Trump Administration Displays Roosevelt Quote With Major Doubt

OPM banner – A banner on the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, home to the Office of Personnel Management, quotes the former president with lines scholars say have no evidence behind them—sparking criticism from a journalism advocate who called the mistake “inexcusable.

On June 15 in Washington. D.C. a banner went up outside the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building—an OPM site named for the former president. It shows his portrait and attributes to Theodore Roosevelt a familiar motivational line: “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.”.

For some visitors, it was the kind of message you’re supposed to feel good about. For others, it landed differently: as a reverent history moment that appears to be built on a quote scholars dispute.

The quote has been linked to Roosevelt on Goodreads and has circulated online in various motivational poster forms—sometimes even paired with Napoleon Bonaparte. But the Washington Post pointed to scholars who say there is no evidence Roosevelt delivered the words.

Michael Patrick Cullinane. co-director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center. put it bluntly: “What I can say for certain is that the quote did not originate with Theodore Roosevelt.” He said he plans to add the “courage” line to an online list of quotes that have been inaccurately attributed to Roosevelt.

Cullinane’s warning gained attention after Steve Herman—executive director at the University of Mississippi’s Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation—noticed the poster while attending a nearby event in the nation’s capital. Herman. a former senior White House correspondent at Voice of America and a self-described fan of Roosevelt. said the misquote was “inexcusable” and “actually kind of sad. but not surprising.”.

“The federal government, as far as things like American history and literacy and civics, should set an example,” Herman said.

In a response shared with the Post, Office of Personnel Management spokesperson McLaurine Pinover defended the display. She told the Post that the quote “is commonly attributed to Roosevelt and captures the spirit of the federal workforce.” Pinover also wrote. “As excited as we are about America 250. it’s surprising the Washington Post has taken such an interest in our small agency’s building banners. Slow news day?”.

The Roosevelt banner is not the only America 250-themed element on the building. It appears alongside a separate Freedom 250 display on another part of the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building.

Freedom 250 describes itself as a “non-partisan organization. ” and it has been tied to efforts to plan events around America’s 250th birthday. Those efforts include the Great American State Fair concert series. and the name was used to promote the White House UFC event on Sunday. Freedom 250 is not the same as the congressional America 250, which was tasked with promoting the country’s big birthday.

HuffPost reached out to Freedom 250 for comment about the Roosevelt display.

The sequence is hard to miss: a federal building bearing a president’s name displays a Roosevelt quote that scholars say did not originate with him, then the agency points to how widely the line is attributed—while critics argue a government example should be more careful than a viral poster.

Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building Office of Personnel Management OPM Freedom 250 America 250 Steve Herman Michael Patrick Cullinane Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation McLaurine Pinover