Theodore RooseveltOctober 27, 1858—January 6, 1919
Theodore Roosevelt, at his death was perhaps the greatest single personality of the time. He had been the model of masculinity and the dominant political figure in American politics and social justice for twenty years. The power of his personality and his willingness to take on formidable tasks had engendered both great love and respect from his supporters—these were the majority—and fear and loathing from his detractors. Not since Lincoln—as a child, Roosevelt viewed Lincoln’s funeral—had such a strong personality imposed its will on the nation and wielded such history-changing power. And, it could be argued that no other president of the United States, except perhaps Thomas Jefferson, had such varied talents and interests.
Roosevelt was sickly as a young child, but with the promptings of his parents—his father was his hero and “the best man I ever knew”, teaching by example the importance of combining strength, courage, gentleness and unselfishness—he built himself, through vigorous exercise and strenuous outdoor pursuits, into a powerful and vigorous physical specimen and endeavored to live up to his father’s ideals of character. He thrived on pitting himself against difficult physical and mental tasks. His interests were varied and many. As a youth he delved into zoology and taxidermy and wrote a scholarly paper on “The Natural History of Insects. His scholarly works later included some 35 publications on natural history, political history, the history of the Navy, frontier life and an autobiography. His college years at Harvard were spent in pursuit of athletic and scholastic excellence. He was the runner up in the Harvard boxing championship and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude.
After entering law school, Roosevelt felt the call to politics and became a New York assemblyman in 1881, where he began a career of trying to pull the Republican party towards progressive thought, and where he wrote more bills than any other assemblyman. After the death of his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, in 1884, Roosevelt was brokenhearted, and he fled from politics and New York, leaving his newborn daughter, Alice Lee, to the care of his sister, while he went off to become a rancher in the Dakotas. While ranching in the Dakota Territory, Roosevelt was elected sheriff, and as as such, made some courageous arrests of rustlers and outlaws, all while writing articles about western life for magazines published in the East. After his cattle herd was destroyed by a particularly bad winter, Roosevelt returned to New York where he ran for Mayor of New York city but lost. But, he also met and married his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, whom he took to Europe in 1886 for their honeymoon. While there, the ever adventurous Roosevelt led a group of climbers to the summit of Mount Blanc, for which he was inducted into the British Royal Society.
Roosevelt supported Benjamin Harris in the 1888 presidential election and was appointed to the U.S. Civil Service Commission where he served until 1895—he had also been reappointed to the post under democrat Grover Cleveland. In 1895, Roosevelt became the head of the New York City Police Commissioners where he turned one of the most corrupt and disreputable police forces in America into possibly the nations best. He implemented rules and regulations that governed discipline, weaponry, entry exams, and physical and mental fitness. No longer was employment dependent on political persuasion or restricted by ethnic background. Even women were allowed to join the force. Roosevelt, himself, would walk the beats at night to verify that the officers were out performing their duties. He also instituted bicycle patrols and installed telephones in all police stations.
In 1897, President Mckinley appointed Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. This was an exciting opportunity for Roosevelt who, as an historian had written a history of the US Navy. He took the opportunity to do all within his power to prepare the Nay for any potential war—preparedness for war would be a focus throughout the rest of his political career—and was a leading voice in support of the United States’ war with Spain. When war began with Spain in 1898, Roosevelt personally organized and commanded the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, known as the “Rough Riders”, where he gained notoriety for leading victorious charges against the Spanish in Cuba. His service at the Battle of San Juan Hill was honored by a recommendation for the congressional medal of honor, but was initialy denied the medal, apparently, for voicing criticism of the military’s handling of the war. However, he did receive it posthumously—as did his son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. for his heroics at Normandy during World War II—more than a hundred years later in 2001 making him the only American President to have received the Medal of Honor.
Upon his return as a war hero, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York State in 1899. As governor of New York he worked so hard and effectively to root out political corruption, that the political bosses of the Republican Party, in order to get Roosevelt out of their political hair, convinced President McKinley to add him to his ticket as Vice President for his reelection campaign in 1900. Just six months after Roosevelt was sworn in as Vice President, President Mckinley was assassinated and Roosevelt, at the young age of 42, became the youngest President in American history.
