Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States (September 14, 1901–March 4, 1909), and before that a New York State Assemblyman, Governor of New York, deputy sheriff in the Dakota Territory, Police Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, and Vice President of the United States. Whew!
He also drank a gallon of coffee a day and got in a knife fight with a cougar.Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children on Bartleby.com He had the knife, not the cougar. Teddy was also the namesake of the now-ubitiquous plush toys enjoyed by children and families the world over, which stemmed from a hunting incident he had over a black bear he supposedly refused to shoot. Two toy companies cashed in on the political cartoon made in response to the bear affair, and the rest is history.
==Early years==
Roosevelt was born in Manhattan on October 27, 1858. His father Theodore Sr. was a scion of famous old Dutch families in New York, including the Schuyler family;Yes, Hamilton fans, those Schuylers. his father was a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, and his mother Martha was a Southern socialite who may have been the inspiration for Scarlet O'Hara from Gone with the Wind.Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, National Park Service Despite having Confederate in-laws, including two brothers-in-law literally fighting as Confederate soldiers, Theodore Sr. also was a prominent supporter of the Union cause during the Civil War, including helping raise money for food and supplies, and he helped set up and run the Allotment System, which allowed Union soldiers to send money home to support their families; Martha held strong Southern sympathies and even sent care packages to Confederate soldiers.Mittie, Thee, and the North/South Divide, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace on the U.S. National Park Service Theodore Sr.'s particular support did not include actually fighting, however, and he was able to hire someone to fill his spot in the Union military.CORRESPONDENCE: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, SR, 1861-1862 on Oyster Bay Historical Society.
Theodore Jr. grew up in privilege among the New York City elite. When he was six years old, he witnessed the funeral procession for Abraham Lincoln, and can even be seen in a photograph of the procession.Abraham Lincoln's Funeral Procession on the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University He was home schooled, and his father would occasionally take him on whirlwind trips around the world, which helped shape his perspective. Although he was a sickly child with severe asthma, Theodore came to appreciate the benefits of tough living while hiking the Alps with his father, which appeared to alleviate his asthma; he subsequently resolved himself to the "Strenuous Life" (more on that later) to defeat his physical ailments.The Insane True Story of Teddy Roosevelt by Grunge.com In his youth he also developed a love for nature and wildlife, and he even built his own nature museum in his house.Theodore Roosevelt & the American Museum of Natural History on History First He eventually went to Harvard, and while he was very successful in pretty much anything he did there, including joining various social clubs and a fraternity, writing for the Harvard Advocate magazine, boxing, and researching in the War of 1812, he did not fit in well at the school.The Life of Theodore Roosevelt by the National Park Service After graduating he got married and then decided to go to law school at Columbia, under the assumption that a law degree would help his political career. He found law school boring so he dropped out and ran for the New York state assembly in 1882, which he won.The Life of Theodore Roosevelt by the National Park Service
==The political years==
As a New York assemblyman, "TR" made a name for himself as an anti-corruption crusader. Upon assuming his seat in the state assembly, he immediately picked a fight with notorious robber baron Jay Gould and judge Theodore Westbrook;Presidential Moral Character and Teddy Roosevelt on History News Network by The George Washington University while the inquiry ultimately failed to remove the judge, TR's anti-corruption cred was established. He also made waves by working with New York's Democratic governor, Grover Cleveland, to pass municipal reforms.Grover Cleveland Birthplace, U.S. National Park Service. By 1884, he was an important voice in the Republican Party, and he got involved in the power brokering behind the party's presidential nomination. TR was a supporter of reformist Vermont Senator but a moderate " leader who had developed a bit of a reputation for corruption, wound up winning the nomination. TR's subsequent (tepid) support for Blaine damaged his reputation with reformist Republicans known as who opposed Blaine; additionally, TR's mother and wife died on the same day in February 1884. In the aftermath of the Republican Convention, TR retired from politics and moved to a cattle farm in North Dakota.Elkhorn Ranch, National Park Service Democrat Grover Cleveland subsequently won the Presidency with help from the Mugwumps and a critical error by Blaine.A few days before the election, at a pro-Blaine dinner, a preacher gave a speech wherein he used an anti-Catholic slur; Blaine's campaign took no notice and did nothing about it, but Cleveland's campaign seized upon the opportunity to paint Blaine as anti-Catholic, ensuring that Catholic communities- notably the Irish in New York City- went for Cleveland.Gaffe at GOP dinner upends presidential election: Oct. 29, 1884, Politico
