Roosevelt took office as vice president in March 1901 and assumed the presidency at age 42 after McKinley was assassinated the following September. He bragged about his one small success: 'We achieved a victory in getting up a combination to beat the Blaine nominee for temporary chairman... To do this needed a mixture of skill, boldness and energy... to get the different factions to come in... to defeat the common foe.' He was also impressed by an invitation to speak before an audience of ten thousand, the largest crowd he had addressed up to that date. Accordingly, he told the 1918 state convention of the Maine Republican Party that he stood for old-age pensions, insurance for sickness and unemployment, construction of public housing for low-income families, the reduction of working hours, aid to farmers, and more regulation of large corporations.Roosevelt's physical condition was rapidly deteriorating due to the long-term effects of jungle diseases. He was hospitalized for seven weeks in late 1918, and never fully recovered.