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Theodore Roosevelt

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: USA Presidents

   Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
   Theodore Roosevelt
     __________________________________________________________________

   26th President of the United States
   In office
   September 14, 1901 –  March 4, 1909
   Vice President(s)   none (1901-1905),
   Charles W. Fairbanks (1905-1909)
   Preceded by William McKinley
   Succeeded by William Howard Taft
     __________________________________________________________________

   25th Vice President of the United States
   In office
   March 4, 1901 –  September 14, 1901
   President William McKinley
   Preceded by Garret Hobart (until 1899)
   Succeeded by Charles W. Fairbanks (from 1905)
     __________________________________________________________________

   36th Governor of New York
   In office
   1899 –  1900
   Lieutenant(s) Timothy L. Woodruff
   Preceded by Frank S. Black
   Succeeded by Benjamin B. Odell, Jr.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Born October 27, 1858
   New York, New York
   Died January 6, 1919 (aged 60)
   Oyster Bay, New York
   Political party Republican
   Spouse (1) Alice Hathaway Lee (married 1880, died 1884)
   (2) Edith Kermit Carow (married 1886)
   Religion Protestant
   Signature

   Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, Jr., ( October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919),
   also known as T.R. and to the public (but never to friends and
   intimates) as Teddy. Per Roosevelt, himself, his last name is
   pronounced "Rosavelt." He was the 26th President of the United States,
   and a leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Movement.
   He served in many roles including Governor of New York, historian,
   naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier. Roosevelt is most famous for
   his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and
   achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy” persona.

   As Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy, he prepared for and advocated
   war with Spain in 1898. He organized and helped command the 1st U.S.
   Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the Rough Riders, during the
   Spanish-American War. Returning to New York as a war hero, he was
   elected Republican governor in 1898. He was a professional historian, a
   lawyer, a naturalist and explorer of the Amazon Basin; his 35 books
   include works on outdoor life, natural history, the American frontier,
   political history, naval history, and his autobiography.

   In 1901, as Vice President, Roosevelt succeeded President William
   McKinley after an assassination. Roosevelt was a Progressive reformer
   who sought to move the dominant Republican Party into the Progressive
   camp. He distrusted wealthy businessmen and dissolved 40 monopolistic
   corporations as a " trust buster." He was clear, however, to show that
   he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle but was
   only against their corrupt, illegal practices. His " Square Deal"
   promised a fair shake for both the average citizen, including
   regulation of railroad rates and pure foods and drugs, and the
   businessmen. As an outdoorsman, he promoted the conservation movement,
   emphasizing efficient use of natural resources. After 1906, he moved
   left, attacking big business and suggesting the courts were biased
   against labor unions. In 1910, he broke with his friend and anointed
   successor William Howard Taft, but lost the Republican nomination to
   Taft and ran in the 1912 election on his own one-time Bull Moose
   ticket. Roosevelt lost but pulled so many Progressives out of the
   Republican Party that Democrat Woodrow Wilson won in 1912, and the
   conservative faction took control of the Republican Party for the next
   two decades.

   Roosevelt understood the strategic significance of the Panama Canal,
   and negotiated for the U.S. to take control of its construction in
   1904; he felt that the Canal's completion was his most important and
   historically significant international achievement. He was the first
   American to be awarded the Nobel Prize, winning its Peace Prize in
   1906, for negotiating the peace in the Russo-Japanese War.

   Historian Thomas Bailey, who disagreed with Roosevelt's policies,
   nevertheless concluded, "Roosevelt was a great personality, a great
   activist, a great preacher of the moralities, a great controversialist,
   a great showman. He dominated his era as he dominated
   conversations....the masses loved him; he proved to be a great popular
   idol and a great vote getter." His image stands alongside Washington,
   Jefferson and Lincoln on Mount Rushmore. Surveys of scholars have
   consistently ranked him from #3 to #7 on the list of greatest American
   presidents.

Childhood, Education, and Personal Life

   Theodore Roosevelt at age 11
   Theodore Roosevelt at age 11

   Roosevelt was born at 28 East 20th Street in the modern-day Lemming
   section of New York City on October 27, 1858, the second of four
   children of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (1831–1877) and Mittie Bulloch
   (1834–1884). He had an elder sister Anna, nicknamed "Bamie" as a child
   and "Bye" as an adult for being always on the go; and two younger
   siblings — his brother Elliott (the father of Eleanor Roosevelt) and
   his sister Corinne, (grandmother of newspaper columnists, Joseph and
   Stewart Alsop).

   The Roosevelts had been in New York since the mid 17th century and had
   grown with the emerging New York commerce class after the American
   Revolution. By the 18th Century, the family had grown in wealth, power
   and influence from the profits of several businesses including hardware
   and plate-glass importing. The family was strongly Democratic in its
   political affiliation until the mid-1850s, then joined the new
   Republican Party. Theodore's father, known in the family as "Thee", was
   a New York City philanthropist, merchant, and partner in the family
   glass-importing firm Roosevelt and Son. He was a prominent supporter of
   Abraham Lincoln and the Union effort during the American Civil War.
   Theodore's mother Mittie Bulloch was a Southern belle from a
   slave-owning family in Savannah, Georgia and had quiet Confederate
   sympathies. Mittie's brother, Theodore's uncle, James Dunwoody Bulloch,
   "Uncle Jimmy", was a U.S. Navy officer who became a Confederate admiral
   and naval procurement agent in Britain. Another uncle Irvine Bulloch
   was a midshipman on the Confederate raider, CSS Alabama; both remained
   in England after the war.

   Sickly and asthmatic as a youngster, Roosevelt had to sleep propped up
   in bed or slouching in a chair during much of his early childhood, and
   had frequent ailments. Despite his illnesses, he was a hyperactive and
   often mischievous young man. His lifelong interest in zoology was
   formed at age seven upon seeing a dead seal at a local market. After
   obtaining the seal's head, the young Roosevelt and two of his cousins
   formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History".
   Learning the rudiments of taxidermy, he filled his makeshift museum
   with many animals that he killed or caught, studied, and prepared for
   display. At age nine, he codified his observation of insects with a
   paper titled "The Natural History of Insects".

   To combat his poor physical condition, his father compelled the young
   Roosevelt to take up exercise. To deal with bullies, Roosevelt started
   boxing lessons. Two trips abroad had a permanent impact: family tours
   of Europe in 1869 and 1870, and of the Middle East 1872 to 1873.

   Theodore Sr. had a tremendous influence on young Theodore and was a
   life-long source of inspiration. Of him Roosevelt wrote, "My father,
   Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength
   and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. He
   would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness,
   cowardice, or untruthfulness." Roosevelt's sister later wrote, "He told
   me frequently that he never took any serious step or made any vital
   decision for his country without thinking first what position his
   father would have taken."

   Young "Teedie", as he was nicknamed as a child, (the nickname "Teddy"
   was from his first wife, and he later harbored an intense dislike for
   it) was mostly home schooled by tutors and his parents. A leading
   biographer says: "The most obvious drawback to the home schooling
   Roosevelt received was uneven coverage of the various areas of human
   knowledge." He was solid in geography (thanks to his careful
   observations on all his travels) and very well read in history, strong
   in biology, French and German, but deficient in mathematics, Latin and
   Greek. He matriculated at Harvard College in 1876, graduating magna cum
   laude. His father's death in 1878 was a tremendous blow, but Roosevelt
   redoubled his activities. He did well in science, philosophy and
   rhetoric courses but fared poorly in Latin and Greek. He studied
   biology with great interest and indeed was already an accomplished
   naturalist and published ornithologist. He had a photographic memory
   and developed a life-long habit of devouring books, memorizing every
   detail. He was an unusually eloquent conversationalist who, throughout
   his life, sought out the company of the smartest men and women. He
   could multitask in extraordinary fashion, dictating letters to one
   secretary and memoranda to another, while browsing through a new book.
   During his adulthood, a visitor would get a not-so-subtle hint that
   Roosevelt was losing interest in the conversation when he would pick up
   a book and begin looking at it now and then as the conversation
   continued.

