Theodore Roosevelt
October 27, 1858 Born at 28 East 20th Street, New York City, child of Theodore ("Thee" or "Greatheart")
and Martha ("Mittie") Bulloch Roosevelt.
There were four children in all -
Anna ("Bamie" or "Bye"), Theodore ("Teedie" to his family and very close friends. He hated to be called
"Teddy"),
Elliott ("Ellie") and Corinne ("Coney").
1865 Watches Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession from an upstairs window of his grandfather's house on
Union Square, New York City. With him are his younger brother Elliott and a friend named Edith Kermit
Carow.
1876-1880 Attended Harvard College
[TR as a freshman - Dec 1876]
Feb. 9, 1878 Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. dies from stomach cancer at the family's new home, 6 West 57th
Street, NYC.
June 30, 1880 Graduates from Harvard, magna cum laude, member Phi Beta Kappa.
1880-1882 Enters Columbia Law School in October 1880; discontinued study of law in 1882 without
taking a degree or becoming a lawyer.
October 27, 1880 Marries Alice Hathaway Lee of Chestnut Hill, MA on his 22nd birthday.
(Alice born July 29, 1861)
1880 Joins the Republican Party
November 8, 1881 Elected to New York State Assembly from New York City (the youngest man ever
elected to the Assembly) by a margin of 3,490 votes to 1,989.
Serves three one-year terms, 1882, 1883 and 1884. Minority Leader 1883.
1882 Publishes first book, The Naval War of 1812, written partly while TR was in college. It set the
standard for studies on naval strategy and was required reading at the Naval Academy in Annapolis for
many years.
1882-1884 Served in New York State Assembly.
"I put myself in the way of things happening; and they happened."..."During the three years' service in the
Legislature I worked on a very simple philosophy of government. It was that personal character and
initiative are the prime requisites in political and social life."
August 1,1882 Joins the National Guard. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant in B Company of New
York's Eighth Regiment. Would be promoted to Captain the following year.
1883 Reelected by the widest margin of any legislator in New York (by a two-to-one majority). Becomes
Minority Leader.
Is taken on a tour of New York City tenements by Samuel Gompers and is horrified by the conditions he
witnesses. Works to pass legislation to ease conditions.
1883-1884 Establishes two cattle ranches, Maltese Cross and Elkhorn, near Medora, Dakota Territory (in
region now part of North Dakota).
February 12, 1884 Birth of 1st child, daughter Alice Lee Roosevelt at his home on 57th Street in NYC.
February 14, 1884 Double tragedy:
TR's mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt dies of typhoid fever; hours later, in the same house on 57th Street,
TR's wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt also dies from Bright's disease - a chronic kidney infection which
had been masked by her pregnancy.
[see actual diary entry - then use your back key to return here]
"It was a grim and an evil fate, but I never have believed it did any good to flinch or yield for any blow,
nor does it lighten the blow to cease from working." (Private letter, March 1884)
March, 1884 Signs a contract with the firm of Joseph Wood & Sons of Lawrence, Long Island, to build a
home in Oyster Bay at the insistence of his sister Bamie, who convinced him his daughter would need a
home. He had originally planned the home with his wife Alice, and was planning to name it Leeholm in
honor of her family name.
The house, completed in 1885, would later be named Sagamore Hill in honor of Sagamore Mohannis, the
Indian chief who used the hill as a meeting place and signed his people's rights to the land over to the
settlers in the 1660s.
April, 1884 As Chairman of the Committee on Cities, presented report which resulted in vital changes in
the Charter of New York City.
June, 1884 Delegate to the Republican National Convention.
1884-1886 Ranchman in the badlands of the Dakota Territory.
"It was still the Wild West in those days, the Far West of Owen Wister's stories, and Frederic Remington's
drawings, the soldier and the cowpuncher. The land of the West has gone now, 'gone, gone with the lost
Atlantis,' gone to the isle of ghosts and strange dead memories...In that land we led a hardy life. Ours was
the glory of work and the joy of living."
1885 Sagamore Hill, TR's Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York home, completed.
1885 Publishes Hunting Trips of a Ranchman
November 2, 1886 Abram S. Hewitt, the son-in-law of Peter Cooper defeats TR as Republican candidate
for mayor of New York City. Hewitt's New York City home would later become the Cooper-Hewitt
Museum.
"But anyway, I had a bully time."
December 2, 1886 Marries to Edith Kermit Carow in London.
[Edith born August 6, 1861, Norwich, CT]
1887 Publishes Life of Thomas Hart Benton.
1887 TR and Edith Roosevelt took up residence at Sagamore Hill. They eventually have five children:
Theodore (1887), Kermit (1889), Ethel Carow (1891), Archibald Bulloch (1894), Quentin (1897).
Sept.13,
1887
Theodore's first son (second child), Theodore Roosevelt, Junior is born at Sagamore Hill.
1888 Publishes Life of Gouverneur Morris.
Publishes Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail.
Publishes Essays in Practical Politics.
Oct. 10,
1889
Kermit Roosevelt (third child) is born at Sagamore Hill.
1889 First two volumes of The Winning of the West published. Two more volumes of his four-volume
history of the frontier would follow in 1894 and 1896.
May 7, 1889- May 5, 1895 U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Washington.
"The opposition to reform is generally well led by skilled parliamentarians, and they fight with the
vindictiveness natural to men who see a chance of striking at the institution which has baffled their greed.
These men have a gift at office-mongering, just as other men have a peculiar knack at picking pockets; and
they are joined by all the honest dull men, who vote wrong out of pure ignorance, and by a very few sincere
and intelligent, but wholly misguided people."
1891 Publishes History of New York, a history of New York City.
August 13,1891 Birth of his daughter, Ethel Carow Roosevelt, at Sagamore Hill.
1893 Published The Wilderness Hunter.
April 10, 1894 Son Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, born in Washington, DC.
August 14, 1894 Brother Elliott Roosevelt (father of Eleanor Roosevelt) dies.
1895 Publishes Hero Tales from American History, in collaboration with Henry Cabot Lodge.
May 5, 1895 Resigns US Civil Service Commission to become Police Commissioner of NYC.
May 6, 1895- April 19, 1897 President of the Board of Police Commissioners, New York City.
Received national press attention for his reforms, including "midnight rambles" in search of policemen not
at their posts. Ordered that all police officers must report for target practice, thus establishing the
foundation of the Police Academy, one of the first in the country.
"There is nothing of the purple in it. It is as grimy as all work for municipal reform over here must be for
some decades to come; and is inconceivably arduous, disheartening, and irritating, beyond almost all other
work of the kind...It is not work to be done in a rose-water basis."
1897 Publishes American Ideals.
April 19, 1897 Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President William McKinley.
"The shots that hit are the shots that count."
November 19, 1897 Son Quentin Roosevelt, born in Washington, DC.
May 6, 1898 A little more than one year later TR resigns as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to become
Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (the "Rough Riders").
