[ATTW-L] Captain Crozier's letter

[Tebeaux, Elizabeth D]

I don’t think we know.  We don’t even know why response was slow.  Now he has it.


Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 5, 2020, at 7:29 PM, Mark Crane <craniac at gmail.com<mailto:craniac at gmail.com>> wrote:

Did Crozier save lives?

On Sun, Apr 5, 2020 at 5:48 PM Dragga, Sam <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu<mailto: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<mailto:sam.dragga at ttu.edu>
1-806-543-6099


From: "Tebeaux, Elizabeth D" <e-tebeaux at tamu.edu<mailto:e-tebeaux at tamu.edu>>
Date: Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 2:25 PM
To: Sam Dragga <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu<mailto:Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>>
Cc: "attw-l at attw.org<mailto:attw-l at attw.org>" <attw-l at attw.org<mailto: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<mailto: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://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttps-253A-252F-252Furldefense.proofpoint.com-252Fv2-252Furl-253Fu-253Dhttps-2D3A-5F-5Fassets.documentcloud.org-5Fdocuments-5F6821571-5FTR-2D2DCOVID-2D2D19-2D2DAssistance-2D2DRequest.pdf-2526d-253DDwMGaQ-2526c-253Du6LDEWzohnDQ01ySGnxMzg-2526r-253DswYNluFs0a1sUtl6MwAUWcaQenK5NHFz1yTvxsYzlVA-2526m-253DmLKCZ0oPYe3y6cKZOSissygZk2CUFNZKEzdB6C5mXlw-2526s-253D-2DhlCsbkLIZf6NkVN0NO-2Db3vUDirLC5Q3bnPVjOQMlXU-2526e-253D-26data-3D02-257C01-257CSam.Dragga-2540ttu.edu-257C05fa77037bed44b076ff08d7d9a805c1-257C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c-257C0-257C0-257C637217187984708976-26sdata-3Dbs1MpGyWhuOF1Ss41b1TcYfE5Vu3OC36zoi5qXVInXg-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwMFaQ&c=u6LDEWzohnDQ01ySGnxMzg&r=swYNluFs0a1sUtl6MwAUWcaQenK5NHFz1yTvxsYzlVA&m=L5IU5_oCXdPJgD1RHxK10CbPf5bpZSFY878j4amaIoY&s=TajRYKReo-aE9KGo8XE81DDQfh7vFjkevbP-yNwLQV4&e=>.

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://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttps-253A-252F-252Furldefense.proofpoint.com-252Fv2-252Furl-253Fu-253Dhttps-2D3A-5F-5Fbooks.google.com-5Fbooks-2D3Fid-2D3DzmR-2D5FltzDGwEC-2D26pg-2D3DPA295-2D26lpg-2D3DPA295-2D26dq-2D3DAPPENDIX-2D2BC-2D2BTHE-2D2B-2D2522ROUND-2D2BROBIN-2D2522-2D2BLETTER-2526d-253DDwMGaQ-2526c-253Du6LDEWzohnDQ01ySGnxMzg-2526r-253DswYNluFs0a1sUtl6MwAUWcaQenK5NHFz1yTvxsYzlVA-2526m-253DmLKCZ0oPYe3y6cKZOSissygZk2CUFNZKEzdB6C5mXlw-2526s-253DQA8JN3s1slWmEd5Q7ZPI15petzdgUVnvOAPfQBNONMo-2526e-253D-26data-3D02-257C01-257CSam.Dragga-2540ttu.edu-257C05fa77037bed44b076ff08d7d9a805c1-257C178a51bf8b2049ffb65556245d5c173c-257C0-257C0-257C637217187984718969-26sdata-3DmfsZB5uyurBUiD0K0jAFStwJ5bjVXkpLHATboGkuHbM-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwMFaQ&c=u6LDEWzohnDQ01ySGnxMzg&r=swYNluFs0a1sUtl6MwAUWcaQenK5NHFz1yTvxsYzlVA&m=L5IU5_oCXdPJgD1RHxK10CbPf5bpZSFY878j4amaIoY&s=YSclQpc-agbAiwt6QU4zslKHX1CPpJF3vFDa4JBSmps&e=>.

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<mailto:sam.dragga at ttu.edu>
1-806-543-6099

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