   While at Harvard, Roosevelt was active in numerous clubs, including the
   Alpha Delta Phi and Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternities. He also edited a
   student magazine. He was runner-up in the Harvard boxing championship,
   losing to C.S. Hanks. The sportsmanship Roosevelt showed in that fight
   was long remembered. Upon graduating from Harvard, Roosevelt underwent
   a physical examination and his doctor advised him that due to serious
   heart problems, he should find a desk job and avoid strenuous activity.
   Roosevelt disregarded the advice and chose to embrace the strenuous
   life instead.

   He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude (22nd of 177) from
   Harvard in 1880, and entered Columbia Law School. When offered a chance
   to run for New York Assemblyman in 1881, he dropped out of law school
   to pursue his new goal of entering public life.

Early public life

   Roosevelt as NY State Assemblyman 1883, photo
   Roosevelt as NY State Assemblyman 1883, photo

   Roosevelt was a Republican activist during his years in the Assembly,
   writing more bills than any other New York state legislator. Already a
   major player in state politics, he attended the Republican National
   Convention in 1884 and fought alongside the Mugwump reformers; they
   lost to the Stalwart faction that nominated James G. Blaine. Refusing
   to join other Mugwumps in supporting Democrat Grover Cleveland, the
   Democratic nominee, he stayed loyal

First marriage

   On his 22nd birthday, Roosevelt married his first wife, 19-year-old
   Alice Hathaway Lee, on October 27, 1880, at the Unitarian Church in
   Brookline, Massachusetts. Alice was the daughter of the prominent
   banker George Cabot Lee and Caroline Haskell Lee. The couple first met
   in 1878. He proposed in June 1879. However, Alice waited another six
   months before accepting the proposal. They announced their engagement
   on Valentine's Day 1880. Alice Roosevelt died exactly four years later,
   only two days after the birth of their first child, also named Alice.
   In a tragic coincidence, Roosevelt's mother died of typhoid fever on
   the same day, also at the Roosevelt family home in Manhattan.
   Diary Entry Feb 14, 1884
   Diary Entry Feb 14, 1884

   Although he noted her loss in his diary and made several references to
   her in the subsequent months, from the next year on Roosevelt refused
   to speak his first wife's name again (even omitting her name from his
   autobiography) and did not allow others to speak of her in his
   presence. With his daughter, Alice, the siblings were taught to call
   her "sister," and Alice's half-brother Ted, Jr. would have to ask "has
   anyone seen sister this morning?"

   This practice put an early strain on his relationship with his daughter
   who was given his late wife's name. However, as she grew into adulthood
   and better understood her father's deep moral convictions, the bond
   between them became strong. Alice continued to support her father's
   ideas after his death in 1919.

   Later that year, Roosevelt left the General Assembly and his infant
   daughter Alice, whom he had left in the long-term care of his older
   sister, Bamie. In letters to Bamie, he would refer to Alice as Baby
   Lee. Roosevelt moved to his Maltese Cross ranch seven miles from Medora
   in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory to live a more simple life as a
   rancher and lawman.

Life in Badlands

   Theodore Roosevelt as Badlands hunter in 1885. New York studio photo.
   Note the engraved knife and rifle courtesy of Tiffany and Co.
   Theodore Roosevelt as Badlands hunter in 1885. New York studio photo.
   Note the engraved knife and rifle courtesy of Tiffany and Co.

   Roosevelt built a second ranch he named Elk Horn thirty five miles
   north of the boomtown, Medora, North Dakota. On the banks of the
   "Little Missouri", Roosevelt learned to ride, rope, and hunt. There, in
   the waning days of the American Old West, he rebuilt his life and began
   writing about frontier life for Eastern magazines. As a deputy sheriff,
   Roosevelt hunted down three outlaws who stole his river boat and were
   escaping north with it up the Little Missouri River. Capturing them, he
   decided against hanging them and sending his foreman back by boat, he
   took the thieves back overland for trial in Dickinson, guarding them
   forty hours without sleep and reading Tolstoy to keep himself awake.
   When he ran out of his own books he read a dime store western that one
   of the thieves was carrying.

   While working on a tough project aimed at hunting down a group of
   relentless horse thieves, Roosevelt came across the famous Deadwood,
   South Dakota Sheriff Seth Bullock. The two would remain friends for
   life. (Morris, Rise of, 241-245, 247-250)

   After the 1886-1887 winter wiped out his herd of cattle and his $60,000
   investment (together with those of his competitors), he returned to the
   East, where in 1885, he had purchased Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New
   York. It would be his home and estate until his death. Roosevelt ran as
   the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City in 1886 as "The
   Cowboy of the Dakotas" to assert his manliness. Despite his change of
   image, he still came in third.

Second Marriage

   Following the election, he went to London in 1886 and married his
   childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. They honeymooned in Europe,
   and Roosevelt climbed Mont Blanc, leading only the third recorded
   expedition to reach the summit, a feat which resulted in his induction
   into the British Royal Society. They had five children: Theodore Jr.,
   Kermit, Ethel Carow, Archibald Bulloch "Archie", and Quentin. "Uncle
   Ted" was the godfather and favorite uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt, whom he
   gave away in marriage to their fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt on
   March 17, 1905.

   Roosevelt is the only President to have become a widower and remarry
   before becoming President.

Historian

   In the 1880s, he gained recognition as a serious historian. His The
   Naval War of 1812 (1882) was the standard history for two generations.
   For that book, Roosevelt undertook extensive and original research
   going as far as computing British and American man-of-war broadside
   throw weights. As recently as 2006, no less than three American books
   on the birth of the US Navy and the War of 1812, quote from and comment
   extensively on Roosevelt's book.

   By comparison, however, his hastily-written biographies of Thomas Hart
   Benton (1887) and Governor Morris (1888) are considered superficial.
   His major achievement was a four-volume history of the frontier, The
   Winning of the West (1889-1896), which had a notable impact on
   historiography as it presented a highly original version of the
   frontier thesis elaborated upon in 1893 by his friend Frederick Jackson
   Turner. Roosevelt argued that the harsh frontier conditions had created
   a new "race" or people--the American people. He was using a Lamarkean
   model in which new environmental conditions allow a new species to
   form. His many articles in upscale magazines provided a much-needed
   income, as well as cementing a reputation as a major national
   intellectual. He was later chosen president of the Uninted States
   American Historical Association

Return to public life

   New York City Police Commissioner 1896
   New York City Police Commissioner 1896

   In the 1888 presidential election, Roosevelt campaigned for Benjamin
   Harrison in the Midwest. President Harrison appointed Roosevelt to the
   United States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895. In
   his term, he vigorously fought the spoilsmen and demanded the
   enforcement of civil service laws. In spite of Roosevelt's support for
   Harrison's reelection bid in the presidential election of 1892, the
   eventual winner, Grover Cleveland (a Bourbon Democrat), reappointed him
   to the same post.