"A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals in so far as he can. Now I have consistently
preached what our opponents are pleased to call 'Jingo Doctrines' for a good many years. One of the
commonest taunts directed at men like myself is that we are armchair and parlor Jingos who wish to see
others do what we only advocate doing. I care very little for such a taunt, except as it affects my usefulness;
but I cannot afford to disregard that fact that my power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I
didn't try to live up to the doctrines I have to preach."
May 15-
Sept. 16, 1898
Serves with First US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the "Rough Riders," during Spanish-American War.
TR commissioned Lieutenant Colonel, but later promoted to Colonel of the regiment before the Battle of
San Juan Heights.
June 24, 1898 Baptism of fire at Las Guasimas.
July 1, 1898 Battle of San Juan Heights. Is later nominated for, but denied, the Congressional Medal of
Honor. One hundred years later TR is awarded the Medal of Honor.
"As for the political effect of my actions, in the first place, I never can get on in politics, and in the second,
I would rather have led that charge and earned my colonelcy than served three terms in the US Senate. It
makes me feel as though I could now leave something to my children which will serve as an apology for
my having existed ."
August 14, 1898 The Rough Riders land at Montauk, Long Island, to begin a six-week quarantine.
[TR returned from Cuba, in 6 week quarantine at Camp Wikoff, Montauk, Long Island, New York, Aug-
Sept 1898]
September 27, 1898 Nominated by the Republican Party for Governor of New York State.
October 5, 1898 Opening of campaign at Carnegie Music Hall. Speech on The Duties of a Great Nation.
"I am not having an entirely pleasant campaign. I may win yet, and I am going in to do everything that can
be done ."
November 8, 1898 Elected Governor of New York State (661,715 votes) with a plurality of 17,786 votes.
His opponent was Democrat Augustus Van Wyck of Brooklyn (643,921 votes).
" At that time boss rule was at its very zenith...In each case I did my best to persuade Mr. Platt not to
oppose me...It was only after I had exhausted all the resources of my patience that I would finally, if he still
proved obstinate, tell him that I intended to make the fight anyhow."
December 31, 1898 Takes oath of office as Governor of New York before Secretary of State John Palmer.
January 2. Inauguration in Assembly Chamber. The day was so cold that the brass instruments of the band
escorting him to the State Capitol building froze into silence. Annual message to legislature, dealing with
taxation, the Erie Canal, commerce, labor, the National Guard, roads, civil service, state forests and the
economy.
1899 Publishes The Rough Riders. First installment appears in Scribner's in January.
January 2, 1899 Inauguration as Governor in Assembly Chamber. The day was so cold that the brass
instruments of the band escorting him to the State Capitol building froze into silence. Annual message to
legislature, dealing with taxation, the Erie Canal, commerce, labor, the National Guard, roads, civil service,
state forests and the economy.
January 16, 1899 First weekly State cabinet meeting.
Dec. 31, 1898 - Dec. 31, 1900 Governor of New York.
November 6, 1900 Oyster Bay. Elected Vice President. The McKinley-Roosevelt ticket received 7,219,530
votes to 6,358,071 for Democrats William Jennings Bryan and Adlai E. Stevenson.
" If I have been put on the shelf, my enemies will find that I can make it a cheerful place of abode."
December 31, 1900 Oyster Bay. Evening in Albany for farewell dinner given by Timothy L. Woodruff.
March 4-
Sept. 14, 1901 Vice President of the United States.
Sept. 6, 1901 President William McKinley shot while attending the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo,
NY.
TR, on a hiking trip with his family, is summoned from Mount Tahawus in the Adirondacks to Buffalo.
September 14, 1901 At age 42, Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States and is sworn into
office at about 3:15 p.m. at the Ansley Wilcox Mansion, 641 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, the youngest man
ever to become President (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of
43).
" The course I followed, of regarding the Executive as subject only to the people, and, under the
Constitution, bound to serve the people affirmatively in cases where the Constitution does not explicitly
forbid him to render the service, was substantially the course followed by both Andrew Jackson and
Abraham Lincoln."
Sept. 14 1901-
Mar. 4, 1909
Twenty-sixth President of the United States.
February 19, 1902 Orders antitrust suit under Sherman Act to dissolve Northern Securities Company in the
first of 45 antitrust suits.
May 22, 1902 Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, established.
Other National Parks established by TR are:
Wind Cave National Park, SD (1903);
Sullys Hill, ND (1904);
Platt National Park, OK (1906);
Mesa Verde National Park, CO (1906)
June 17, 1902 Newlands Reclamation Act signed, leading to first 21 federal irrigation projects including
Theodore Roosevelt Dam, Arizona.
June 28, 1902 Isthmian Canal Act.
October 15,
1902
Settles Anthracite Coal Strike.
December 31,1902 Roosevelt settles the Venezuelan Affair.
February 14, 1903 Department of Commerce and Labor established.
February 19, 1903 Elkins Anti-rebate Act for railroads signed.
March 14, 1903 Proclaimed Pelican Island, Florida as first federal bird reservation; total of 51 bird
reservations established by Roosevelt administration.
March, 1903 Roosevelt settles the Alaskan Boundary dispute.
November 13, 1903 Recognition of the Republic of Panama after Panama's secession from Colombia.
November 18, 1903 Treaty signed with Panama for building of Panama Canal, which was completed in
1914.
"Panama declared itself independent and wanted to complete the Panama Canal, and opened negotiations
with us. I had two courses open. I might have taken the matter under advisement and put it before the
Senate, in which case we should have had a number of most able speeches on the subject, and they would
have been going on now, and the Panama Canal would be in the dim future yet. We would have had a half
a century of discussion afterward."
December 17, 1903 Reciprocity Treaty with Cuba.
November 8, 1904 Reelected President over Democrat Alton B. Parker.
"I am glad to be elected President in my own right."
December 6, 1904 Issued "Roosevelt Corollary" to Monroe Doctrine in annual message to Congress.
June 2, 1905 Wichita Forest, Oklahoma made first federal game preserve. Other federal game preserves
established by TR are Grand Canyon (1908); Fire Island, Alaska (1909); and National Bison Range,
Montana (1909).
February 1, 1905 National Forest Service established.
March 4, 1905 Inaugurated for second term as President.
March 17, 1905 Acting as stand-in for his deceased brother Elliott, he gave away his niece Eleanor
Roosevelt at her wedding to her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in New York City.
June 2, 1905 Wichita Forest, Oklahoma, made first federal game preserve. Other federal game preserves
established by TR are the Grand Canyon (1908); Fire Island, Alaska (1909); and National Bison Range,
Montana (1909).
September 5, 1905 Portsmouth Treaty signed ending Russo-Japanese War after mediation by TR.
1905 Published Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter.
January 1906 Algeciras Conference opened as TR mediated a dispute between France and Germany over
Morocco, preserving Moroccan independence and the European balance of power, thus for a time saving
the peace in North Africa and Europe.
Feb.17, 1906 Marriage of his daughter Alice to Ohio Congressman Nicholas Longworth in a magnificent
White House ceremony.
June 8, 1906 Antiquities or National Monuments Act signed, by which TR established the first 18
"National Monuments," including:
Devils Tower (1906),
Muir Woods (1908),
Grand Canyon (1908), and
Mount Olympus (1909)
June 11, 1906 Forest Homestead Act.
