were shrewdest. But their efforts were of no avail. Too many
party hacks had come to the Convention, determined to nominate
Blaine, and they put the slate through with a whoop.

Then, every Republican in active politics who was anything but a
rubber stamp politician had a difficult problem to face. Should
he support Blaine, in whom he could have no confidence and for
whom he could have no respect, or should he "bolt"? A large group
decided to bolt. They organized the Mugwump party--the epithet
was flung at them with no friendly intent by Charles A. Dana of
the New York Sun, but they made of it an honorable title--under
the leadership of George William Curtis and Carl Schurz. Their
announced purpose was to defeat the Republicans, from whose ranks
they had seceded, and in this attempt they were successful.

Roosevelt, however, made the opposite decision. Indeed, he had
made the decision before he entered the Convention. It was
characteristic of him not to wait until the choice was upon him
but to look ahead and make up his mind just which course he would
take if and when a certain contingency arose. I remember that
once in the later days at Oyster Bay he said to me, "They say I
am impulsive. It isn't true. The fact is that on all the
important things that may come up for decision in my life, I have
thought the thing out in advance and know what I will do. So when
the moment comes, I don't have to stop to work it out then. My
decision is already made. I have only to put it into action. It
looks like impulsiveness. It is nothing of the sort."

So, in 1884, when Roosevelt met his first problem in national
politics, he already knew what he would do. He would support