   In 1895, he became president of the New York City Board of Police
   Commissioners. During the two years that he held this post, Roosevelt
   radically changed the way a police department was run. The police force
   was reputed as one of the most corrupt forces in America. NYPD's
   history division records that Roosevelt was, "an iron-willed leader of
   unimpeachable honesty, (who) brought a reforming zeal to the New York
   City Police Commission in 1895." Roosevelt and his fellow commissioners
   established new disciplinary rules, created a bicycle squad to police
   New York's traffic problems and implemented standardized 32 calibre
   pistol practice. Roosevelt implemented regular inspections of firearms,
   annual physical exams, appointed 1,600 new recruits appointed not on
   the basis of political affiliation but solely for their physical and
   mental qualifications, opened admission to the department to ethnic
   minorities and women, established the first police meritorious service
   medals, shut down the corrupt police hostelries, and a Municipal
   Lodging House was established by the Board of Charities. Roosevelt
   required his officers to be registered with the Board. He also had
   telephones installed in station houses. Always an energetic man, he
   made a habit of walking officers' beats late at night and early in the
   morning to make sure that they were on duty. He became caught up in
   public disagreements with commissioner Parker, who sought to negate or
   delay the promotion of many officers put forward by Roosevelt.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy

   Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt (front center) at the Naval
   War College, c. 1897
   Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt (front centre) at the Naval
   War College, c. 1897

   Roosevelt had always been fascinated by navies and their history. Urged
   by Roosevelt's close friend, Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge, President
   William McKinley appointed a delighted Roosevelt to the post of
   Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897. (Because of the inactivity of
   Secretary of the Navy John D. Long at the time, this basically gave
   Roosevelt control over the department.) Roosevelt was instrumental in
   preparing the Navy for the Spanish-American War and was an enthusiastic
   proponent of testing the U.S. military in battle, at one point stating
   "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one".

War in Cuba

   Roosevelt left his civilian Navy post to form the famous "Rough Riders"
   Regiment
   Roosevelt left his civilian Navy post to form the famous " Rough
   Riders" Regiment
   Colonel Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" after capturing San Juan Hill
   during the Spanish-American War
   Colonel Roosevelt and his " Rough Riders" after capturing San Juan Hill
   during the Spanish-American War

   Upon the declaration of war in 1898 that would be known as the
   Spanish-American War, Roosevelt resigned from the Navy Department and,
   with the aid of U.S. Army Colonel Leonard Wood, organized the First
   U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment out of a diverse crew that ranged from
   cowboys from the Western territories to Ivy League friends from New
   York. The newspapers called them the "Rough Riders." Originally
   Roosevelt held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and served under Colonel
   Wood, but after Wood was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteer
   Forces, Roosevelt was promoted to Colonel and given command of the
   Regiment.

   Under his leadership, the Rough Riders became famous for their dual
   charges up Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill in July 1898 (the battle was
   named after the latter hill). Out of all the Rough Riders, Roosevelt
   was the only one who had a horse, and was forced to dismount and walk
   up Kettle Hill on foot after his horse, Little Texas, became tired.
   Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour in 2001 for his
   actions. He was the first and, as of 2007, the only President of the
   United States to be awarded with America's highest military honor, and
   the only person in history to receive both his nation's highest honour
   for military valor and the world's foremost prize for peace.
   Chicago newspaper sees cowboy-TR campaigning for governor
   Chicago newspaper sees cowboy-TR campaigning for governor

Governor and Vice President

   On leaving the Army, Roosevelt re-entered New York state politics and
   was elected governor of New York in 1898 on the Republican ticket. He
   made such a concerted effort to root out corruption and " machine
   politics" that Republican boss Thomas Collier Platt forced him on
   McKinley as a running mate in the 1900 election, against the wishes of
   McKinley's manager Senator Mark Hanna. Roosevelt was a powerful
   campaign asset for the Republican ticket, which defeated William
   Jennings Bryan in a landslide based on restoration of prosperity at
   home and a successful war and new prestige abroad. Bryan stumped for
   Free Silver again, but McKinley's promise of prosperity through the
   Gold Standard, high tariffs, and the restoration of business confidence
   proved far more attractive to voters and he enlarged his margin of
   victory. Bryan had strongly supported the war against Spain, but
   denounced the annexation of the Philippines as imperialism that would
   spoil America's innocence. Roosevelt countered with many speeches that
   argued it was best for the Filipinos to have stability, and the
   Americans to have a proud place in the world. Roosevelt's few months as
   Vice President (March to September, 1901) were uneventful.

Presidency 1901-1909

   Nashville Tennessee News sketch of Theodore Roosevelt inauguration
   minus the customary Bible. Inauguration photos were not allowed after a
   rival photographer unceremoniously knocked down another's camera.
   Nashville Tennessee News sketch of Theodore Roosevelt inauguration
   minus the customary Bible. Inauguration photos were not allowed after a
   rival photographer unceremoniously knocked down another's camera.
   John Singer Sargent, Theodore Roosevelt, 1903; click on photo for
   background story.
   John Singer Sargent, Theodore Roosevelt, 1903; click on photo for
   background story.

   President McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz (Zol-gash), an anarchist,
   on September 6, 1901. Vice President Roosevelt had been delivering a
   speech in Vermont when he got word of McKinley's shooting. He arrived
   in Buffalo the next day, accepting an invitation to stay at the home of
   Ansley Wilcox, a prominent lawyer and friend since the early 1880s when
   they had both worked closely with New York State Governor Grover
   Cleveland on civil service reform. Wilcox would recall that "the family
   and most of the household were in the country, but he [Roosevelt] was
   offered a quiet place to sleep and eat, and accepted it." Roosevelt
   took the oath of office in the Ansley Wilcox House at Buffalo, New York
   borrowing Wilcox's morning coat. Roosevelt did not swear on the Bible
   nor on any other book, making him unique among presidents. Mark Hanna
   lamented that "that damned cowboy is president now," giving expression
   to the fears of many old line Republicans. Roosevelt was the youngest
   person to assume the presidency, at 42, and he promised to continue
   McKinley's cabinet and his basic policies. Roosevelt did so, but after
   reelection in 1904, he moved to the political left, stretching his ties
   to the Republican Party's conservative leaders.

Anthracite coal strike of 1902

   A national emergency was averted in 1902 when Roosevelt found a
   compromise to the anthracite coal strike by the United Mine Workers of
   America that threatened the heating supplies of most urban homes.
   Roosevelt called the mine owners and the labor leaders to the White
   House and negotiated a compromise. Miners were on strike for 163 days
   before it ended; they were granted a 10% pay increase and a 9-hour day
   (from the previous 10 hours), but the union was not officially
   recognized and the price of coal went up.

Square Deal

   Theodore Roosevelt promised to continue McKinley's program, and at
   first he worked closely with McKinley's men. His 20,000-word address to
   the Congress in December 1901, asked Congress to curb the power of
   trusts "within reasonable limits." They did not act but Roosevelt did,
   issuing 44 lawsuits against major corporations; he was called the "
   trust-buster."

   Mark Hanna was the rival power in the Republican party. Hanna died, and
   Roosevelt had an easy renomination and reelection in 1904. He won 336
   of 476 electoral votes, and 56.4% of the total popular vote. He
   therefore became the first President who came into office due to the
   death of his predecessor to be elected in his own right.
   Democrats attack Roosevelt as militarist and ineffective in this 1904
   election cartoon
   Democrats attack Roosevelt as militarist and ineffective in this 1904
   election cartoon

   Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the
   White House the centre of news every day, providing interviews and
   photo opportunities. His children were almost as popular as he was, and
   their pranks in the White House made headlines. His daughter, Alice Lee
   Roosevelt, became quite popular in Washington.