His retirement didn't last long, however. In 1886 he returned to New York City, married an old childhood friend,Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, The White House and ran for election as mayor against Henry George and Abraham Hewitt; Roosevelt came in third (Hewitt won). Fearing his career was over, TR took a break and wrote a book about America's westward expansion. After Benjamin Harrison, who TR supported, became President in 1888, TR finally got back into a position of power when Harrison appointed him to the Civil Service Commission, where he enthusiastically worked to end the spoils system.About Us, Office of Personnel Management Thanks in part to their previous time working together, TR even kept his position after Cleveland won back the presidency in 1892. In 1895, Roosevelt was appointed to the police commission of New York City where he again went balls out to root out corruption, this time from the extremely corrupt NYPD.Theodore Roosevelt and the New York Police Department, ThoughtCo He became close friends with " journalist and they together worked to eliminate police corruption, which earned him the ire of 'Establishing the Deadline', National Park Service as well as state Republican leader After McKinley became president (in spite of Roosevelt's support of his opponent during the nomination), TR was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and when the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in February 1898, Roosevelt was instrumental in setting the stage for Commodore Dewey's victory over the Spanish in the Philippines during the subsequent Spanish-American War.
After the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt resigned his position and helped raise the 1st Volunteer "Rough Riders" regiment, a cavalry unit that, despite notably being a cavalry unit, did not have any horses (except Roosevelt's) when they participated in the American invasion of Cuba. While Colonel Roosevelt only saw action in one where his unit and charged up a hill while four poured over 18,000 bullets into the Spanish defenders,Teddy Roosevelt's Cowboy Cavalry the Rough Riders on True West he claimed that the battle was "great fun" and "a bully fight"."Bully" meaning "wonderful" or "fantastic" at the time.The Rough Riders Storm San Juan Hill on Eyewitness to History Roosevelt returned from the brief war as a hero. He made peace with Tom Platt, and running on his war hero status, won a close election as Governor of New York later in 1898.Theodore Roosevelt as Governor of New York on Study.com He then began working as a reformer again, once again running afoul of the corrupt old party boss Platt.THEODORE ROOSEVELT: LIFE BEFORE THE PRESIDENCY, UVA Miller Center After McKinley's vice-president died in 1899, Governor Roosevelt found himself as a top candidate for the position in the 1900 election. Although he was not very interested in the largely powerless position, his old enemy Platt, with help from Pennsylvania party boss encouraged the party to make him their candidate so that they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.Matthew Quay: The Political Boss Who Made Two Presidents! on Mad Politics
Despite being a prominent leader of the emerging progressive wing of the Republican Party and considered a "madman" by some conservative Republicans,Theodore Roosevelt on Digital History Roosevelt realized he had to accept the vice presidential nomination; without Platt on his side, he could not win reelection as governor.Theodore Roosevelt, 25th Vice President (1901) by the U.S. Senate TR campaigned vigorously for his conservative running mate McKinley in the 1900 election.Election of 1900: McKinley wins again with Teddy Roosevelt as VP on U.S. History Thanks to favorable economic conditions, the recent victory against Spain, and Roosevelt's popularity, McKinley easily defeated the anti-imperialist, populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan. McKinley was shot and killed by an anarchist about six months after his inauguration in 1901, suddenly making Roosevelt the new president.The Assassination of President William McKinley on History.com
==Presidency years==
