Here at BPG HQ in these uncertain times, we find ourselves reassessing many things. The company is owned by two old white guys whose corporate mascot is another old white guy, for starters.We love Theodore Roosevelt not for his faults—he was a man of his time and we’re clear-eyed about what that means—but for his progressive accomplishments. Busting trusts right and left, forbidding corporations from making campaign contributions, placing millions of acres of Federal land under conservation protection, negotiating the end to a terrible war (for which he won a Nobel prize), championing food safety. T.R. left a humane legacy we enjoy today. He wasn’t afraid to stand up to bullies.
So yeah, our name has the word “bully” in it, something that gets less cool every day. T.R.’s “bully” meant “terrific” in 1905 slang, but that meaning is long gone. The original bully pulpit —the amplified voice afforded to whoever is President of the United States— is soon going to be something T.R. wouldn’t recognize at all. So we’ll stick with the old version, thank you very much, and hope that you will, too.
We hope that we can continue to be a true bully pulpit from which to do what we can to encourage cooperation, kindness, creativity, and discovery. We’ll continue to embody the ideals of fair play and the square deal, and redouble our efforts to support those who would be the targets of what T.R. would call “physical and moral cowards”— definitely the wrong kind of bully.
As always, we’re humbled by your support and encouraged by your enthusiastic play. Thanks! Let’s continue to do amazing things together.