Regulation of industry

   Roosevelt firmly believed: "The Government must in increasing degree
   supervise and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in
   interstate commerce." Inaction was a danger, he argued: "Such increased
   supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils
   on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other." His
   biggest success was passage of the Hepburn Act of 1906, granting the
   Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad
   rates; it also stopped free passes given to friends of the railroad. At
   that time it was universally assumed that railroads would continue to
   be a vast and powerful force. No one dreamed they would eventually be
   challenged by truck and automobile traffic, and hence struggle to
   survive under the provisions of the Hepburn Act designed to protect
   merchants and consumers.

   In response to public clamor, Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass the
   Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, as well as the Meat Inspection Act of
   1906. These laws provided for labeling of foods and drugs, inspection
   of livestock and mandated sanitary conditions at meatpacking plants.
   Congress replaced Roosevelt's proposals with a version supported by the
   major meatpackers who worried about the overseas markets, and did not
   want small unsanitary plants undercutting their domestic market.

Conservationist

   Roosevelt worked closely with early conservationists such as Gifford
   Pinchot, pictured above, with whom he organized the first National
   Governors Conservation Conference at the White House in 1908
   Roosevelt worked closely with early conservationists such as Gifford
   Pinchot, pictured above, with whom he organized the first National
   Governors Conservation Conference at the White House in 1908

   Roosevelt was the first American president to consider the long-term
   needs for efficient conservation of national resources, winning the
   support of fellow hunters and fishermen to bolster his political base.
   Roosevelt was the last trained observer to ever see a passenger pigeon,
   and on March 14, 1903, Roosevelt created the first National Bird
   Preserve, (the beginning of the Wildlife Refuge system), on Pelican
   Island, Florida. Assuming the conservationist role was a natural step
   for him, and he decided that it was overdue to put the issue high on
   the national agenda. He worked with all the major figures of the
   movement, especially his chief advisor on the matter Gifford Pinchot.
   Roosevelt urged congress to establish the United States Forest Service
   (1905), to manage government forest lands, and he appointed Gifford
   Pinchot to head the service. Roosevelt set aside more land for national
   parks and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined, 194
   million acres. In all, by 1909, the Roosevelt administration had
   created an unprecedented 42 million acres of national forests, 53
   national wildlife refuges and 18 areas of "special interest", including
   the Grand Canyon. This environmental record was unequaled until
   President Bill Clinton's term, 90 years later. The Theodore Roosevelt
   National Park in the Badlands commemorates his conservationist
   philosophy. In 1903, Roosevelt toured the Yosemite Valley with John
   Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, but he rejected Muir's philosophy
   that privileged nature, and emphasized instead the more efficient use
   of nature. In 1907, with Congress about to block him, Roosevelt hurried
   to designate 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new national forests. In
   May 1908, he sponsored the Conference of Governors held in the White
   House, with a focus on the most efficient planning, analysis and use of
   water, forests and other natural resources. Roosevelt explained, "There
   is an intimate relation between our streams and the development and
   conservation of all the other great permanent sources of wealth."
   During his presidency, Roosevelt promoted the nascent conservation
   movement in essays for Outdoor Life magazine. Roosevelt, like Pinchot
   (but unlike Muir), believed in the more efficient use of natural
   resources by corporations like lumber companies. To Roosevelt,
   conservation meant more and better usage and less waste, and a
   long-term perspective.

   Roosevelt's conservationist leanings also impelled him to preserve
   national sites of scientific, particularly archaeological, interest.
   The 1906 passage of the Antiquities Act gave him a tool for creating
   national monuments by presidential proclamation, without requiring
   Congressional approval for each monument on an item-by-item basis. The
   language of the Antiquities Act specifically called for the
   preservation of "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric
   structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest," and
   was primarily construed by its creator, Congressman James F. Lacey
   (assisted by the prominent archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett), as
   targeting the prehistoric ruins of the American Southwest. Roosevelt,
   however, applied a typically broad interpretation to the Act, and the
   first national monument he proclaimed, Devils Tower National Monument
   in Wyoming, was preserved for reasons tied more to geology than
   archaeology.

Foreign policy

   Roosevelt's administration was marked by an active approach to foreign
   policy. Roosevelt saw it as the duty of more developed ("civilized")
   nations to help the underdeveloped ("uncivilized") world move forward.
   In Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Panama Canal Zone, he
   used the Army's medical service, under Walter Reed and William C.
   Gorgas, to eliminate the yellow fever menace and install a new regime
   of public health. He used the army to build up the infrastructure of
   the new possessions, building railways, telegraph and telephone lines,
   and upgrading roads and port facilities.
   Roosevelt builds the canal—and shovels dirt on Colombia
   Roosevelt builds the canal—and shovels dirt on Colombia

   Roosevelt dramatically increased the size of the navy, forming the
   Great White Fleet, which toured the world in 1907. Roosevelt also added
   the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the
   United States could intervene in Latin American affairs when corruption
   of governments made it necessary.

   Roosevelt gained international praise for helping negotiate the end of
   the Russo-Japanese War, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
   Roosevelt later arbitrated a dispute between France and Germany over
   the division of Morocco. Some historians have argued these latter two
   actions helped in a small way to avert a world war.

Panama Canal

   Roosevelt's most famous foreign policy initiative, following the
   Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, was the construction of the Panama Canal, which
   upon its completion shortened the route of freighters between San
   Francisco, California and New York City by 8,000 miles (13,000 km).

   Colombia first proposed the canal in their country as opposed to rival
   Nicaragua, and Colombia signed a treaty for an agreed-upon sum. At that
   time, Panama was a province of Colombia. According to the treaty, in
   1902, the U.S. was to buy out the equipment and excavations from
   France, which had been attempting to build a canal since 1881. While
   the Colombian negotiating team had signed the treaty, ratification by
   the Colombian Senate became problematic.

   The Colombian Senate balked at the price and asked for 10 million
   dollars over the original agreed upon price. When the U.S. refused to
   re-negotiate the price, the Colombian politicians proposed cutting the
   original French company that started the project out of the deal and
   giving that difference to Colombia. The original deal stipulated that
   the French company was to be reasonably compensated. Realizing that the
   Colombian Senate was no longer bargaining in good faith, Roosevelt
   tired of these last-minute attempts by the Colombians to cheat the
   French out of their entire investment.

   Roosevelt ultimately decided, with the encouragement of Panamanian
   business interests, to help Panama declare independence from Colombia
   in 1903. A brief revolution, of only a few hours, followed the
   declaration, and Colombian soldiers were bribed $50 each to lay down
   their arms. On November 3, 1903, the Republic of Panama was created,
   with its constitution written in advance by the United States. Shortly
   thereafter, a treaty was signed with Panama. The U.S. paid $10 million
   to secure rights to build on and control the Canal Zone. Construction
   began in 1904 and was completed in 1914.

   It took a long time to build the Panama Canal because illness spread
   quickly in Panama. Over 200 workers died of yellow fever and malaria,
   spread by mosquitoes. Roosevelt worked on clearing swamps and other
   areas in which the insects bred. Finally the health threat receded, and
   facilitated the construction of the Canal.

