TR and the Perdicaris Affair

How Theodore Roosevelt used his big stick diplomacy to make the most of an international incident in an election year.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
History Versus is a production of I Heart Radio and
Mental Floss. The villa on the hill of Jabul Kabir,
to the west of Tangier in Morocco looks more like
a palace than a home. Built in the Spanish style.
It has white clad stone walls and turrets and looks

(00:23):
over the Strait of Gibraltar. The inside is resplendent. Rooms
overflow with fine art, pristine porcelains, damasks, and oriental rugs.
There are many many servants and a menagerie of animals
roam the grounds and the halls, among them dogs, cranes, pheasants,

(00:43):
and two monkeys that jump into the owner's laps and
eat orange blossoms from their hands. The villa is known
as Adonia, or the place of Nightingales. It's May eighteenth,
nine four and inside the villa, sixty year old globetrotter
Ion Perdicaris, along with his wife Ellen Varley, and her

(01:05):
son Cromwell, are sitting down to dinner, attended to by
a servant in knee length scarlet pants and a jacket
embroidered with gold. Ion is the son of Gregory Perdicaris,
a Greek American who made his fortune in the gas industry,
and he has reaped the benefits of his family's immense
wealth by buying residences all around the world before he

(01:26):
built the Place of Nightingales in eight seventy Tonight, as
every night, they dine lavishly, then retreat to the drawing
room to relax, at least until the piece is shattered
by the sound of screams coming from the servants quarters.
What happens next will soon become an international incident that

(01:46):
garners the intervention of none other than President Theodore Roosevelt.
From Mental Flaws and I Heart Radio, This is History Versus,
a podcast about how your favorite historical figures faced off
against their greatest foes. In this bonus episode, we'll take
a look at how t R used his big stick
diplomacy to make the most of an international incident in

(02:07):
an election year. This episode is t R and the
Pertacaris Affair. When Ion and Cromwell sprint to the source
of the commotion, they come upon armed men standing in
their home. The villa is under siege. The bandits have

(02:29):
given the butler is swift clubbing with their rifle butts,
and Ion and Cromwell are bound and brought to meet
the man in charge of this operation. He introduces himself simply,
I am the Rasuli, alternately described as a bandit, murderer
and folk hero, depending on who's asking. The man known
in English as Razuli is a charismatic, political idealist and

(02:52):
insurgent ruling over groups of bandits, dedicated to disrupting the
European influence in Morocco and waging war against the sultans
who allowed it. And if you know Morocco as Perdicaris,
does you know his handiwork. But bloodshed isn't the motivator tonight.
Razuli has political demands he'll soon reveal. Ion his stepson

(03:15):
and an attendant are whisked away on their horses, leaving
the staff and Mrs Perdicaris to absorb what had just happened.
Word of the incident got out as it was happening.
The phone lines to the villa had not been cut,
and as Rasuli's men tore through the Perdicaris home, one
of the women of the house placed a call to
the central office in Tangier, alerting them to the attack

(03:38):
and kidnapping. It wasn't long before Samuel Gamier, the Consul
General at Tangier got involved. He became the point of
contact between Mrs Perdicaris and Washington. The first cable from
Morocco went straight to the State Department on May nine.
Gamer described the situation as most serious and requested a
man of war, basically the biggest battleship available. The cable

(04:02):
was received by Assistant Secretary of State Francis B. Loomis,
who informed President Roosevelt. This was the era of big
stick diplomacy, and Roosevelt ordered that seven warships had immediately
to Tangier. But it wasn't an act of war. It
was more like an aggressive flex. Days after the kidnapping,
Razuli contacted Sultan Abdelazis of Morocco with his demands to

(04:26):
let her Decarus and Varley free. He wanted political immunity
for himself and his followers, the release of all political
prisoners connected with his movement, the firing of a local
official who had chained him years earlier, seventy thousand Spanish
silver dollars, and he wanted tax free control over two
of Morocco's wealthiest districts. The sheer extravagance of the demands,

