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Michael Kadish
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the first son and the second child born to his parents. His father was a wealthy glass importer, banker, and merchant. His mother came from a well-to-do family in Georgia. After Teddy's birth on October 27, 1858 in New York City, two more children followed.
As a child, Teddy was asthmatic and quite frail. He also was very nearsighted. Because of his poor health, he was tutored privately. This also allowed him to travel frequently with his parents throughout Europe and the Atlantic Coast of the United States.
His favorite quiet hobbies were reading and natural science. However, determined to build up his body, Roosevelt participated in sports, exercised, and eventually was strong enough to compete in more demanding outdoor activities. Because of his success in developing his body and overcoming his asthma, Roosevelt became an advocate of physical fitness and the outdoor life.
He attended Harvard University, where he graduated in 1880. While at Harvard, his grades allowed him to be admitted in Phi Beta Kappa. He also boxed. He started his first book, The Naval War of 1812, while a senior at Harvard.
In 1880, Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee, who was from Boston. Although their home was officially in New York City, they spent the next year traveling in Europe. One of the highlights of his trip was climbing the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
He attended Columbia Law School for a short while and then decided to enter politics. Running as a Republican, he served as a member of the State legislature from 1882 through 1884. Roosevelt then lead the New York delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1884. There he furthered his already established reputation as being anti-party machine.
Also in 1884, Roosevelt suffered two major losses. His mother died and only hours later, his wife died while giving birth to a daughter, their only child. Trying to overcome his grief, Roosevelt moved to the Badlands of Dakota Territory, where he had invested in a cattle ranch the previous year. While there, living the life of a cowboy, Roosevelt wrote several other books.
Even though he knew he would lose, Roosevelt ran for Mayor of New York in 1886. That same year, he married a childhood friend, Emily Kermit Carow, in London. They lived at Sagamore Hill on Long Island. During their marriage, Edith gave birth to four sons and a daughter.
During the years 1886 to 1889, Roosevelt wrote, lived part of the time in the Dakotas, and re-engaged in political activities. Then in 1889, he was appointed to the U.S. Civil Service Commission. He served on the commission for six years, during which time he introduced competitive examinations for jobs. Later, in 1895, he served as president of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners. In his two years on this board, he toughened the rules on police corruption and began a merit system for those jobs as well.
During President McKinley's term in office, Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and served in this capacity from 1897 to 1898. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in order to became a lieutenant colonel in a volunteer cavalry regiment he had helped to start. This group was known as the "Rough Riders." The bravery he exhibited in Cuba gave him not only a promotion to full colonel, but also made him a national hero.
Partially because of the national recognition he had achieved during the war, Roosevelt won the goverorship of New York in 1898. However, people within the state government who resented the reforms Roosevelt initiated were able to force him into accepting the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination in 1900. This necessitated his resignation as governor.
Roosevelt's campaigning was a major element of the election of McKinley as President. When McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Roosevelt became President. At 41, he was the youngest President. Roosevelt was elected to the Presidency in 1904.
Roosevelt believed that the President's power was curtailed only by the specific Constitutional prohibitions. Consequently, he instituted many programs designed to aid labor, capital, and the public as a whole. He brought many suits against big business, trying to make them smaller and force competition. This earned him the title of "Trust Buster."
One of Roosevelt's accomplishments was the establishment of the Pure Food and Drug Administration in 1906. He also began the Department of Commerce and Labor. In addition, he campaigned for and approved bills designed to clean up stockyards and packinghouses. He expanded the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission by granting them control over railroads and other transportation facilities.
An extension of Presidential power first employed by Roosevelt was pressuring coal miners into arbitration with labor during a coal strike in 1902. Another first that occurred during the Roosevelt years was the first Black attending a White House dinner. Booker T. Washington was given that honor.
Roosevelt also pushed for conservation bills. He held the National Conservation Conference in 1908. About 150 million acres were added to the national forests. Coal reserves were set aside, as was land earmarked for public dams. Many wildlife preserves were established during the Roosevelt years, and so were national parks and monuments.
Roosevelt also had definite policies in international affairs. His motto was, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." In 1907, he sent a Navy fleet on a two-year cruise around the world to impress both Americans and the rest of the world. In 1903, he aided a rebellion in Columbia which led to the formation of the Republic of Panama. It was during Theodore Roosevelt's administration that the Panama Canal was begun. When he traveled to see the progress of the Canal, he became the first U.S. President to leave the country while in office.
Because he helped in negotiating a treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War, Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to win a Nobel Prize. This honor was given him in 1906.
After he left office in 1909, Roosevelt traveled to Africa, Europe, and lectured in various universities. He also continued to write, publishing in his lifetime over forty books and many articles.
In 1912, he run for President again because Roosevelt felt that Taft, his successor, was not following Roosevelt's policies. Taft, however, received the nomination, so Roosevelt started his own party which became known as the "Bull Moose" or "Progressive" party. While campaigning, he was the target of an assassination attempt. Roosevelt got more votes than Taft, but the divided Republican party opened the way for the Democratic victory of Woodrow Wilson.
During World War I, Roosevelt wanted to start another volunteer regiment, but President Wilson would not allow it. One of his sons was killed and two were badly wounded in the War.
People were discussing the possibility of Roosevelt's running for another term in the 1920 election. However, Roosevelt died on January 6, 1919 and was buried in Oyster Bay, New York.