The Great White Fleet

   Roosevelt, (on the 12" gun turret at right), addresses the crew of USS
   Connecticut (BB18), in Hampton Roads, Virginia, upon her return from
   the Fleet's cruise
   Roosevelt, (on the 12" gun turret at right), addresses the crew of USS
   Connecticut (BB18), in Hampton Roads, Virginia, upon her return from
   the Fleet's cruise

   As Roosevelt's administration drew to a close, the president dispatched
   a fleet consisting of four US Navy battleship squadrons and their
   escorts, on a world-wide voyage of circumnavigation from December 16,
   1907, to February 22, 1909. With their hulls painted white except for
   the beautiful gilded scrollwork with a red, white, and blue banner on
   their bows, these ships would come to be known as The Great White
   Fleet. Roosevelt wanted to demonstrate to his country and the world
   that the US Navy was capable of operating in a global theatre,
   particularly in the Pacific. This was extraordinarily important at a
   time when tensions were slowly growing between the United States and
   Japan. The latter had recently shown its navy's competence in defeating
   the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War and the US Navy fleet to the
   west was relatively small. The Atlantic Fleet battleships only later
   came to be known as the "Great White Fleet." When the fleet sailed into
   Yokahama, Japan, the Japanese went to extraordinary lengths to show
   that their country desired peace with the US. Thousands of Japanese
   school children waving American flags greeted the Navy brass as they
   came ashore. In February 1909, Roosevelt was in Hampton Roads, Virginia
   to witness the triumphant return of the fleet and indicate that he saw
   the fleet's long voyage as a fitting finish for his administration.
   Roosevelt said to the officers of the Fleet, "Other nations may do what
   you have done, but they'll have to follow you." This parting act of
   grand strategy by Roosevelt greatly expanded the respect for as well as
   the role of the United States in the international arena. The visit of
   the Great White Fleet to Tokyo, Japan, which brought thousands of
   Japanese school children to line the beaches waving American flags
   purchased by the government, nevertheless, encouraged Japanese
   militarists who argued for an aggressive Japanese ship building and
   naval expansion program.

Life in the White House

   Roosevelt relished the presidency and seemed to be everywhere at once.
   He took Cabinet members and friends on long, fast-paced hikes, boxed in
   the state rooms of the White House, romped with his children, and read
   voraciously. In 1908, he was permanently blinded in his left eye during
   one of his boxing bouts, but this injury was kept from the public at
   the time. His many enthusiastic interests and limitless energy led one
   ambassador to wryly explain, "You must always remember that the
   President is about six."
   Roosevelt shoots holes in the dictionary as the ghosts of Chaucer,
   Shakespeare and Dr Johnson moan
   Roosevelt shoots holes in the dictionary as the ghosts of Chaucer,
   Shakespeare and Dr Johnson moan

   During his presidency, Roosevelt tried but did not succeed to advance
   the cause of simplified spelling. He tried to force government to adopt
   the system, sending an order to the Public Printer to use the system in
   all public documents. The order was obeyed, and among the documents
   thus printed was the President's special message regarding the Panama
   Canal. The New York World translated the Thanksgiving Day proclamation:

     When nerly three centuries ago, the first settlers kam to the kuntry
     which has bekom this great republik, tha confronted not only
     hardship and privashun, but terible risk of thar lives. . . . The
     kustum has now bekum nashnul and hallowed by immemorial usaj.

   The reform annoyed the public, forcing him to rescind the order.
   Roosevelt's friend, literary critic Brander Matthews, one of the chief
   advocates of the reform, remonstrated with him for abandoning the
   effort. Roosevelt replied on December 16: "I could not by fighting have
   kept the new spelling in, and it was evidently worse than useless to go
   into an undignified contest when I was beaten. Do you know that the one
   word as to which I thought the new spelling was wrong — thru — was more
   responsible than anything else for our discomfiture?" Next summer
   Roosevelt was watching a naval review when a launch marked "Pres Bot"
   chugged ostentatiously by. The President waved and laughed with
   delight.

   Roosevelt's oldest daughter, Alice, was a controversial character
   during Roosevelt's stay in the White House. When friends asked if he
   could rein in his elder daughter, Roosevelt said, "I can be President
   of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do
   both." In turn, Alice said of him that he always wanted to be "the
   bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral."

   Roosevelt's contribution to the White House was the construction of the
   original West Wing, which he had built to free up the second floor
   rooms in the residence that formerly housed the president's staff. He
   and Edith also had the entire house renovated and restored to the
   federal style, tearing out the Victorian furnishings and details
   (including Tiffany windows) that had been installed over the previous
   three decades.

Presidential firsts

    1. In the sphere of race relations, Booker T. Washington became the
       first black man to dine as a guest at the White House in 1901.
    2. Oscar S. Straus became the first Jew appointed as a Cabinet
       Secretary, under Roosevelt.
    3. In 1902, in response to the assassination of President William
       McKinley on September 6, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became the first
       president to be under constant Secret Service protection.
    4. Roosevelt in 1904, became the first former Vice-President who had
       succeeded to the presidency on the death of the incumbent, to be
       elected President in his own right or even win his party’s
       nomination for election.
    5. In 1906, Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded a Nobel
       Prize.
    6. In 1906, he made the first trip, by a President, outside the United
       States, visiting Panama to inspect the construction progress of the
       Panama Canal on November 9.
    7. He was the first and to date only president from Long Island, New
       York.
    8. He was the first President to refer to the White House as such on
       his official stationery. Until then the mansion had been referred
       to simply as 'The President's House'

States admitted to the Union

   During Roosevelt's Presidency, one state, Oklahoma, was admitted to the
   Union. This new state included the former Indian Territory, which had
   attempted to gain admission on its own into the Union as the State of
   Sequoyah. (Formerly, the state of Oklahoma had been divided into the
   Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory.) In 1906, a bill was
   introduced in Congress providing for the admission of the Oklahoma and
   Indian Territories as one state, and Arizona and New Mexico as another
   state. Although the bill passed on June 14 and was signed into law by
   Roosevelt, the people of Arizona and New Mexico rejected the offer of
   statehood.

Post-presidency

African safari

   Roosevelt standing next to a dead elephant during a safari
   Roosevelt standing next to a dead elephant during a safari

   In March 1909, shortly after the end of his second term, Roosevelt left
   New York for a safari in Africa. Financed by Andrew Carnegie and by his
   own proposed writings, Roosevelt hunted for specimens for the
   Smithsonian Institution and for the American Museum of Natural History
   in New York. His party, which included scientists from the Smithsonian
   and was led by Frederick Selous, the famous big game hunter and
   explorer, killed or trapped over 11,397 animals, from insects and moles
   to hippopotamuses and elephants. 512 of the animals were big game
   animals, of which 262 were consumed by the expedition. This included
   six white rhinos. Tons of salted animals and their skins were shipped
   to Washington; the number of animals was so large, it took years to
   mount them. The Smithsonian was able to share many duplicate animals
   with other museums. Of the large number of animals taken, Roosevelt
   said, "I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum,
   the American Museum of Natural History, and all similar zoological
   institutions are to be condemned." Although based in the name of
   science, there was a large social element to the safari. Interaction
   with many native peoples, local leaders, renowned professional hunters,
   and land owning families made the safari much more than a hunting
   excursion. Roosevelt wrote a detailed account of this adventure;
   "African Game Trails" describes the excitement of the chase, the people
   he met, and flora and fauna he collected in the name of science.

