In January 2015 Harry Lembeck’s Taking on Theodore Roosevelt: How One Senator Defied the President on Brownsville and Shook American Politics was published by Prometheus Books. The narrative tells the complete story of the 1906 Brownsville Affray and President Roosevelt’s discharge “without honor” of one hundred sixty-seven black enlisted soldiers after a raid in Brownsville, Texas by never identified shooters. The struggle by Senator Joseph Foraker of Ohio to reinstate these men back into the army and the background stories of persons and events in early 20th century America that the Brownsville Affray effected, including W. E. B. Du Bois, J. P. Morgan, William H. Taft, Booker T. Washington, and the soldiers of the 25th Infantry, are included in the narrative.
Mr. Lembeck was a participating historian for the production of the PBS documentary Slavery by Another Name, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name. Part of his contribution can be seen on the PBS website.
In October 2012, Mr. Lembeck moderated two scholarly symposiums that dealt directly with Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt and the Military was presented at the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago and broadcast live on Illinois Public Television. A video can be seen on the Pritz Military website. The other forum, at the 93rd annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, can be viewed here.
His wife is Dr. Emily Lembeck, Superintendent of the Marietta (Georgia) City Schools and the 2012 Georgia School Superintendent of the Year. They have two sons and (at the moment) five grandchildren.