President Roosevelt is especially famous for his "trust-busting" activities. While he did utilize the twice more often than all of his predecessors combined, he was not anti-business, and believed that if a business got big through fair means, that was totally okay; it was when the businesses used unfair practices that he felt the government should step in.Roosevelt and the Trusts on eHistory by The Ohio State University He famously broke up America's largest railroad monopoly,The Northern Securities Case on the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University and began the effort to break up The Dragon Slain: The Breakup of the Standard Oil Trust, Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences He also created that would later be broken up into the the and the In 1902, Roosevelt helped negotiate an end to a coal miner strike, the first time a President had ever done so.The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in U.S. Policy by the U.S. Department of Labor Roosevelt's anti-corruption streak continued, and he pointedly rooted out corrupt officials in the Postal Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs.Crooked Agent: Agent fired for “irregularities.” on Spokane Historical After 19 players' deaths and hundreds of injuries in 1905, he even threatened to abolish the game of football if changes weren't made to the rules to make it less violent (spoiler: changes were made).How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football on History.com
Roosevelt was famously a conservationist as well. He never lost his childhood love of nature, and after his experiences in the Dakotas, he determined that the nation's national resources should be protected, not from exploitation (he was still in favor of that), but from over-exploitation and destruction by wealthy industrialists. He created the Forest Service,Our History, Forest Service several new national parks, and passed the Antiquities Act, which set up several more national monuments.Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation, National Park Service When it became a fad to put certain bird feathers in men's hats and those birds started becoming endangered due to over-hunting, TR set up protected areas for them and thus created the National Wildlife Refuge System.The Conservation Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt by the U.S. Department of the Interior
Roosevelt was president during the height of "muckraking" journalism, a term he coined. Famous journalists like and wrote sensationalist articles and books about the horrors of industry, government, and the wealthy elite. Tarbell's 1902 history of Standard Oil played a major role in TR's decision to begin his anti-trust case against the monopoly,Ida Tarbell: The Woman Who Took On Standard Oil, Connecticut History and Sinclair's 1905 The Jungle exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry in Chicago, ultimately leading to the creation of the When and why was FDA formed?, Food and Drug Administration A series of articles in 1906 by detailing corruption in the U.S. Senate gave steam to the populist push to ratify the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed for popular voting for senators."Treason of the Senate", United States Senate Roosevelt, while a progressive and generally sympathetic to their cause (while he was police commissioner he had even worked alongside Jacob Riis), did not fully trust these "muckrakers", and urged restraint, which they ignored. In particular he distrusted the socialist Sinclair; TR wound up sending his own inspectors to verify Sinclair's claims.Teddy Roosevelt: the man who coined the “muckraker”, The History of Journalism, George Mason University
Roosevelt was an avowed imperialist, having personally fought in and enjoyed one of America's imperialist wars, and he strongly believed in American exceptionalism. He came to the presidency while an insurrection was on-going in the Philippines against the American administration put in place after the Spanish-American War; like McKinley, Roosevelt felt that the Filipinos were incapable of governing themselves and preferred to keep the Philippines under American control, for which he publicly feuded with the staunchly anti-imperialist Mark Twain.When Titans Tangled on Historynet Roosevelt negotiated an end to the war and granted amnesty to the rebels; the Philippines was given a tiny bit of autonomy, and would gradually gain more autonomy over subsequent decades until gaining full independence in 1946. TR also made a point of making nice with Japan, to include negotiating an end to Japan's war with Russia in 1905,The Treaty of Portsmouth and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 by the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize,Theodore Roosevelt, The Nobel Prize and negotiating the " with Japan. Desiring to build the Panama Canal, Roosevelt initially tried to negotiate with Colombia for the rights to do so, and when that failed, he helped engineer Panama's independence from Colombia and then had construction started on the canal, which was completed in 1914, just as World War I was starting. He modified the Monroe Doctrine with the "Roosevelt Corollary", wherein the US would intervene on a European country's behalf if a Latin American country struggled with debt, thus preventing the European power from doing so,Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1904 by the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State and to this end he intervened in VenezuelaVenezuelan Crisis of 1902–1903 on Wikipedia and the Latin America and the Roosevelt Corollary on the Making of the Modern U.S., by Michigan State University This policy would be the basis of numerous American interventions in following two decades. Lastly, he had the so-called built and sent on a tour of the world; the Fleet being a large naval force intended to demonstrate to the world America's naval prowess.Cruise of the Great White Fleet on Naval History and Heritage Command