Republican Party rift

   Roosevelt certified William Howard Taft to be a genuine "progressive"
   in 1908, when Roosevelt pushed through the nomination of his Secretary
   of War for the Presidency. Taft easily defeated three-time candidate
   William Jennings Bryan. Taft had a different progressivism, one that
   stressed the rule of law and preferred that judges rather than
   administrators or politicians make the basic decisions about fairness.
   Taft usually proved a less adroit politician than Roosevelt and lacked
   the energy and personal magnetism, not to mention the publicity
   devices, the dedicated supporters, and the broad base of public support
   that made Roosevelt so formidable. When Roosevelt realized that
   lowering the tariff would risk severe tensions inside the Republican
   Party—pitting producers (manufacturers and farmers) against merchants
   and consumers—he stopped talking about the issue. Taft ignored the
   risks and tackled the tariff boldly, on the one hand encouraging
   reformers to fight for lower rates, and then cutting deals with
   conservative leaders that kept overall rates high. The resulting
   Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909 was too high for most reformers, but
   instead of blaming this on Senator Nelson Aldrich and big business,
   Taft took credit, calling it the best tariff ever. Again he had managed
   to alienate all sides. While the crisis was building inside the Party,
   Roosevelt was touring Africa and Europe, so as to allow Taft to be his
   own man.
   Handing off responsibility to Taft in 1909
   Handing off responsibility to Taft in 1909

   Unlike Roosevelt, Taft never attacked business or businessmen in his
   rhetoric. However, he was attentive to the law, so he launched 90
   antitrust suits, including one against the largest corporation, U.S.
   Steel, for an acquisition that Roosevelt had personally approved.
   Consequently, Taft lost the support of antitrust reformers (who
   disliked his conservative rhetoric), of big business (which disliked
   his actions), and of Roosevelt, who felt humiliated by his protégé. The
   left wing of the Republican Party began agitating against Taft. Senator
   Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin created the National Progressive
   Republican League (precursor to the Progressive Party (United States,
   1924)) to defeat the power of political bossism at the state level and
   to replace Taft at the national level. More trouble came when Taft
   fired Gifford Pinchot, a leading conservationist and close ally of
   Roosevelt. Pinchot alleged that Taft's Secretary of Interior Richard
   Ballinger was in league with big timber interests. Conservationists
   sided with Pinchot, and Taft alienated yet another vocal constituency.

   Roosevelt, back from Europe, unexpectedly launched an attack on the
   federal courts, which deeply upset Taft. Not only had Roosevelt
   alienated big business, he was also attacking both the judiciary and
   the deep faith Republicans had in their judges (most of whom had been
   appointed by McKinley, Roosevelt or Taft.) In the 1910 Congressional
   elections, Democrats swept to power, and Taft's reelection in 1912 was
   increasingly in doubt. In 1911, Taft responded with a vigorous stumping
   tour that allowed him to sign up most of the party leaders long before
   Roosevelt announced.

Election of 1912

   The battle between Taft and Roosevelt bitterly split the Republican
   Party; Taft's people dominated the party until 1936.
   The battle between Taft and Roosevelt bitterly split the Republican
   Party; Taft's people dominated the party until 1936.

   Late in 1911, Roosevelt finally broke with Taft and LaFollette and
   announced himself as a candidate for the Republican nomination. But
   Roosevelt had delayed too long, and Taft had already won the support of
   most party leaders in the country. Because of LaFollette's nervous
   breakdown on the campaign trail before Roosevelt's entry, most of
   LaFollette's supporters went over to Roosevelt, the new progressive
   Republican candidate.

   Roosevelt, stepping up his attack on judges, carried 9 of the states
   with preferential primaries, LaFollette took two, and Taft only one.
   The 1912 Primaries represented the first extensive use of the
   Presidential Primary, a reform achievement of the progressive movement.
   However, these primary elections, while demonstrating Roosevelt's
   popularity with the electorate, were in no ways as important as
   primaries are today. First of all, there were fewer states where the
   common voter was given a forum to express himself, such as a primary.
   Many more states selected convention delegates either at party
   conventions, or in caucuses, which were not as open as today's
   caucuses. So while the man in the street still adored Roosevelt, most
   professional Republican politicians were supporting Taft, and they
   proved difficult to upset in non-primary states.

   At the Republican Convention in Chicago, despite being the incumbent,
   Taft's victory was not immediately assured. But after two weeks,
   Roosevelt, realizing that he would not be able to win the nomination
   outright, asked his followers to leave the convention hall. They moved
   to the Auditorium Theatre, and then Roosevelt, along with key allies
   such as Pinchot and Albert Beveridge created the Progressive Party,
   structuring it as a permanent organization that would field complete
   tickets at the presidential and state level. It was popularly known as
   the " Bull Moose Party", which got its name after Roosevelt told
   reporters, "I'm as tough as a bull moose." At the convention Roosevelt
   cried out, "We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord." The
   crusading rhetoric resonated well with the delegates, many of them
   long-time reformers, crusaders, activists and opponents of politics as
   usual. Included in the ranks were Jane Addams and many other feminists
   and peace activists. The platform echoed Roosevelt's 1907-08 proposals,
   calling for vigorous government intervention to protect the people from
   the selfish interests.

   While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 14, 1912, a
   saloonkeeper named John Schrank failed in an assassination attempt on
   Roosevelt. Schrank did shoot the former President, but the bullet
   lodged in Roosevelt's chest only after hitting both his steel eyeglass
   case and a copy of his speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt
   declined suggestions that he go to the hospital, and delivered his
   scheduled speech. He spoke vigorously for ninety minutes. His opening
   comments to the gathered crowd were, "I don't know whether you fully
   understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to
   kill a Bull Moose." Afterwards, doctors determined that he was not
   seriously wounded and that it would be more dangerous to attempt to
   remove the bullet than to leave it in his chest. Roosevelt carried it
   with him until he died.

   Roosevelt failed to move the political system in his direction. He did
   win 4.1 million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5 million (23%).
   However, Wilson's 6.3 million votes (42%) were enough to garner 435
   electoral votes. Roosevelt had 88 electoral votes to Taft's 8 electoral
   votes. (This meant that Taft became the only incumbent President in
   history to actually come in third place in an attempt to be
   re-elected.) But Pennsylvania was Roosevelt's only Eastern state; in
   the Midwest he carried Michigan, Minnesota and South Dakota; in the
   West, California and Washington; he did not win any Southern states.
   Although he lost, he won more votes than former presidents Martin Van
   Buren and Millard Fillmore who also ran again and also lost. More
   important, he pulled so many progressives out of the Republican party
   that it took on a much more conservative cast for the next generation.

1913-1914 South American Expedition

   The initial party. From left to right (seated): Father Zahm, Rondon,
   Kermit, Cherrie, Miller, four Brazilians, Roosevelt, Fiala. Only
   Roosevelt, Kermit, Cherrie, Rondon and the Brazilians traveled up the
   River of Doubt.
   The initial party. From left to right (seated): Father Zahm, Rondon,
   Kermit, Cherrie, Miller, four Brazilians, Roosevelt, Fiala. Only
   Roosevelt, Kermit, Cherrie, Rondon and the Brazilians traveled up the
   River of Doubt.

