Editing Big stick ideology (section)

== Background ==
{{stack|[[Image:SpeakSoftly.jpg|thumb|The letter in which [[Theodore Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] first used his now-famous phrase (26 January 1900)]]}}
The term derives from the phrase, ''Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far,'' which Roosevelt claimed was a West African proverb, although there is little evidence for that.<ref name="phrases.org.uk">{{cite web |access-date=30 March 2014 |language=en |title=Speak softly and carry a big stick |url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick.html}}<!-- auto-translated from Italian by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
Roosevelt (then [[Governor of New York]]), in a bout of happiness after forcing New York's [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] committee to pull support away from a corrupt financial adviser, wrote to Henry L. Sprague a letter dated January 26, 1900,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm139.html |title=Speak Softly … |website=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908212906/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm139.html |access-date=2020-03-15 |archive-date=2016-09-08 }}
</ref> in which he said: {{quote|text=I have always been fond of the West African proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."}}

He first publicly uttered the phrase in March of the same year in relation to his reputation for holding state Senators accountable. Roosevelt added clarification to the meaning of the saying.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1900-04-01 |title=Gambling and Vice in the State Capital |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |pages=39}}</ref>

{{quote|text=If you simply speak softly the other man will bully you. If you leave your stick at home you will find the other man did not. If you carry the stick only and forget to speak softly in nine cases out of ten, the other man will have a bigger stick.}}

Roosevelt would go on to be [[1900 United States presidential election|elected Vice President]] later that year and subsequently used the aphorism in an address to the [[Minnesota State Fair]] entitled "National Duties" on September 2, 1901:<ref>{{cite book |page=288 |title=The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses |first=Theodore |last=Roosevelt |location=New York |publisher=Century |year=1902|hdl = 2027/uva.x000144517}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/txtspeeches/678.pdf |title=National Duties |access-date=2014-07-29 |archive-date=2014-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217161908/http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/txtspeeches/678.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{quote|A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick—you will go far."}}