, as he looks down upon the American flag draped before him, a flag which, in the author's mind, represents the fallen William Craig. President Theodore Roosevelt no doubt would have described this, the first of his several train tours eventually intended to cover the entire United States, as a "bittersweet journey."