Roosevelt’s interest in nature and his love for the American West and it’s numerous resources created within him a desire to use his power as President to become the nation’s greatest conservationist. He pushed congress to set aside almost 200 millions of acres of land in the West as national parks, national forests and nature preserves, to protect them for future generations. As President, Roosevelt continued his proclivity towards progressive politics, taking on corporations which he felt were corrupt and were illegally working against the American people’s interest. He personally filed 44 law suits to bridle corporate misconduct. The results of his efforts to even the playing field between workers and business owners and protecting consumers, were the Hepburn Act of 1906, which allowed for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate transportation of people and goods and the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act of the same year, to regulate railroad rates, recognizing that the railroads had a monopoly, and to make food and drugs safer for public consumption. Roosevelt also stepped in, when he felt necessary, to mediate between labor unions and business, as he did during the coal strike of 1907, to protect the balance of fairness between industry, the work force and the American consumer, which he felt was vital to the American capitalist system and in the nation's interest as a whole. Roosevelt’s skills as a mediator also earned him the Nobel Peace Prize when he negotiated an end to the Ruso-Japanese War that same year, and a later dispute between Germany and France over Morocco, which might have escalated into a world war.
On the world stage, Roosevelt made the United States a super power. He dramatically increased the size of the navy and sent it around the world to show off—primarily for the benefit of the Japanese—the "Big Stick” part of his foreign policy: “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” In 1903, Roosevelt backed Panama in their break with Columbia and took over the building of the Panama Canal from the French who had contracted with Columbia to build it. The U.S. was able to accelerate the building of the canal by eliminating the swamps that were the breeding places of the mosquitoes which spread the yellow fever and malaria amongst the workers and had slowed greatly the progress of the building of the canal under the direction of Columbia and France. The United states became the protector and controller of the Canal by treaty until the Carter administration.
Roosevelt easily won the 1904 election for president in an electoral college landslide, 336 to 140. He made a promise not to run again in 1908, but he regretted the decision soon after his hand-picked successor and friend, William Howard Taft, became president and changed political direction from that plotted by Roosevelt. Roosevelt decided to run again in 1912 but was unable to grasp the nomination of the Republican party from Taft. So, Roosevelt broke with the Republican party and ran again, against his old friend, at the head of his own “Bull Moose Party. This split the party so badly that Woodrow Wilson won the White House back for the Democrats. During the 1912 presidential campaign, Roosevelt was shot in an assassination attempt prior to a speech, the bullet lodging in his chest muscle. Roosevelt assumed that since he was not coughing up blood, the bullet had not entered his lungs and that he would be able to give his ninety-minute speech. True to his nature, he did so before seeking medical treatment.
Roosevelt's years after his presidency were spent doing the things he enjoyed most; traveling to the wilds of Africa and South America, hunting and exploring. He sent home numerous examples of wild life from his trips around the world, which today can be viewed as exhibits in the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institute. His explorations brought him into contact with many dangers as well. During his exploration of the Amazon, where he discovered a before unknown tributary to the great river, he contracted malaria and was so worried about the survival of his fellow explorers, as they endeavored to help him along, that he tried to convince them to leave him behind, so as not to delay their progress to safety. His son, Kermit, would not accede to his wishes, however, and he was brought safely home, but his health was so damaged by the ordeal that it declined from that point on until his death in 1919.
As World War I broke out in 1914, Roosevelt felt even greater frustration for the direction the leadrship of America was taking, as he watched from the sidelines, not being able to lead the country during, perhaps it’s greatest need in his lifetime. He attacked Wilson for being a weak leader, not entering on the side of the allies against Germany much sooner. He proposed organizing another volunteer force similar to the Rough Riders he led during the Spanish—American War, but Wilson refused his offer. When his youngest son, Quentin, an ace fighter pilot, was killed in combat behind enemy lines in July of 1918, Roosevelt’s health took a more aggressive decline and he died January 6, 1919.
Theodore Roosevelt was the quintessential American of his time. His desire for a robust and energetic life, excelling in all of his physical, mental and scholarly pursuits, was part of his identity as an American. He tried to be an example of character, defending the weak against the strong and endeavoring to protect America and the American way of life, as he saw it, for his family and all of his fellow countrymen. He criticized Americans who referred to themselves as German-Americans or Irish-Americans, or any other “hyphenated Americans.” He felt that hyphenated Americans were too willing to split their loyalty between a native country, or the homeland of their ancestors, and their current homeland of America. He believed that each American should see themselves as he did; 100% American. His great self confidence and charisma took him to the highest office in the land and to heights of popularity and respect perhaps unknown by any other American President during their own lifetime since George Washington. His father would have been proud of him too.
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