June 29, 1906 Signs Hepburn Act giving Interstate Commerce Commission power to regulate railroad
rates.
June 30, 1906 Signs Pure Food and Drug Act and federal meat inspection law.
Nov. 8-26, 1906 President and Mrs. Roosevelt go to Panama to inspect building of the canal, the first time a
president leaves US while in office.
December 10, 1906 Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for ending Russo-Japanese War in 1905; first American to
win Nobel Prize in any of the six categories. (TR received award while in Europe in 1910.)
Dec. 16. 1907- Voyage of the Great White Fleet around the world. It will be the first circumnavigation of
the globe by a national naval force.
May 13-15, 1908 First conference of Governors met at the White House to consider problems of
conservation.
June 8, 1908 Appointed a National Conservation Commission to prepare first inventory of natural
resources.
February 18, 1909 North American Conservation Conference convened at White House.
February 22, 1909 Return of the American Great White Fleet
"In my own judgement the most important service that I rendered to peace was the voyage of the battle-
fleet around the world."
March 4, 1909 TR's administration ends with inauguration of successor William Howard Taft.
The Taft campaign created "Billy Possum" as a character to represent "William Howard Taft". Somehow
the "possum" was never as popular as the "teddy bear". Here the tag on the animal on the left says "Teddy
Bear" and the tag on the right animal says "Billy Possum". The animals shake paws as the "possum"
representing Taft walks toward the Capital Dome representing the incoming administration.
March 1909 - June 1910 Led hunting expedition to Africa to gather specimens for Smithsonian Institution
with son Kermit, then toured Europe.
April 23, 1910 Delivers "Citizenship in a Republic" speech at the Sorbonne, Paris.
"The Man in the Arena"
quote from that "Citizenship in a Republic" speech becomes world-famous:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer
of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall
never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
May 20, 1910 Serves as Special Ambassador to England at the funeral of King Edward VII.
May 31, 1910 Address at the Guildhall, London.
June 18, 1910 Returns to New York from African Safari and European tour.
1910 Publishes African Game Trails.
August 31, 1910 Delivers "New Nationalism" address, Osawatomie, Kansas.
1911 Becomes an editor for Outlook Magazine
February 21, 1912 Announces candidacy for Republican nomination against President Taft, declaring "my
hat is in the ring."
1912 Publishes Realizable Ideals.
June 18-22, 1912 Republican National Convention meets in Chicago and renominates incumbent Taft even
though TR has won all but one primary and caucus. Roosevelt supporters bolt, charging "theft" of
nomination.
August 5-7, 1912 Convention of new National Progressive party (nicknamed "Bull Moose" party) held in
Chicago, adopts reform platform, and nominates TR for President and Governor Hiram W. Johnson of
California for Vice President.
"This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in if it is not a reasonably good place for all of
us to live in."..."Laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and must not be construed as
permitting discrimination against some of the people."
October 14, 1912 Shot in the chest while entering an automobile outside the Hotel Gilpatrick in
Milwaukee, WI by would-be assassin John Nepomuk Schrank at about 8:00 p.m. Campaigning on the "Bull
Moose" ticket, TR delivers a 90-minute speech at the Auditorium in Milwaukee before seeking medical
attention. The bullet would never be removed. [Schrank was declared insane on November 13, 1912 and
committed to the Northern State Hospital for the Insane at Oshkosh, WI, and died at the Central State
Hospital in Waupun, WI on September 15,1943.]
"I did not care a rap for being shot. It is a trade risk, which every prominent public man ought to accept as a
matter of course."
November 5, 1912 Democrat Woodrow Wilson elected president over TR, who came in second, and
Republican Taft. Roosevelt received the largest percentage of votes of any third party candidate.
Wilson won the election:
6,293,454 popular votes, 435 Electoral votes/40 states.
Roosevelt came in second:
4,119,538 votes , 88 Electoral votes/6 states.
(27.4% of the popular vote)
Taft came in third:
3,484,980 votes, 8 Electoral votes/2 states.
1913 Publishes
Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography and
History as Literature and Other Essays.
May 26-31, 1913 Trial of Roosevelt vs. Newett, TR's successful libel suit against Michigan editor who
called him a drunk.
October 4, 1913 Sails for South America for lecture tour and jungle expedition.
February 27-
April 27, 1914
Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition, sponsored by American Museum of Natural History and Brazilian
government, explores Brazil's "River of Doubt," now named "Rio Roosevelt" or Rio Teodoro". Kermit
again accompanied his father. Theodore Roosevelt nearly dies on the trip.
"I had to go. It was my last chance to be a boy."
1914 Publishes Through the Brazilian Wilderness and, in collaboration with Edmund Heller, Life Histories
of African Game Animals.
Jan. 1, 1915 Publishes America and the World War.
" The kind of 'neutrality' which seeks to preserve 'peace' by timidly refusing to live up to our plighted word
and to denounce and take action against such wrong as that committed in the case of Belgium, is unworthy
of an honorable and powerful people. Dante reserved a special place of infamy in the Inferno for those base
angels who dared side neither with evil or with good. Peace is ardently to be desired, but only as the
handmaiden of righteousness. There can be no such peace until well-behaved, highly civilized small
nations are protected from oppression and subjugation."
April 19-
May 22, 1915 Trial of Barnes vs. Roosevelt: TR wins libel suit launched by Republican leader William
Barnes, Jr.
1916 Publishes A Booklover's Holidays in the Open and
Fear God and Take Your Own Part.
June 7-10, 1916 Republican and Progressive national conventions meet in Chicago, at same time in
different halls, in an effort at a joint nomination.
June 10, 1916 Progressives nominate Theodore Roosevelt; Republicans nominate Charles Evans Hughs;
TR declines Progressive nomination and eventually backs Hughes.
"We have room for but one loyalty, loyalty to the United States. We have room for but one language, the
language of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Speech."
February, 1917 Roosevelt's requests permission of President Wilson to raise, equip and lead volunteer
division for service in France in World War I.
"Peace is not the end. Righteousness is the end."..."If I must choose between righteousness and peace I
choose righteousness."
May 19, 1917 President Wilson refuses Roosevelt's service request.
1917 TR's family supports the War effort. All four of his sons enlist. His daughter Ethel serves as a Red
Cross nurse at the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris, accompanying her husband, surgeon Dr. Richard
Derby.
1917 Published Foes of Our Own Household.
July 14, 1918 Quentin Roosevelt, TR's youngest son, killed while serving as a fighter pilot in France.
July, 1918 Roosevelt refuses Republican nomination for Governor of New York.
1918 Published The Great Adventure.
"Our present business is to fight, and continue fighting until Germany is brought to her knees. Our next
business will be to help guarantee the peace of justice for the world at large, and to set in order the affairs
of our own household."
January 6, 1919 Died in his sleep at Sagamore Hill of coronary embolism (arterial blood clot) at age 60.
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/timeline.htm
Theodore Roosevelt is mostly remembered as the twenty-sixth President of the United States, but
this astonishingly multifaceted man was a great many other things as well.