(04:50):
especially in exchange for the release of a foreigner like
Carris was a non starter for the Sultan. When a
messenger from the Sultan informed Rasuli there would be no
d all, Rasuli had one of his men slit the
messenger's throat. By ma Roosevelt had finally read Rasuli's demands,
which Secretary of State John Hay described as preposterous, and

(05:13):
while ships were on their way to speed up the talks,
in reality, the men knew their hands were tied. The
President couldn't really force the Sultan to accede to Rasuli's
outlandish list. He could only make strong suggestions, and he
couldn't just send troops into Morocco to retrieve Predicarus by force.
The mere knew Rasuli would kill Ion and Varley long

(05:34):
before they could reach him. I hope they may not
murder Mr. Prodcarus, but a nation cannot degrade itself to
prevent ill treatment of a citizen, Hey said. Still, Tira's
brand of pressure could be very persuasive, and early on
the morning in May, the imposing USS Brooklyn was first
seen near Tangier Harbor. It would soon be joined by

(05:58):
six other ships. Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris wrote that some
thirty thousand tons of American gun medal should soon persuade
the Sultan to start negotiating. Upon hearing the news of
the arrival of American warships, Razuli actually showed relief. With
this type of pressure on the Sultan, those preposterous demands

(06:18):
were more likely to become a reality once the fleet
was settled in the harbor. Hey cabled, gamer President wishes
everything possible done to secure the release of Predcarus. He
wishes it clearly understood that if Predicarus is murdered, this
government will demand the life of the murderer. In America,
the press and public were outraged at the situation and

(06:41):
wanted action. Any crime against an American on foreign soil
was seen as a crime against the country as a whole.
For Roosevelt, a president both adored and criticized for his
overt imperialist intentions, this was a prime opportunity to show
the world with this so called American Century was all about.
As Barbara W. Tuchman wrote an American Heritage, the President's

(07:04):
instant and energetic action on behalf of a single citizen
fallen among thieves in a foreign land made Perdicarius, symbol
of America's new role on the world stage. The situation
stretched into early June, and the number of countries involved
kept growing. Now a British worship the Prince of Wales
had come to Tangier, and Hay had contacted the French

(07:26):
foreign minister, Theophil del Casse to put more pressure on
the sultan. France had been increasing its presence in Morocco,
so this tactic carried plenty of weight. Soon after, there
seemed to be a breakthrough. The Moroccan government had apparently
accepted all of Razzuli's demands outside of the ransom, which

(07:46):
still needed to be reasonably negotiated, according to Marris, But
once Razzuli was close to getting what he asked for,
he simply came back with more demands. He now wanted
additional districts to control. Secretary of State John Hay, clearly
frustrated with Rasuli's games, wrote to Roosevelt, I feel that

(08:06):
it would be most inexpedient to surrender to him. We
have done what we can for Perdiccaus, and something else
was emerging at this time that may have weakened he
is already questionable enthusiasm for the whole episode. Evidence was
mounting that Perdicaris might not actually be a U. S. Citizen.
We'll be right back in June. With Ion, Perdiccarus and

(08:39):
his stepson still being held hostage by Razulian Morocco, President
Theodore Roosevelt was putting pressure on the Sultan to acquiesce
to the ransom demands to bring them back home. But
the president was about to learn that the man at
the center of a potential international incident might not be
a U. S. Citizen at all. This information first came

(09:01):
to light on June one, when he received a letter
from a cotton broker named A. H. Slocum who had
read about the Moroccan crisis in the news. He claimed
he had met Perdicaris in Greece as the Civil war
raged in America. Ion had apparently told Slocum that he
had renounced his U. S. Citizenship for Greek citizenship during
the war, likely in an effort to avoid being drafted

(09:21):
by the Confederacy and have his property confiscated by the government.
Within days of the initial claims, Slocum's information was confirmed
by Greek officials. According to Marris Hay sent the news
to Roosevelt, who was apparently unaware of the initial whispers
about Predcarus's citizenship or lack thereof. Right away, everyone knew

(09:44):
that the information simply couldn't get out. The President had
ordered American warships to Tangier. News of the kidnapping was
filling newspapers, and even the French and British were involved
in exerting pressure on the Sultan to make a deal.
Tier couldn't just turn is back on the whole affair now.
The political embarrassment would be terrible. It was also an

(10:05):
election year, and quite frankly, backing down wasn't an option.
As this crisis was unfolding, Tire was dealing with the
start of the Republican National Convention in Chicago. While tr
was a no brainer to secure the nomination, he still
had plenty of enemies in his own party, and the
last thing he needed was Predicaris's citizenship controversy coming out.