   His popular book Through the Brazilian Wilderness describes his
   expedition into the Brazilian jungle in 1913 as a member of the
   Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition co-named after its leader,
   Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon. The book describes all of the
   scientific discovery, scenic tropical vistas and exotic flora, fauna
   and wild life experienced on the expedition. A friend, Father John
   Augustine Zahm, had searched for new adventures and found them in the
   forests of South America. After a briefing of several of his own
   expeditions, he convinced Roosevelt to commit to such an expedition in
   1912. To finance the expedition, Roosevelt received support from the
   American Museum of Natural History, promising to bring back many new
   animal specimens. Once in South America, a new far more ambitious goal
   was added: to find the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida, the River of
   Doubt, and trace it north to the Madiera and thence to the Amazon
   River. It was later renamed Rio Roosevelt in honour of the former
   President. Roosevelt's crew consisted of his 24-year-old son Kermit,
   Colonel Cândido Rondon, a naturalist sent by the American Museum of
   Natural History named George K. Cherrie, Brazilian Lieutenant Joao
   Lyra, team physician Dr. José Antonio Cajazeira, and sixteen highly
   skilled paddlers (called camaradas in Portuguese). The initial
   expedition started, probably unwisely, on December 9, 1913, at the
   height of the rainy season. The trip up the River of Doubt started on
   February 27, 1914.
   Roosevelt, wearing sun helmet, barely survived an expedition in 1913
   into the Amazonian rain forest to trace the River of Doubt later named
   the Rio Roosevelt.
   Roosevelt, wearing sun helmet, barely survived an expedition in 1913
   into the Amazonian rain forest to trace the River of Doubt later named
   the Rio Roosevelt.

   During the trip up the river, Roosevelt contracted malaria and a
   serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound. These illnesses so
   weakened Roosevelt that, by six weeks into the expedition, he had to be
   attended day and night by the expedition's physician, Dr. Cajazeira and
   his son, Kermit. By this time, Roosevelt considered his own condition a
   threat to the survival of the others. At one point, Kermit had to talk
   him out of his wish to be left behind so as not to slow down the
   expedition, now with only a few weeks rations left. Roosevelt was
   having chest pains when he tried to walk, his temperature soared to
   103°F (39°C), and at times he was delirious. He had lost over fifty
   pounds (20 kg). Without the constant support of Dr. Cajazeira, and
   Rondon's leadership, Roosevelt would likely have perished.

   Upon his return to New York, friends and family were startled by
   Roosevelt's physical appearance and fatigue. Roosevelt wrote to a
   friend that the trip had cut his life short by ten years. He might not
   have really known just how accurate that analysis would prove to be,
   because the effects of the South America expedition had so greatly
   weakened him that they significantly contributed to his declining
   health. For the rest of his life, he would be plagued by flareups of
   malaria and leg inflammations so severe that they would require
   hospitalization.

   When Roosevelt had recovered enough of his strength, he found that he
   had a new battle on his hands. In professional circles, there was doubt
   about his claims of having discovered and navigated a completely
   uncharted river over 625 miles (1,000 km) long. Roosevelt would have to
   defend himself and win international recognition of the expedition's
   newly-named Rio Roosevelt. Toward this end, Roosevelt went to
   Washington, D.C., and spoke at a standing-room-only convention to
   defend his claims. His official report and its defense silenced the
   critics, and he was able to triumphantly return to his home in Oyster
   Bay.

Writer

   Despite his weakened condition and slow recovery from his South America
   expedition, Roosevelt continued to write with passion on subjects
   ranging from foreign policy to the importance of the national park
   system. As an editor of Outlook magazine, he had weekly access to a
   large, educated national audience. In all, Roosevelt wrote about 18
   books (each in several editions), including his Autobiography, Rough
   Riders and History of the Naval War of 1812, ranching, explorations,
   and wildlife. His most important book was the 4 volume narrative The
   Winning of the West, which traced the origin of a new "race" of
   Americans to frontier conditions in the 18th century.

World War I

   Roosevelt angrily complained about the foreign policy of President
   Wilson, calling it "weak". This caused him to develop an intense
   dislike of Woodrow Wilson. When World War I began in 1914, Roosevelt
   strongly supported Britain, France and the Allies of World War I
   because he admired their fight for civilization; he demanded a harsher
   policy against Germany, especially regarding submarine warfare. In
   1916, he campaigned energetically for Charles Evans Hughes and
   repeatedly denounced those Irish-Americans and German-Americans whose
   pleas for neutrality Roosevelt said were unpatriotic because they put
   the interest of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's. He insisted
   that one had to be 100% American, not a " hyphenated American" who
   juggled multiple loyalties. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917,
   Roosevelt sought to raise a volunteer infantry division, but Wilson
   refused.

   Roosevelt's attacks on Wilson helped the Republicans win control of
   Congress in the off-year elections of 1918. Roosevelt was popular
   enough to seriously contest the 1920 Republican nomination, but his
   health was broken by 1918 because of the lingering malaria. His son
   Quentin, a daring pilot with the American forces in France, was shot
   down behind German lines in 1918. Quentin was his youngest son and
   probably the most like him. It is said that the death of his son
   distressed him so much that Roosevelt never recovered from his loss.

Last years

   Theodore Roosevelt Grave in Youngs Memorial Cemetery Oyster Bay, New
   York
   Theodore Roosevelt Grave in Youngs Memorial Cemetery Oyster Bay, New
   York
   26 Steps Leading to Roosevelt's Grave Commerating his Service as 26th
   President
   26 Steps Leading to Roosevelt's Grave Commerating his Service as 26th
   President

   Despite his debilitating diseases, Roosevelt remained active to the end
   of his life. He was an enthusiastic proponent of the Scouting movement.
   The Boy Scouts of America gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen,
   the only person to hold such title. One early Scout leader said, "The
   two things that gave Scouting great impetus and made it very popular
   were the uniform and Teddie Roosevelt's jingoism."

   On January 6, 1919, at the age of 60, Roosevelt died in his sleep of a
   coronary embolism at Oyster Bay, and was buried in nearby Young's
   Memorial Cemetery. Upon receiving word of his death, his son, Archie,
   telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." Woodrow
   Wilson's vice president at the time Thomas R. Marshall said of his
   death "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake,
   there would have been a fight."
   Roosevelt Family in 1903 with Quentin on the left, TR, Ted, Jr.,
   "Archie", Alice, Kermit, Edith, and Ethel
   Roosevelt Family in 1903 with Quentin on the left, TR, Ted, Jr.,
   "Archie", Alice, Kermit, Edith, and Ethel

   Roosevelt intensely disliked being called "Teddy," and was quick to
   point out this fact out to those who used the nickname, though it would
   become widely used by newspapers during his political career. He
   attended the Madison Square Presbyterian Church until the age of 16.
   Later in life, when Roosevelt lived at Oyster Bay he attended an
   Episcopal church with his wife. While in Washington he attended
   services at Grace Reformed Church. As President he firmly believed in
   the separation of church and state and thought it unwise to have In God
   We Trust on currency, because he thought it sacrilegious to put the
   name of the Deity on something so common as money. He was also a
   Freemason, and regularly attended the Matinecock Lodge's meetings. He
   once said that "One of the things that so greatly attracted me to
   Masonry that I hailed the chance of becoming a Mason was that it really
   did act up to what we, as a government, are pledged to — namely to
   treat each man on his merit as a man."

   Roosevelt had a lifelong interest in pursuing what he called "the
   strenuous life." To this end, he exercised regularly and took up
   boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. As governor
   of New York, he boxed with sparring partners several times a week, a
   practice he regularly continued as President until one blow detached
   his left retina, leaving him blind in that eye (a fact not made public
   until many years later). Thereafter, he practiced jujutsu and continued
   his habit of skinny-dipping in the Potomac River during winter.
   Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt's estate
   Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt's estate

   He was an enthusiastic singlestick player and, according to Harper's
   Weekly, in 1905 showed up at a White House reception with his arm
   bandaged after a bout with General Leonard Wood. Roosevelt was also an
   avid reader, reading tens of thousands of books, at a rate of several a
   day in multiple languages. Along with Thomas Jefferson Roosevelt is
   often considered the most well read of any American politician.