In addition to holding elective office as a New York State Assemblyman, Governor of New York,
Vice President, and President, he was also a deputy sheriff in the Dakota Territory, Police
Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the
Navy, and Colonel of the Rough Riders *, all by the age of 42, at which time he became the
youngest man ever to hold the office of President. (1) (2)
He was one of the original members of the American Institute of Arts and Letters, and he was one
of the first fifteen elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a founder of the
Boone and Crocket Club, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the Long
Island Bird Club.
He also established himself as a historian (he was President of the American Historical
Association) and as a naturalist (he was considered the world's authority on large American
mammals and he led two major scientific expeditions for prominent American Museums, one in
South America and one in Africa, each lasting many months). Had he not become President, he
would be remembered for his contributions in both of these fields.
In between these busy enterprises, he found time to ranch in the West, hunt on several
continents, raise a family of six rambunctious children, read a remarkable number of books (often
one a day), write more than thirty-five himself, and develop an extraordinary network of friends
and contacts, which he maintained mostly by mail, writing well over 150,000 letters.
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential achievements are impressive. In foreign affairs he led us into
the arena of international power politics, thrusting aside the American tradition of isolationism,
while on the domestic scene, he reversed the traditional federal policy of laissez-faire, and sought
to bring order, social justice, and fair dealings to American industry and commerce. In all his
policies as Chief Executive, he expanded the powers and responsibilities of the Presidential
office, establishing the model of the modern Presidency which has been followed by most of his
successors in the White House.
His specific achievements are numerous. Perhaps his greatest contribution was his work for
conservation. During his tenure in the White House from 1901 to 1909, he designated 150
National Forests, the first 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 5 National Parks, the first 18 National
Monuments, the first 4 National Game Preserves, and the first 21 Reclamation Projects.
Altogether, in the seven-and-one-half years he was in office, he provided federal protection for
almost 230 million acres, a land area equivalent to that of all the East coast states from Maine to
Florida.
Aside from his conservation efforts, he "busted" trusts bringing the large corporations under the
control of the people; he began the Panama Canal (more canal photos); he established the
Department of Commerce and Labor; he negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War and
thereby won the Nobel Peace Prize; he preached a "Square Deal" for all Americans, enabling
millions to earn a living wage; he built up the Navy as the "Big Stick," thus establishing America
as a major world power; he reduced the National debt by over $90,000,000; and he secured the
passage of the Elkins Act and the Hepburn Act for regulation of the railroads, the Meat Inspection
Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act for consumer protection, and the Federal Employers'
Liability Act for Labor.
In addition, he successfully mediated international disputes over Venezuela, the Dominican
Republic and Morocco. He was the first world leader to submit a dispute to the Court of
Arbitration at The Hague, and he was the first head of state to call for convening of what became
the Second Hague Peace Conference at which he obtained for Latin American nations equal
status with the rest of the world, and won the adoption of the Drago Doctrine, which outlawed the
use of force in the collection of foreign debts.
Many of the policies he advocated during the Bull Moose years were adopted by Presidents
Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.
Towards the end of his life, he was a major force for military preparedness particularly as World
War I loomed. Much of what he achieved affects each and every American today and his name
and personality have become part of the collective icon for what America stands for at its best.
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/biotr.htm
With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest
President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously
led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.
He took the view that the President as a "steward of the people" should take whatever action necessary for
the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution." I did not usurp power," he wrote,
"but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."
Roosevelt's youth differed sharply from that of the log cabin Presidents. He was born in New York City in
1858 into a wealthy family, but he too struggled--against ill health--and in his triumph became an advocate
of the strenuous life.
President Bush Biography
Vice President Cheney Biography
Laura Bush Biography
Lynne Cheney Biography
In 1884 his first wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, and his mother died on the same day. Roosevelt spent much of
the next two years on his ranch in the Badlands of Dakota Territory. There he mastered his sorrow as he
lived in the saddle, driving cattle, hunting big game--he even captured an outlaw. On a visit to London, he
married Edith Carow in December 1886.
During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which
he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. He was one of the most conspicuous heroes of the war.
Boss Tom Platt, needing a hero to draw attention away from scandals in New York State, accepted
Roosevelt as the Republican candidate for Governor in 1898. Roosevelt won and served with distinction.
As President, Roosevelt held the ideal that the Government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting
economic forces in the Nation, especially between capital and labor, guaranteeing justice to each and
dispensing favors to none.
Roosevelt emerged spectacularly as a "trust buster" by forcing the dissolution of a great railroad
combination in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act followed.
Roosevelt steered the United States more actively into world politics. He liked to quote a favorite proverb,
"Speak softly and carry a big stick. . . . "
Aware of the strategic need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific, Roosevelt ensured the
construction of the Panama Canal. His corollary to the Monroe Doctrine prevented the establishment of
foreign bases in the Caribbean and arrogated the sole right of intervention in Latin America to the United
States.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, reached a Gentleman's Agreement
on immigration with Japan, and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour of the world.
Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most effective achievements were in conservation. He added enormously to
the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects.
He crusaded endlessly on matters big and small, exciting audiences with his high-pitched voice, jutting jaw,
and pounding fist. "The life of strenuous endeavor" was a must for those around him, as he romped with his
five younger children and led ambassadors on hikes through Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.
Leaving the Presidency in 1909, Roosevelt went on an African safari, then jumped back into politics. In
1912 he ran for President on a Progressive ticket. To reporters he once remarked that he felt as fit as a bull
moose, the name of his new party.
While campaigning in Milwaukee, he was shot in the chest by a fanatic. Roosevelt soon recovered, but his
words at that time would have been applicable at the time of his death in 1919: "No man has had a happier
life than I have led; a happier life in every way."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tr26.html
Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919) was born in New York into one of the old Dutch
families which had settled in America in the seventeenth century. At eighteen he entered Harvard College
and spent four years there, dividing his time between books and sport and excelling at both. After leaving
Harvard he studied in Germany for almost a year and then immediately entered politics. He was elected to
the Assembly of New York State, holding office for three years and distinguishing himself as an ardent
reformer.
In 1884, because of ill health and the death of his wife, Roosevelt abandoned his political work for some
time. He invested part of the fortune he had inherited from his father in a cattle ranch in the Badlands of
Dakota Territory, expecting to remain in the West for many years. He became a passionate hunter,
especially of big game, and an ardent believer in the wild outdoor life which brought him health and
strength. In 1886 Roosevelt returned to New York, married again, and once more plunged into politics.
President Harrison, after his election in 1889, appointed Roosevelt as a member of the Civil Service
Commission of which he later became president. This office he retained until 1895 when he undertook the
direction of the Police Department of New York City. In 1897 he joined President McKinley's
administration as assistant secretary of the Navy. While in this office he actively prepared for the Cuban
War, which he saw was coming, and when it broke out in 1898, went to Cuba as lieutenant colonel of a
regiment of volunteer cavalry, which he himself had raised among the hunters and cowboys of the West.
He won great fame as leader of these «Rough-Riders», whose story he told in one of his most popular
books.