While Roosevelt's first term was pretty successful in pushing a somewhat progressive agenda, his second wasn't as much. Despite "radical" Roosevelt taking on conservative Charles Fairbanks as his vice president in the 1904 election and winning in a landslide, the more conservative members of his party like Senator and Speaker nevertheless began resisting his efforts in his second term. Even Fairbanks fought against Roosevelt's agenda, and Roosevelt spent most of 1907 and 1908 fighting with Congress.Charles Warren Fairbanks, 26th Vice President (1905-1909) by U.S. Senate To try to get past the roadblocks, Roosevelt tried to speak directly to the people in order to push his agenda via his own personal charisma and popularity, which only further alienated him from Congress.Theodore Roosevelt's Broad Powers on American History
After his victory in 1904, Roosevelt vowed that he would not seek another election; he felt obligated to continue with the prior precedent of serving only two terms.Theodor Roosevelt on SparkNotes His hand-picked successor was William Howard Taft, who was elected president in 1908, and Taft would come to make him regret that vow.
==Post-presidency years==
Upon Taft's election in 1908, friction almost immediately arose. Taft broke his promise to TR and fired most of Roosevelt's cabinet secretaries, and then passed a controversial tariff which reformers like TR had strongly opposed.Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act on Britannica In an effort to avoid politics, TR took the opportunity to go on safari in Africa for over a year.Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition on Wikipedia When he returned, he gave a speech where he decried the pro-business policies of the conservative Republicans, which now included Taft, thereby fully breaking ties with his former protégé and declaring himself to be a champion of progressivism (or communism/socialism, depending on who was talking about it).Theodore Roosevelt's Osawatomie Speech on the Kansas Historical Society In 1912, dissatisfaction with Taft's re-nomination led Roosevelt and his supporters to break away and form their own Progressive Party, commonly nicknamed the " after Roosevelt survived being shot and compared himself with a powerful bull moose.Teddy Roosevelt nominated as Bull Moose candidate on History.com
The 1912 presidential election was another historic election with major consequences. The Bull Moose Party, which ran on a remarkably progressive platform that included universal healthcare, women's suffrage, increased welfare programs, and bank reform,Overview of Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party Beliefs, ThoughtCo split the Republican party in two. Noted racist asshole Woodrow Wilson swept into the void and defeated both Taft and TR; Taft came in third, the only time that a candidate from a third party beat the candidate from one of the two major parties. Again seeking a respite from politics in the aftermath of a loss, TR went on another expedition, this time to South America.Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition, Wikipedia During the expedition, Roosevelt suffered a leg injury and became ill, which was exacerbated by still having a bullet lodged in his chest from when he was shot in 1912. He survived, however, and returned to the U.S. just in time for the events leading up to World War I.
When World War I broke out, the staunchly pro-war Roosevelt advocated for the U.S. to prepare to enter the war and begin mobilizing the military, to which Wilson refused. Roosevelt criticized Wilson for not responding belligerently after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, and while campaigning for Wilson's Republican opponent in 1916, Roosevelt straight up called Wilson a coward.Why Teddy Roosevelt Tried to Bully His Way Onto the WWI Battlefield, Smithsonian Magazine When Wilson did finally bring the U.S. into the war, Roosevelt sought to build another volunteer regiment similar to his old Rough Rider cavalry regiment, but Wilson, having paid attention to war reports, knew that cavalry was practically useless in this new war that involved machine guns and barbed wire and poison gas.The Bull Moose in Winter: Theodore Roosevelt and World War I, National Park Service Roosevelt's Rough Riders Part 2 never came to be; Roosevelt's children wound up serving in the war in various capacities. Roosevelt also was an early proponent of the League of Nations, although his vision differed from Wilson's. In the end, Wilson's version won, and Roosevelt's close friend Henry Cabot Lodge was instrumental in preventing the U.S. from joining it.Henry Cabot Lodge, Britannica Roosevelt's constant attacks on Wilson helped the Republican Party (which Roosevelt had rejoined by 1916, largely ending the relevance of the Bull Moose Party) regain control of Congress in the 1918 mid-terms.
