[ATTW-L] Captain Crozier's letter

Mon Apr 6 00:27:22 UTC 2020

Did Crozier save lives?

On Sun, Apr 5, 2020 at 5:48 PM Dragga, Sam <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu> wrote:

> Please note that Theodore Roosevelt composed the “round-robin letter” and
> shared it with the Associated Press while a colonel in the U.S. Fifth Army
> Corps. He was elected vice president in 1900 and served eight years as
> president following McKinley’s assassination in 1901.
>
>
>
> Colonel Roosevelt’s letter objects to a policy that he claims is keeping
> soldiers in conditions of high risk of disease.  He did previously serve as
> Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897-98) and thus would likely be
> sensitive to the military and administrative implications of writing this
> letter and sharing it with a news reporter.
>
>
>
> Sam
>
>
>
> Sam Dragga
>
> Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University
>
> Editor, *Technical Communication*
>
> sam.dragga at ttu.edu
>
> 1-806-543-6099
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *"Tebeaux, Elizabeth D" <e-tebeaux at tamu.edu>
> *Date: *Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 2:25 PM
> *To: *Sam Dragga <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>
> *Cc: *"attw-l at attw.org" <attw-l at attw.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [ATTW-L] Captain Crozier's letter
>
>
>
> As I just responded to Sam, following chain of command is critical.  The
> military cannot allow wildcatters.  Roosevelt responded as President, not
> as a military officer.  General Jack Kemp said he thought the decision
> should been made by a lower level admiral who would have identified more
> closely with the commander, but the head of the defense department had the
> authority to do what he did.  Again another perspective.
>
>
>
> Unless you have served in the military, you may have difficulty
> understanding the military perspective.  I do, as my father served in WAII.
>
>
>
> Again, this is a good study in rhetoric.  Had the captain thought
> carefully about who else might read his letter, he might have saved his job
> and sent fewer copies.  Perhaps he was also feeling ill.
>
>
>
> Elizabeth Tebeaux
>
> Professor Et
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
> On Apr 5, 2020, at 2:27 PM, Dragga, Sam <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu> wrote:
>
> Again, as you are teaching your online classes, a timely example for class
> discussion is the letter written by Captain Brett Crozier of the USS
> Theodore Roosevelt to US Navy officials soliciting resources to mitigate
> coronavirus infection on the 5000-sailor aircraft carrier.  Captain Crozier
> was fired following news coverage of this letter but was cheered by sailors
> as he exited the ship.  The 4-page letter uses numbered headings, lists,
> short sentences, and plain language.  It is available at
>
>
> https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6821571/TR-COVID-19-Assistance-Request.pdf
> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__assets.documentcloud.org_documents_6821571_TR-2DCOVID-2D19-2DAssistance-2DRequest.pdf%26d%3DDwMGaQ%26c%3Du6LDEWzohnDQ01ySGnxMzg%26r%3DswYNluFs0a1sUtl6MwAUWcaQenK5NHFz1yTvxsYzlVA%26m%3DmLKCZ0oPYe3y6cKZOSissygZk2CUFNZKEzdB6C5mXlw%26s%3D-hlCsbkLIZf6NkVN0NO-b3vUDirLC5Q3bnPVjOQMlXU%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7CSam.Dragga%40ttu.edu%7C05fa77037bed44b076ff08d7d9a805c1%7C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c%7C0%7C0%7C637217187984708976&sdata=bs1MpGyWhuOF1Ss41b1TcYfE5Vu3OC36zoi5qXVInXg%3D&reserved=0>
> .
>
>
>
> Ironically, as several military new sources are reporting, Theodore
> Roosevelt himself is responsible for a similar letter circulated to the
> Associated Press during the 1898 Spanish-American War, as he explains in
> the 1899 autobiography, *The Rough Riders*.  The “round-robin letter” is
> at
> https://books.google.com/books?id=zmR_ltzDGwEC&pg=PA295&lpg=PA295&dq=APPENDIX+C+THE+%22ROUND+ROBIN%22+LETTER
> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3DzmR-5FltzDGwEC-26pg-3DPA295-26lpg-3DPA295-26dq-3DAPPENDIX-2BC-2BTHE-2B-2522ROUND-2BROBIN-2522-2BLETTER%26d%3DDwMGaQ%26c%3Du6LDEWzohnDQ01ySGnxMzg%26r%3DswYNluFs0a1sUtl6MwAUWcaQenK5NHFz1yTvxsYzlVA%26m%3DmLKCZ0oPYe3y6cKZOSissygZk2CUFNZKEzdB6C5mXlw%26s%3DQA8JN3s1slWmEd5Q7ZPI15petzdgUVnvOAPfQBNONMo%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7CSam.Dragga%40ttu.edu%7C05fa77037bed44b076ff08d7d9a805c1%7C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c%7C0%7C0%7C637217187984718969&sdata=mfsZB5uyurBUiD0K0jAFStwJ5bjVXkpLHATboGkuHbM%3D&reserved=0>
> .
>
>
>
> I think the two letters could make for interesting comparative analyses
> from historical, rhetorical, and ethical perspectives.
>
>
>
> Sam
>
>
>
> Sam Dragga
>
> Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University
>
> Editor, *Technical Communication*
>
> sam.dragga at ttu.edu
>
> 1-806-543-6099
>
>
>
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