Elected governor of the state of New York in 1898, he invested his two-year administration with the
vigorous and businesslike characteristics which were his hallmark. He would have sought reelection in
1900, since much of his work was only half done, had the Republicans not chosen him as their candidate
for the second office of the Union. He held the vice-presidency for less than a year, succeeding to the
presidency after the assassination of President McKinley on September 14, 1901. In 1904 Roosevelt was
elected to a full term as president.
In 1902 President Roosevelt took the initiative in opening the Intemational Court of Arbitration at The
Hague, which, though founded in 1899, had not been called upon by any power in its first three years of
existence. The United States and Mexico agreed to lay an old difference of theirs, concerning the Pious
Foundations of California, before the Hague Tribunal. When this example was followed by other powers,
the arbitration machinery created in 1899 was finally called into operation. Roosevelt also played a
prominent part in extending the use of arbitration to international problems in the Western Hemisphere,
concluding several arbitration treaties with European powers too, although the Senate refused to ratify
them.
In 1904 the Interparliamentary Union, meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, requested Roosevelt to call another
international conference to continue the work begun at The Hague in 1899. Roosevelt responded
immediately, and in the autumn of 1904 Secretary of State John Hay invited the powers to meet at The
Hague. Russia, however, refused to participate in a conference while engaged in hostilities with Japan.
After the peace of 1905, the matter was placed in the hands of the Russian government, which had taken
the initiative in convening the first Hague Conference.
In June, 1905, President Roosevelt offered his good offices as mediator between Russia and Japan, asking
the belligerents to nominate plenipotentiaries to negotiate on the conditions of peace. In August they met at
Portsmouth, New Hamsphire, and after some weeks of difficult negotiations concluded a peace treaty in
September, 1905.
Roosevelt's candidate for president, William Howard Taft, took office in 1909. Dissatisfied with Taft's
performance, Roosevelt bolted the regular Republican Party in 1912 and accepted the presidential
nomination by the Progressive Party. He outpolled Taft, but Woodrow Wilson outpolled each of them. In
1917 Wilson refused his offer to raise and command a division to fight in World War I.
Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, an orator. His prodigious
literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and
letters.
In 1919, at the age of sixty, he died in his sleep.
http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1906/roosevelt-bio.html
No event had a more profound effect on Theodore Roosevelt's political career than the assassination of
President William McKinley in September 1901. At the age of forty-two, Vice President Theodore
Roosevelt took the oath of office, becoming the youngest President of the United States before or since.
From the start, Roosevelt was committed to making the government work for the people,
and in many respects, the people never needed government more. The post-Civil War industrial revolution
had generated enormous wealth and power for the men who controlled the levers of business and capital.
Regulating the great business trusts to foster fair competition without socializing the free enterprise system
would be one of Roosevelt's primary concerns. The railroads, labor, and the processed food industry all
came under his scrutiny. Although the regulations he implemented were modest by today's standards,
collectively they were a significant first step in an age before warning labels and consumer lawsuits.
Internationally, America was on the threshold of world leadership. Acquisition of the Philippines and
Guam after the recent war with Spain expanded the nation's territorial borders almost to Asia. The Panama
Canal would only increase American trade and defense interests in the Far East, as well as in Central and
South America. In an age that saw the rise of oceanic steamship travel, the country's sense of isolation was
on the verge of suddenly becoming as antiquated as yardarms and sails.
A conservative by nature, Roosevelt was progressive in the way he addressed the nation's problems and
modern in his view of the presidency. If the people were to be served, according to him, then it was
incumbent upon the President to orchestrate the initiatives that would be to their benefit and the nation's
welfare. Not since Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Jackson before him, had a President exercised his
executive powers as an equal branch of government. If the Constitution did not specifically deny the
President the exercise of power, Roosevelt felt at liberty to do so. "Is there any law that will prevent me
from declaring Pelican Island a Federal Bird Reservation? . . .Very well, then I so declare it!" By executive
order in March 1903, he established the first of fifty-one national bird sanctuaries. These and the national
parks and monuments he created are a part of his great legacy.
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/roosevelt/rrwh2.htm
The second of the four children of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt (commonly referred to by his initials, TR), was nicknamed "Teedie". TR suffered from asthma
and terrible nearsightedness, conditions which his father urged him to supercede by saying, "You have the
mind, but not the body; you must make your body." To help his son, Theodore Sr. built a gym at their home
where "Teedie" developed a constitution which would later be referred to as "strong as a Bull Moose". In
his youth, Theodore (who disliked being called Teddy), travelled with his family throughout Europe where
he perfected his command of French and German.
At this time, the Civil War raged between the Northern and Southern states. Martha Bulloch, a Southerner
by birth and heritage, played a decisive factor in Theodore Sr.'s decision to hire an army substitute (quite
common in those days). It is alleged that rather than fight against his brothers-in-law, Theodore Sr. chose to
instead focus his wealth and connections on procuring supplies for and administrating the logistics of
delivering those supplies to the Union Army. It is further acknowledged that this decision was a driving
force for TR to enlist to fight in the Spanish American War (perhaps as a way to become even greater than
his father, whom TR held in the greatest of esteem).
An amateur ornithologist, TR would often kill small birds for purely scientific purposes; thereafter
dissecting and embalming them. A few original specimens survive today and can be seen at the Theodore
Roosevelt National Historic Birthplace. TR's education was via private tutors, which was quite common for
an individual of his socioeconomic position. A voracious reader with a photographic memory, TR had no
trouble completing his studies and was ultimately admitted to the Harvard College in 1876, at age eighteen.
At Harvard, TR majored in science, yet received the bulk of his education in history and literature. He was
admitted to the prestigious Porcellian Club, the O.K. Club, The Big Six Club, and was a staff member of
The Harvard Advocate. His athletic pursuits included rowing, boxing, horseback riding, and camping. TR
was an attentive and somewhat enthusiastic student who participated energetically during lectures. In one
instance, a professor of his is quoted as saying: "See here, Roosevelt; I am the one teaching this course!"
In 1878, TR met Alice Hathaway Lee, the daughter of a prominent Boston family. After a lengthy courtship
and a marriage proposal rebuff, Alice and TR were married on October 27, 1880. Around this same time,
Theodore Sr. died of stomach cancer on February 9, 1878. The death of his father dealt a crushing blow to a
twenty one year old TR who suddenly found himself head of his family. Heartbroken yet resolute, TR
graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard in 1880 and was promptly admitted to Columbia University's
School of Law. Also in 1880, TR joined the Republican Party Club of New York. In 1881 he embarked on
a vacation/honeymoon to Europe where amongst his many outdoor adventures he climbed the Matterhorn.
Upon his return from Europe, Roosevelt decided to dedicate his life to politics, especially after his local
Republican Club nominated him to a State Representative candidacy. Leaving Columbia University, he
won the election easily, thus becoming, at age 23, the youngest State Representative in the history of New
York. TR made his mark in State politics by exposing the corrupt relationship between a New York
Supreme Court Justice and railroad magnate Jay Gould. With his whirlwind enthusiasm and calculating
mind, TR was easily reelected in 1882 and 1883, eventually being elected the youngest Speaker of the
Assembly in the history of New York.