   His younger two sons made up a part of what was called the "White House
   Gang".

Legacy

   Roosevelt's face on Mt. Rushmore
   Roosevelt's face on Mt. Rushmore

   For his gallantry at San Juan Hill, Roosevelt's commanders recommended
   him for the Medal of Honour, but his subsequent telegrams to the War
   Department complaining about the delays in returning American troops
   from Cuba doomed his chances. In the late 1990s, Roosevelt's supporters
   again took up the flag on his behalf and overcame opposition from
   elements within the U.S. Army and the National Archives. On January 16,
   2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of
   Honour posthumously for his charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the
   Spanish-American War. Roosevelt's eldest son, Brigadier General
   Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., received the Medal of Honour for heroism at
   the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The Roosevelts thus became one of only
   two father-son pairs to receive this honour.

   Roosevelt's legacy includes several other important commemorations.
   Roosevelt was included with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and
   Abraham Lincoln at the Mount Rushmore Memorial, designed in 1927. The
   United States Navy named two ships for Roosevelt: the USS Theodore
   Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a submarine was in commission from 1961 to 1982;
   and the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), an aircraft carrier has been
   on active duty in the Atlantic Fleet since 1986.

   The Roosevelt Memorial Association (later the Theodore Roosevelt
   Association) or "TRA", was founded in 1919 to preserve Roosevelt's
   legacy. The Association preserved TR's birthplace, " Sagamore Hill"
   home, papers, and video film.
   1910 cartoon shows Roosevelt's multiple roles to 1898
   1910 cartoon shows Roosevelt's multiple roles to 1898

   Overall, historians credit Roosevelt for changing the nation's
   political system by permanently placing the presidency at centre stage
   and making character as important as the issues. His notable
   accomplishments include trust-busting and conservationism. However, he
   has been criticized for his interventionist and imperialist approach to
   nations he considered "uncivilized". Even so, history and legend have
   been kind to him. His friend, historian Henry Adams, proclaimed,
   "Roosevelt, more than any other living man ....showed the singular
   primitive quality that belongs to ultimate matter — the quality that
   mediaeval theology assigned to God — he was pure act." Historians
   typically rank Roosevelt among the top five presidents.

Popular culture

   Roosevelt's 1901 saying “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick” is still
   being occasionally quoted by politicians and columnists in different
   countries - not only in English but also in translation to various
   other languagues. For example, following the Second Lebanon War of
   August 2006, opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused
   him of "Speaking loudly and carrying a small stick".

   The phrase is also used in a popular Bugs Bunny Cartoon in which Bugs
   runs for office against a crooked Yosemite Sam. Bugs in the dress of
   Roosevelt proclaims the phrase and Sam runs in and says "I have a
   bigger stick and I use it too!" Then Sam proceeds to bop Bugs with the
   stick on the top of the head.

   As a charismatic President often considered larger than life, Roosevelt
   (or characters using his name loosely based on him) has appeared in
   numerous fiction books, television shows, films, and other media of
   popular culture.

   In the Scrooge McDuck comics by Keno Don Rosa, Roosevelt appears
   several times, often as the mentor of an adolescent Scrooge, teaching
   him the values of self-confidence and self-reliance.

   Roosevelt was used in an episode of the Disney cartoon version of
   Tarzan on his African excursion after the Presidency.

   He is also a major character in Harry Turtledove's fictional
   Timeline-191 alternate history, along with Caleb Carr's novels The
   Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, and is the protagonist of Benito
   Cereno's Tales From the Bully Pulpit comic book. In the comic play and
   movie Arsenic and Old Lace part of the zany atmosphere is created by a
   character who holds the delusion that he is Theodore Roosevelt.

   Roosevelt appeared as a guest host in the Histeria! episode "The Teddy
   Roosevelt Show". The episode opened with a sketch where Roosevelt meets
   with the show's "writers", and it featured a sketch in which Roosevelt
   appears as Panama Teddy (a play on Indiana Jones) to help with the
   construction of the Panama Canal, and also a song based on his nickname
   "Trust Buster" (sung to the tune of the theme from Ghostbusters). Also,
   the episode "Presidential People" included a song about Roosevelt,
   named after his catch phrase, "Bully!" (which, as Toast put it, he
   liked to say instead of "cool").

   Roosevelt and his daughter were the title characters in the short-lived
   1987 Broadway musical Teddy & Alice.

   Filmmaker John Milius directed two films in which Roosevelt was a
   central character: The Wind and the Lion (1975) in which he was played
   by Brian Keith; and Rough Riders (1997) in which he was played by Tom
   Berenger.
   "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," by Clifford Berryman, referring to
   Roosevelt's sparing the bear
   "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," by Clifford Berryman, referring to
   Roosevelt's sparing the bear

   Roosevelt's lasting popular legacy is the stuffed toy bears ( teddy
   bears), named after him following an incident on a hunting trip in
   1902. Roosevelt famously refused to kill a captured black bear simply
   for the sake of making a kill. Bears and later bear cubs became closely
   associated with Roosevelt in political cartoons thereafter.

   On June 26, 2006, Roosevelt, once again, made the cover of TIME
   magazine with the lead story, "The Making of America—Theodore
   Roosevelt—The 20th Century Express": "At home and abroad, Theodore
   Roosevelt was the locomotive President, the man who drew his
   flourishing nation into the future."

   Claude Akins played him in Incident at Victoria Falls (1991 TV film).

   Roosevelt is also in the movie Night at the Museum, played by Robin
   Williams, where he helps out Ben Stiller's character throughout the
   night. He has also developed a crush on Sacagawea, played by Mizuo
   Peck.

Trivia

     * Proper pronunciation of the name Roosevelt - In a letter to the
       Rev. William W. Moir, dated October 10, 1898, Theodore Roosevelt
       wrote, "As for my name, it is pronounced as if it was spelled
       "Rosavelt." That is in three syllables. The first syllable as if it
       was "Rose." This letter can be found on pages 534-535 of the
       Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia, a work compiled by the Theodore
       Roosevelt Association and found online at
       http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org under the cyclopedia section.
     * Roosevelt was only six years old when a famous picture was taken
       showing him looking out his second story window (the one opened) at
       Abraham Lincoln's funeral train.
     * On September 3, 1902 a landau carrying Roosevelt and Secret Service
       Operative William Craig was struck by a trolley in Pittsfield,
       Massachusetts. Craig was killed and Roosevelt was injured.
     * In 1906-1907, when there were disagreements between Roosevelt and
       Senator Benjamin Tiller over the railroad rate bill, and also
       controversy between Roosevelt and "nature fakers," the press coined
       the term Ananias Club, which meant "liar."
     * Roosevelt was a judo brown belt, a very noteworthy achievement at
       the time.
     * Theodore Roosevelt The Lion in White House (2006), a novel by
       Vichey about Roosevelt's adventures, thrilling stories, and about
       his activities in his domains, was published in Cambodia in the
       Khmer language.
     * Roosevelt's first appearance on US currency was on the reverse of
       the Mount Rushmore commemorative Dollar and Half Dollar.
     * He is the fifth cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
     * His coat of arms features roses and ostrich plumes, and is similar
       to that of Franklin Roosevelt.
     * President Roosevelt met the gifted black British composer Samuel
       Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912) who had set Longfellow's Song of
       Hiawatha to music

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