The Life of Theodore Roosevelt

This is a man who has a lot about him and I think you should continue to read. His name is or rather was Theodore Roosvelt Jr., he was born in New York City on October 27, 1858. He owned a successful plate-glass import business.

When he was a young boy he was called “Teddy”, he spent a lot of time at a handsome brownstone and he was homeschooled but that was due to the fact that he was ill and had asthma. Because he wasn’t out a lot he was able to focus on his passion, which was animal life. Aged 17, he entered Harvard College, where he graduated with an A.B. He was a good student, despite deficiencies in the classics and mathematics. He was also a keen sportsman, He took part in boxing and rowing. It was well received as a scholarly portrayal of America’s naval war. It illustrated Roosevelt’s multifarious capacities. It also illustrates his patriotic viewpoint of America’s destiny. His father whom he revered got him to start weightlifting and boxing and many exercise routines.

His father died his second year of Harvard and this made him work even harder. After he graduated he entered Columbia Law School and soon after got married to Alice Hathaway Lee of Massachusetts. He put in a lot of work but in the end he didn’t stay at law school instead he joined the New York State Assembly as a representative for New York, with him becoming the youngest to serve in this position. He quickly went through the ranks, becoming the captain of the national guard and the minority leader, but due to the fact that his mother and his wife died on the same day he decided to leave his infant daughter in the care of his elder sister and left the dakota territory for two years. During his time away, he became a cowboy and cattle rancher. In 1886 he came back to politics and was defeated for New York mayor ship. After this he married his second wife Edith Kermit Carol, he had known her as a child and they saw the funeral of Abraham Lincoln.

Soon after they were married he resumed his career trajectory, he began as a civil service commissioner, then he became a New York City police commissioner and an assistant U.S Navy Secretary under president William Mckinley. After this he took an interest in the Spanish-American War and organized a group called the Rough Riders, that served as a volunteer cavalry. Due to his becoming a war hero, he was awarded the medal of honor and was elected Governor of New York in 1898.

His progress made him run afoul in his own party the republican party, because of this they tried to quiet him by putting his name on the Mckinley Ticket in the thankless post of vice president. In 1901 Mckinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became the youngest president, at the age of 42, to assume office. He distinguished himself by prosecuting monopolies under the Sherman Antitrust Act, due to this he soon made a benchmark known as the square deal. In 1905 his niece, Eleanor Roosevelt got married to Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1894 his brother Elliot died. About the same time his niece got married he decided to engage a policy known as the “Speak softly and carry a big stick. He created a fleet known as the “Great White Fleet” were he could bulk up the american navy. He sent this great fleet on a journey around the world to show the great might that we have gained.

In 1906 he was awarded the “Nobel Peace Prize” for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt believed that if russia was taken out then there would be an imbalance of power in the world and that we would have to correct it but at great costs. Theodore supported desegregation but when he had an african-american come to the white house the political backlash was so bad he never invited him back again. He was the first president to be deemed an environmentalist. He signed the National Monuments Act in 1906 which preserved places like the Grand Canyon. Roosevelt also instigated 21 federal irrigation projects. The presidential mansion officially became the white house when the name was emblazoned on his stationary. He had hired the best of the best to renovate the mansion. Every room had all kinds of things in it and had lots of space which his six children enjoyed happily. He left office in 1906 believing he left the nation in good hands. The former secretary of war was a good friend of Roosevelt and he also was the successor of Roosevelt, his name was William Howard Taft and yes he was a president of the, ”United States of America!”

Since Roosevelt had been on many trips he decided to go on an african safari. After awhile of traveling and other things he decided to run for office again since taft wasn’t doing what he hoped he would do while in office. He had to create a third party though because taft was already on the repulican ballot. His party was known as the “Bull Moose Party” which was also called the progressive party. On October 14, 1912, Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when a local saloon-keeper shot him. The bullet was lodged in his chest after it had passed through his jacket pocket containing his steel eyeglass case and a copy of his 50 page speech, which had been folded in half. Because he was an anatomist Roosevelt had concluded that since he wasn’t coughing up blood the bullet hadn’t penetrated his chest wall into his lung. He even declined immediate treatment and gave his 90 minute speech with blood seeping from the wound into his shirt. He said “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” It was a close running but he lost to Woodrow Wilson. He considered running in the next election but bowed in the end. Roosevelt was proud of his kids when they took up arms and fought in WWI but he was heartbroken when he found out his youngest son died. When he was young he was told by doctors that he had a weak heart and should get a desk job. However he did far from that he was a lot more active than most, he published more than 25 books on various topics. Although Roosevelt had been a Sunday school teacher, he believed strongly in the separation of Church and State.

While he was taking the oath of office during his inauguration after McKinley’s assassination, he did not swear on the Bible. When the $20 gold coin was designed in 1907, the words “In God We Trust” were not present. In a letter written by Roosevelt, he said “it was irrelevant to have the words printed on the coins because the money was used to buy worldly goods and services”. After a public outcry congress passed legislation requiring “In God We Trust” to be restored to all U.S. coins, which it had been previously printed on. Roosevelt died in his sleep on January 6, 1919, at his Long Island estate, Sagamore Hill. He had suffered a coronary embolism,he was 60 years old and he was buried at the Youngs Memorial Cemetery in New York City. Received more than a hundred years later he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton, he was the first president to get this honor. Roosevelt’s success was partly attributable to his personal charisma and also a good relationship with the Press. He had daily briefings in the White House and instigated the first White House press briefings. Roosevelt was an instrument in placing the President at the forefront of the American political system.

His prominence can be contrasted with the weaker presidencies of the late Nineteenth Century. Roosevelt more than anything was an evangelist for physical exercises, “manliness” and courage. He exercised strenuously until the last few years when he was hampered by leg problems. He hated the term ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt, though it was widely adopted by the press and popular culture. Those close to him used his preferred term “colonel”