In 1882, TR published his seminal work, The War of 1812, which espoused the maintenance of a strong
navy as a pressing matter of national security. In 1883, TR invested part of his inheritance in a working
ranch in the Dakota Territory abutting the Little Missouri River, near the city of Medora. Naming the
establishment The Elkhorn Ranch, he left his property in charge of Will Dow and Bill Sewall, two
experienced ranch hands. In April 1884, TR was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Cities, whose
efforts resulted in vital changes in the Charter of New York City.
It seemed that nothing could stop TR's comet from rising even higher and faster. In 1884, however, TR's
life fell completely apart. After the joyful birth of Alice Roosevelt Lee on February 12, his wife was
diagnosed with Bright’s disease and died two days later, on Valentine's Day. TR's mother, Martha, was also
very ill; having caught typhoid fever, she too died later that same evening of February 14, 1884. In despair
and inconsolable, TR wrote in his journal that "the light has gone out of my life." The newborn was left in
the care of TR's sister Anna (affectionately called Bamie). Despite his grief, TR proceeded to conclude his
duties as Chairman of the New York Delegation to the 1884 Republican National Convention.
Still inconsolable and unwilling to return to his home in New York, TR contracted the firm of Joseph Wood
& Sons to build a new home for him and baby Alice atop a hill overlooking Oyster Bay in Long Island.
Originally named Leeholm, in honor of Alice Lee Roosevelt, the house would eventually be renamed
Sagamore Hill. Leaving baby Alice in the care of Bamie, TR ventured West and tried his hand at ranching
in the Dakotas; hoping the desolate landscape would help him overcome his intense grief. Enduring the
scorn and taunts of western roughnecks who called him "four eyes" and "tenderfoot", TR eventually gained
everyone's respect by thrashing each offender with both his sharp wit or steel fists, depending upon the
offender and the offense committed. No one came to know the wrath of TR better than Mike Finnegan and
his gang of thieves who, after stealing TR's fishing boat, were chased for two weeks through the Dakota
Badlands and were eventually apprehended by the "tenderfoot dude from up East."
Throughout this time, TR also embarked on a long-distance courtship of his childhood friend, Edith Kermit
Carow. In 1885, TR published his experiences in the Dakotas in a book titled Hunting Trips of a Ranchman
. In 1886, TR ran as the Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City, but was defeated by Abram S.
Hewitt; coming in third out of three candidates. Just when things couldn't get worse, a terrible blizzard over
the winter of 1886-1887 wiped out TR's entire cattle herd back in the Dakotas. Heartbroken, financially
ruined, and inconsolable, he embarked on a trip to Europe and married Ethel on December 2, 1886, in
London, England. The couple would eventually have five children: Theodore, Kermit, Ethel, Archibald,
and Quentin. Alice Roosevelt, nicknamed Princess Alice by the press, was also raised by Edith. This would
prove to be the turning point in the life of Theodore Roosevelt.
Not being a very good businessman, and with his political days apparently over, TR dedicated himself to
writing professionally. In 1888 alone he published three books: Essays in Practical Politics. In 1889, he
published the first two volumes of the seminal The Winning of the West, with the last two volumes
published in 1894 and 1896. In 1888, however, his enthusiastic and tireless campaigning for Republican
Presidential candidate Benjamin Harrison was rewarded with an appointment to the U.S. Civil Service
Commission, an office in which he served for six years. TR's efforts in reforming the U.S. Civil Service are
still felt today. TR continued to write extensively, especially since his meager salary was not enough to
support his growing family. In 1891 he published The History of New York, and in 1893 he published The
Wilderness Hunter, followed the next year by Hero Tales from American History.
In 1894, however, his brother Elliott, a chronic alcoholic, died. Unfortunately, TR's son Kermit would
inherit his Uncle's alcoholism, which led to Kermit's suicide. Elliott is perhaps more famous for being the
father of Eleanor Roosevelt, the premier American Lady of Politics, and wife of President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. In 1895, TR received an invitation from New York City Mayor William Strong to become a
Commissioner of the New York City Police Board. Resigning his commission in Washington, D.C., TR
returned to New York and promptly set out to reform the police force. Amongst his many reforms still felt
today are the establishment of the first Police Academy in the U.S., the use of bicycle patrols, and the
establishment of civil service reforms for recruitment and promotion of officers. TR was famous for
disguising himself and patrolling the streets of New York City at night hoping to catch a sleeping "beat
cop" or other policemen conducting themselves shamefully (accepting bribes, etc.). Along with the good
press provided by his journalist friend (and 'midnight rambles' companion) Jacob Riis, TR eventually took
over the Presidency of the New York Police Board. It is a wonder he found time to write and publish
American Ideals in 1897 !
Coupling TR's good press with his charisma gained him a national reputation for indefatigable honesty;
traits valued by newly elected President William McKinley who appointed TR, in 1897, Assistant Secretary
of the Navy. Shortly after taking his appointment, the U.S.S. Maine, anchored off Havana, Cuba, (at that
time a Spanish possession) blew up killing 234 U.S. sailors. Naturally, hawks in the US blamed and
demanded war against Spain, who denied all responsibility for the tragedy. A student of military affairs and
international politics, TR knew that the key to winning the brewing conflict with Spain would be to control
the seas. When TR's boss, Secretary Long, unexpectedly went out of town, TR lost no time and cabled
Admiral Dewey who was stationed in Hong Kong at the time. TR ordered Dewey to load coal and sail for
the Philippines immediately; and added that should war be declared, then Dewey must, at all costs, prevent
the large yet aged Spanish fleet from leaving Manila Harbor. On April 20, 1898, the US declared war on
Spain. Admiral Dewey followed TR's instructions and sank the entire Spanish Fleet in less than 4 hours,
starting the conflict with his infamous cry, "You may fire when ready, Gridley". On May 6, TR resigned his
post and began assemblying the U.S. First Volunteer Cavalry, more famously known as the Rough Riders.
TR assembled the Rough Riders from a motley collection of Eastern intellectuals, Western roughnecks,
athletes, writers, ranchhands, Native Americans, Hispanics, and any other qualified individual who wished
to serve his country. The Rough Riders trained at Fort Sam Houston, and proceeded towards Tampa Bay,
Florida, where they would embark towards Cuba aboard The Yucatan. Upon reaching the shores of Cuba,
the volunteers marched towards the hills of San Juan, where on July 1, 1898, they charged victoriously up
Kettle Hill in the face of severe enemy fire, losing one fourth of its contingency. Theodore Roosevelt would
eventually be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery on that day. However, the relative
ineptitude of the entire Cuban operation led to the expressed dissatisfaction of several officers, culminating
in the infamous Round Robin Telegram, a document detailing the failures and overt mismanagement of the
conflict. Travelling alongside the Rough Riders were eminent journalists such as Frederic Remington and
Richard Harding Davis; journalists who are at least partly responsible for TR's rise to national prominence
(which included a promotion for TR to full colonel).