(10:28):
As Mars explains in Theodore Rex, Roosevelt chose to rationalize things.
Since Zuli had believed Predicaris to be a US citizen,
he had, in Roosevelt's mind, taken action against an American,
Whether it was technically true or not. Hey recommended that
the United States give Rasuli and the Sultan one last

(10:49):
warning before any real military action needed to be taken.
Roosevelt agreed. Despite these new findings, Roosevelt knew this was
an issue of both pride and politics. At this point.
It was up to Hay to write the ultimatum to
the Sultan, and it needed to be an aggressive one.
The results was seven words that hit the exact right note,

(11:11):
we want pert to carris alive or Rasuli dead. Of course,
there was more to the cable than just that one
chilling warning, but that single sentence so perfectly captured the
mood of the message that no one needed to read
any further than that. Tr through the words of Hay,
was dispatching a concise warning to the Sultan, to Rasuli,

(11:33):
and to anyone else who dared bring harm to an
American citizen, even if they were only American in spirit.
As he prepared to send the wire to Gamir and Tangier,
Hay read the draft to Edwin Hood, a news correspondent
at the State Department, who loved it so much that
he took a copy and send it over the news wires.
Right as hey send it to Morocco. The warning soon

(11:55):
made its way into the public, and it didn't take
long for Republican National Convention Chair arm In Joseph Cannon
to get a copy. At approximately three pm on June,
he made his way near the convention stage, where Henry
Cabot Lodge had just finished a vague spiel on the
party stances on riveting topics like tariffs and the civil service.
Cannon took his copy of the cable and gave it

(12:17):
to a clerk to read to the crowd. At the
words we went either to Carris alive or Rasuli dead,
the crowd went nuts. Supporters stood on their chairs, the
cheers were deafening. One Republican from Kansas exclaimed, are people
like courage will stand for anything those two men do?

(12:38):
While another described it as good hot stuff. The message
showed action, It showed excitement. It showed that the American
people had a president that meant business. If it wasn't
already set in stone, it was now clear that Roosevelt's
nomination was secure. But over in Morocco, the cable was
a moot point. The soul sin of Morocco had already

(13:01):
agreed to Razuli's demands, paying a seventy thousand dollar ransom
for the release of Perdicaris and his stepson. On top
of that, an extra four thousand was sent to the
US for its expenses. Predicaris later wrote that the memory
of that evening is associated with an ineffaceable sense of horror. Still,
he wasn't terribly traumatized by the ordeal. In fact, he

(13:24):
and Rasuli had struck up a friendship. Perdicaris would recall
that he was treated more like an honored guest rather
than a prisoner, and upon parting, Razuli told Ion that
if anyone tried to harm him in the future, I
will come with all of my men to your rescue. Later,
the incident would serve as the basis for a movie
starring Sean Connery and Candice Bergen called The Wind and

(13:46):
the Lion. Brian Keith, who you may know as the
Dad in The Parent Trap, played tr as for the
truth behind Perdicaris's Greek citizenship. It would remain a secret
for another thirty years. History Versus is hosted by me

(14:09):
Aeron McCarthy. This episode was written by Jay Serafino, with
fact checking by Austin Thompson. The executive producers are Aaron McCarthy,
Julie Douglas, and Tyler Clang. The supervising producer is Dylan Fagan.
The show was edited by Dylan Fagan and Loll Brolante.
To learn more about this episode and Theodore Roosevelt, check

(14:29):
out our website and Mental flaws dot com. Slash History
Versus History Versus is the production of I Heart Radio
and Mental Flaws. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

(14:56):
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favor rit shows.