Roosevelt considered running for president again in 1920, but his health began deteriorating as time went on. He still suffered from various tropical diseases that he contracted while in Cuba and South America, and this was compounded by the fact that there was still a bullet lodged in his chest. He died in his sleep in January 1919 at the age of 60; he had been the favorite for the Republican nomination in the run-up to 1920. With his passing, the nomination almost went to his former Rough Riders commander but eventually went to Warren G. Harding, who won by fiercely opposing Wilson's policies as well as Roosevelt's progressivism, thereby ending the progressive period of the Republican Party that TR had led, although Calvin Coolidge somehow managed to bring back dignity to the White House and supported several Progressive issues.On this day, Theodore Roosevelt dies unexpectedly, National Constitution Center
==Modern views==
In modern times, especially in online circles,Such as Cracked.com TR has been transformed into a memetic badass and archetype of manliness on the scale of Chuck Norris, only minus the radical right-wing politics. One of his most famous moments was when, on his way to giving a speech, he was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin (the bullet was slowed to well-short-of-deadly velocity by his eyeglass case and the folded-up speech in his shirt pocket). Instead of looking for a doctor immediately (that he wasn't spitting blood told him he could afford to delay, and he didn't want to risk suffering the same fate James Garfield and William McKinley hadDying from infection caused by attempts to remove a bullet that likely would've been harmless if left alone, sort of. In Garfield's case, several doctors inserted their (unwashed) fingers into the wound to try and find the bullet (as was standard practice), more or less guaranteeing a nasty infection.), he delivered the ninety-minute speech first, with the opening line of:
As it would have been more dangerous to remove, the bullet stayed lodged in his chest over the rest of his life. JFK was such a wimp; a real man would shove his brains back in and keep on going.
TR was a firm believer in practicing what he called to stay healthy, taking up boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. After his presidency, he went on a questionable safari trip in Africa, and in 1913 he charted the Amazon tributary known as the River of Doubt (now known as the RIVER OF UNQUESTIONABLE CERTAINTY Roosevelt River). Roosevelt's leg became infected, which unfortunately compounded with the damage caused by the impacted bullet, ruining his health.
==Teddy the evil socialist==
Teddy the evil socialist exists in the same realm as Alternate Universe Woodrow Wilson, which means he doesn't actually exist unless it's in the minds of the rabidly right-wing. This version of Theodore Roosevelt wanted to destroy capitalism, establish an anti-democratic proto-fascist state, and somehow contributed to both democratic socialism and Nazism. Teddy, the evil socialist, is a prevalent character among the usual suspects Heritage Foundation,Although returned to the Republican fold, Roosevelt continued until his death in January 1919 to press for Progressive reforms that would move the country closer to the social democracies of Europe. That was his goal, and it has remained the goal of Progressives ever since. Glenn Beck, and other wingnut Republicans/libertarians who demonstrate how far the Republican Party has drifted to the right in modern times.
==See also==
*Spanish-American War
*Franklin D. Roosevelt, Teddy's fifth cousin
*Gary Johnson, seems to consider himself some sort of second coming of Teddy (just don't tell Gary about Teddy's economic policies... or foreign policy... or anything really)
==External links==
*How Roosevelt picks cabinet members.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Anti-Korean
Category:Authors
Category:Crimes against humanity
Category:Environmentalism
Category:Eugenics supporters
Category:Former United States Governors
Category:Historians
Category:Imperialists
Category:Liberals
Category:Machismo
Category:Military
Category:New York
Category:Presidents of the United States
Category:Racists
Category:Sexism
Category:United States politicians
Category:Vice Presidents of the United States