With complete victory over Spain, the Rough Riders and their commander returned to the United States,
disembarking at Montauk Point, New York, on August 15, 1898. Before the unit disbanded, the Rough
Riders awarded their Colonel a statue made by Frederic Remington, "The Bronco Buster", as a token of
their appreciation. His meteor now achieving near critical mass, TR accepted his party's nomination for the
Governorship of New York. TR's firebrand approach to politics inevitably clashed with the State's political
bosses, particularly Mark Hanna and Thomas Platt. These two bosses decided that the best way to be rid of
TR would be to "bump him up" into a position of political neutrality: The Vice Presidency. Hence, at the
Republican National Convention of 1900, his name was put forth by the State machine bosses for
nomination as William McKinley’s running mate. Unhappy but always loyal to the party, TR accepted his
fate with resignation and campaigned successfully for the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket of 1900.
Having assumed the Vice Presidency, Theodore was resigned to the fact that his political ambitions had
perhaps peaked. During the inauguration, political boss Mark Hanna; who had been apprehensive about
TR's joining the 1900 Republican ticket; is quoted as saying: "Do you realize that the only thing standing
between that madman and the White House is a bullet?". An extremely prescient statement, President
McKinley was indeed shot by Leo Colgosz on September 13, 1901. Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as
the nation's 26th President at the Wilcox Mansion near Buffalo, New York, on September 14, 1901.
Upon assuming the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt sought to restore the dignity and prestige of the office
heretofore tarnished by the scandals surrounding the Grant and Hayes administrations, as well as the "do-
nothing" presidencies of Garfield, Harrison, Arthur, and Cleveland. He sought to turn the Presidency into a
"bully pulpit" from where the nation's chief executive could proactively influence national policy.
Losing no time, 1901 saw TR inviting the prominent African-American leader, Booker T. Washington, to
dine at the White House; the first time any black had been invited to dine at the People's House.
In 1902 TR instructed Philander Knox to invoke the Sherman Anti-Trust Act against the Northern
Securities Company, a railroad trust illegally offering freight rebates to "special" customers. In 1902, TR
also initiated the Forest, Land, and River Reclamation Policy (or Newlands Act), approved the Hay-
Pauncefote Treaty signed the previous year, settled a crippling Coal Strike, and enforced the Monroe
Doctrine in Venezuela; thus ushering an era of U.S. foreign policy described as gunboat diplomacy.
In 1903, Congress supported the Panamian insurgency against their Colombian masters, culminating in the
recognition of the Republic of Panama and subsequent construction of the Panama Canal by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers led by General Goethals. That year also saw the creation of the Department of
Commerce and the Bureau of Corporations, the enactment of the Elkins Rebate Act, and the Cuban
Reciprocity Treaty which lowered sugar and tobacco tariffs. Closing the year's events was the resolution of
the Alaska Boundary dispute.
In 1904, the U.S. Senate ratified a Treaty with Panama which granted the U.S. perpetual rights to the Canal
Zone. In February, the Russo-Japanese War erupted. Later that year, TR received and accepted the
Republican nomination for President. Running against Alton B. Parker, T.R. was elected with 71% of the
popular vote and 58% of the electoral college.
1905 saw TR being elected in his own right, forever removing the label of "accidental president". This
same year, TR successfully negotiated the Portsmouth Treaty effectively ending the Russo-Japanese War,
outlined the resolution to the Algeciras Conference, and created the U.S. Forest Service. TR also expanded
his "big stick" concept of diplomacy, ordering U.S. Marines to seize the customs houses of the Dominican
Republic; ruled by a corrupt regime which was in danger of being forcibly ousted by its European creditors.
TR's actions, although criticized, are generally viewed as a strong and unequivocal affirmation of the
principles outlined in the Monroe Doctrine and its Roosevelt Corollary.
The following year, 1906, was a monumental year for TR. He won the Nobel Peace Prize, established the
Roosevelt Foundation for Industrial Peace, coined the phrase "muckrake" , created the Forest Homestead
Act, signed the Hepburn Rate Act, created the Food and Drugs Act, and travelled to Panama to view
progress on the Isthmian Canal project. The year was marred, however, by TR's dishonorable discharge of
an entire Black Infantry Troop stationed in Brownsville, Texas. Members of the troop were charged with
conduct unbecoming army personnel and various other offenses. TR's discharge order was reversed by
Congressional order in 1972. The President also responded forcefully to the San Francisco School Board's
decision to segregate Japanese schoolchildren by sending Victor Metcalf, the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, to California to diffuse the racial tensions and promptly rescind the Board's misguided action. The
year closed with the creation of the U.S. Antiquities Act, the mechanism through which many U.S.
presidents have designated public lands as being "untouchable".
In 1907, the Monroe's Doctrine principle of self determination for the Western Hemisphere gained
international recognition with the ratification of the Santo Domingo Treaty. This same year saw TR appoint
the Inland Waterways Commission, host the Tennessee Coal and Iron Conference, sign the charter
admitting Oklahoma into the Union as the 46th State. and order the sailing of the U.S. Navy's Great White
Fleet which ushered in an unprecedented era of U.S. internationalism.
1908 saw TR sign the Employer's Liability Act, create the Grand Canyon and Muir Woods National
Monuments, and introduce the first U.S. Postage Stamp(cost=$.01). With the help of Gifford Pinchot, TR
expanded his conservation legacy by hosting the Governor's Conference at the White House. Focusing on
foreign policy, 1908 saw the reaffirming of Secretary Hay's Open Door Policy in China (known as the
Root-Takahira Agreement).
In 1909, TR ordered the U.S. Marines to overthrow the Nicaraguan regime (also in trouble with its
European creditors). TR's final conservation effort was the North American Conservation Congress.
Having chosen his successor for the Presidency and confident that his choice, William Howard Taft, would
continue his proactive political approach, TR saw his presidential term expire and embarked on a
Smithsonian sponsored African Safari.
Accompanied on the safari by his son Kermit, TR collected hundreds of specimens for the Smithsonian,
and in 1910 published a book on his experiences titled African Game Trails. After his safari, TR embarked
on a tour of Europe, delivering speeches at places such as Guild Hall, in London, England, and attending
the funeral of England's King Edward. TR returned to the United States to great fanfare. TR also promptly
discovered that President Taft has "betrayed" the agenda of the Roosevelt Administration, and in 1911 set
out to expound his political viewpoints around the country with speeches such as The New Nationalism.
After failing to gain the Republican presidential nomination at the 1912 National Convention in Chicago,
TR defected to the Progressive Party. During a campaign stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, TR was shot in
the chest by John Schrank, a madman bent on assassinating the ex-president. The bullet hit TR in the chest,
but its impact was slowed by the thick speech manuscript TR was carrying in his breast pocket. Despite
being shot, TR delivered his 90 minute speech before a capacity crowd, refusing to go to the hospital and
insisting that it "takes more than a bullet to stop a Bull Moose." Despite his popularity and tireless
campaigning, he nevertheless lost the 1912 election; in the process splitting up the Republican vote in half
and awarding a de facto victory to the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson. Despondent but resilient,
TR accepted a position as an Editorialist at Large with The Outlook magazine in New York. TR used his
pen to scrutinize and, when appropriate, criticize President Wilson and his administration's policies;
especially those regarding America's unpreparedness for the brewing hostilities and balance of power shifts
occurring in Europe. Later that same year, TR was attacked in print by George S. Newett, the editor of the
Michigan Iron Ore publication, who called the ex-president "a drunk". TR sued the editor for libel, and
won the case.
In 1913, TR embarked on an expedition to Brazil to map the course and find the source of a river deep in
the Amazon jungles heretofore uncharted. The expedition was first proposed by Father John Augustine
Zahm, a clergyman from the Univeristy of Notre Dame and longtime friend of TR. The expedition, dubbed
the Roosevelt-Rondon South American Expedition of 1913-1914, was sponsored by the National Museum
of History of New York, the National Geographic Society, and the governments of Brazil, Argentina, and
Paraguay. The expedition members included: Kermit Roosevelt, Col. Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon
(expedition leader sent by the Brazilian government), Leo Miller (mammologist), Anthony Fiala (logistics),
Frank Harper (TR's private secretary), George K. Cherrie (naturalist/ornithologist), Lt. Joao Salustiano
Lyra (Brazilian astronomer), and approximately two dozen Brazilian camaradas, or portege carriers. To
secure additional funding for the expedition, as well as to be compensated for his time, TR contracted with
Scribner's magazine to write a series of articles about the expedition, eventually publishing his account in
the book titled Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Facing dangers ranging from cataracts and rapids to
aggressive amazonians and the unfortunate murder of an expedition member by another expedition
member, the party eventually completed their goal and mapped what came to be known as the Rio Teodoro.
During the expedition, many members of the expedition contracted tropical diseases such as malaria. TR
himself became so sick that he is reputed to have contemplated suicide. As a matter of fact, he carried with
him a dose of hemlock for just such a purpose. TR's sickness was due to a leg injury which abscessed,
causing TR to lose almost 50 pounds. This leg injury plagued him the rest of his life, and may have
contributed to his death.
Returning to the United States in 1914, TR found that the world was being torn apart by the rising conflict
in Europe which culminated in the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, thus
precipitating World War I. TR volunteered to raise a regiment to fight in Europe, but his efforts were
rebuffed by President Wilson. In response, TR returned to his editorial duties and engaged in tireless efforts
to raise money and supplies for the war effort. His sons, Ted Jr., Kermit, Archie, and Quentin all served in
the Army with distinction. Unfortunately, Quentin, an aviator, was killed over Chemery, France, after his
plane was shot down. The airfield near Sagamore Hill where Quentin trained was renamed Roosevelt field
in his honor, and it is the field from where Charles Lindbergh departed on his famous solo flight across the
Atlantic.
Never recovering from the grief of losing his favorite child, TR continued to write books and editorials.
Unfortunately, the strain from his leg injury accelerated his failing health. Theodore Roosevelt returned to
his home and died in his sleep on January 6, 1919. His last words are reputed to have been directed at his
manservant, James Amos, when TR said, "Please turn out the light." The official cause of death was listed
as a pulmonary embolism brought on by the combined effects of inflammatory rheumatism and recurrent
malaria. Archie Roosevelt, on temporary leave to recuperate from a leg wound, cabled his siblings still
overseas with the simple message, "The Old Lion is Dead." When the news reached Washington, D.C., the
Vice President, Thomas R. Marshall, was reputed to have said, "Death had to take him sleeping, for if
Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight."
Despite his death at age sixty, Theodore Roosevelt's legacy lives on. His moral integrity and strength of
character are models which should be emulated by everyone around the world. Theodore Roosevelt was not
only one of the finest presidents the United States has ever elected; Theodore Roosevelt was also a faithful
husband, a model parent, an enthusiastic citizen who sought to accomplish something great for his country
and the world at large. TR was a prolific writer and tireless campaigner for the protection of basic human
rights, a masterful politician who shaped the world around him, always basing his actions on the American
concepts of freedom, equal justice under the law, and the pursuit of happiness. Theodore Roosevelt's legacy
shall continue, and it is to his memory that we faithfully dedicate this website.
http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trbio.html
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Timeline
10/17/1858 ______ Theodore Roosevelt born.
1870 ______ Roosevelt begins to work out in gym to improve health.
1872 ______ Roosevelt travels to Egypt with family.
1872 ______ Yellowstone becomes a National Park.
9/1883 ______ Roosevelt goes on a hunting trip to the Dakota badlands. He
later moves there for a short time, and even creates two
National Parks in the Dakota territories.
2/17/1884 ______ Roosevelt moves to the badlands, after his wife dies.
1885 ______ Roosevelt publishes Hunting Trips of a Ranchman.
1888 ______ Roosevelt publishes Ranch Life and Hunting Trail.
10/1/1890 ______ Yosemite National park established
1894 ______ Roosevelt publishes The Wilderness Hunter.
1898 ______ National Park Protection Act created, in which Roosevelt
played a big part.
9/14/1901 ______ Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th president of the United
States
1902 ______ Roosevelt refuses to shoot a bear on a hunt, which leads to the
creation of the “Teddy Bear.”
5/22/1902 ______ Roosevelt creates Crater Lake National Park. (OR)
1903 ______ Roosevelt visits Yellowstone National Park, and Yosemite
National Park with John Muir
1/3/1903 ______ Roosevelt established Wind Cave National Park (SD).
3/1903 ______ Roosevelt created the Federal Bird Reservation system by
declaring Pelican Island (FL) a Federal Bird Reservation (He
later made 50 more).
1904 ______ Roosevelt established Sully’s Hill (ND) a National Park.
2/1/1905 ______ Roosevelt establishes the National Forest Service, under which
he created 150 National Forests
6/2/1905 ______ Roosevelt declares Wichita Forest the first Federal Game
Preserve.
1906 ______ Roosevelt established Platt National Park (OK) and Mesa
Verde National Park (CO).
6/8/1906 ______ Roosevelt signs the National Monuments Act, and established
Devil’s Tower National Monument. He later created 17 more.
11/1906 ______ Roosevelt travels to Panama, and becomes the first president
ever to travel outside of the country in office.
1907 ______ Roosevelt’s book, Good Hunting, is published.
1908 ______ Roosevelt established Grand Canyon game preserve, Muir
Woods National Monument, and Grand Canyon National
Monument.
6/8/1908 ______ Roosevelt appointed a National Conservation Commission.
1909 ______ Roosevelt created the Fire Island Federal Game Preserve
(Alaska), the National Bison Range Federal Game Preserve
(Montana), and Mount Olympus National Monument.
3/1909-6/1910 ______ Roosevelt led a hunting expedition to Africa.
3/1910 ______ Roosevelt visits Sudan and Egypt with wife. Also publish
African Game Trails.
1914 ______ Roosevelt travels to South America.
1/6/1919 ______ Roosevelt dies in his sleep.
Theodore Roosevelt and the
conservation movement
By
Taras Dreszer