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U.S Presidents — Theodore Roosevelt

OVERVIEW Name: Theodore Roosevelt President: # 26 Term Number(s): 29, 30 Term Length: 7.5 Took Office: September 14, 1901 Left Office: March 4, 1909 Age when Elected: 42 Party: Republican Also Known As: "TR, Trust-Buster, Teddy" BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION Education: Columbia Law School, Harvard College Occupation: Statesman, author, historian, explorer, conservationist, civil servant Other Governmental Position: 25th Vice President of the United States, 33rd Governor of New York, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly, Member of the New York State Assembly, President of the Board of New York City Police Commissioners. Military Service: Colonel, United States Army Religion: Dutch Reformed Spouse(s): Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (October 27, 1880), Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt (December 2, 1886) Children: Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Kermit Roosevelt, Ethel Carow Roosevelt Derby, Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Quentin Roosevelt Birthdate: October 27, 1858 Birthplace: New York, New York Deathdate: January 6, 1919 Deathplace: Oyster Bay, New York Age at Death: 60 Cause of Death: coronary embolism (assumed), inflammatory rheumatism Place of Internment: Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York Signature   FIRST ELECTION Election: Not Elected, succeeded President William McKinley SECOND ELECTION Election Year: 1904 Main Opponent: alton B. Parker Voter Participation: 65.20%   Electoral Popular States Click for larger image Winner 336 (71.00%) 7,630,457 (56.40%) 32 Main Opponent 140 (29.41%) 5,083,880 (37.60%) 13 total 476 13,525,002 45 CABINET AND COURT APPOINTMENTS Vice President: vacant, Charles W. Fairbanks Secretary of State: John M. Hay (1901–1905), Elihu Root (1905–1909), Robert Bacon (1909) Secretary of the Treasury: Lyman J. Gage (1901–1902), Leslie M. Shaw (1902–1907), George B. Cortelyou (1907–1909) Secretary of War: Elihu Root (1901–1904), William H. Taft (1904–1908), Luke E. Wright (1908–1909) Secretary of the Navy: John D. Long (1901–1902), William H. Moody (1902–1904), Paul Morton (1904–1905), Charles J. Bonaparte (1905–1906), Victor H. Metcalf (1906–1908), Truman H. Newberry (1908–1909) Secretary of the Interior: Ethan A. Hitchcock (1901–1907), James R. Garfield (1907–1909) Secretary of Agriculture: James Wilson (1901–1909) Attorney General: Philander C. Knox (1901–1904), William H. Moody (1904–1906), Charles J. Bonaparte (1906–1909) Postmaster General: Charles E. Smith (1901–1902), Henry C. Payne (1902–1904), Robert J. Wynne (1904–1905), George B. Cortelyou (1905–1907), George von L. Meyer (1907–1909) Supreme Court Assignments: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1902), William Rufus Day (1903), William Henry Moody (1906) PRESIDENT'S BIOGRAPHY 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 U.S. 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. 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, and even capturing 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. Political 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 young 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, Roosevelt 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." FIRST LADY'S BIOGRAPHY Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt Edith Kermit Carow knew Theodore Roosevelt from infancy; as a toddler she became a playmate of his younger sister Corinne. Born in Connecticut in 1861, daughter of Charles and Gertrude Tyler Carow, she grew up in an old New York brownstone on Union Square—an environment of comfort and tradition. Throughout childhood she and "Teedie" were in and out of each other's houses. Attending Miss Comstock's school, she acquired the proper finishing touch for a young lady of that era. A quiet girl who loved books, she was often Theodore's companion for summer outings at Oyster Bay, Long Island; but this ended when he entered Harvard. although she attended his wedding to Alice Hathaway Lee in 1880, their lives ran separately until 1885, when he was a young widower with an infant daughter, Alice. Putting tragedy behind him, he and Edith were married in London in December 1886. They settled down in a house on Sagamore Hill, at Oyster Bay, headquarters for a family that added five children in ten years: Theodore, Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin. Throughout Roosevelt's intensely active career, family life remained close and entirely delightful. A small son remarked one day, "When Mother was a little girl, she must have been a boy!" Public tragedy brought them into the White House eleven days after President McKinley succumbed to an assassin's bullet. Assuming her new duties with characteristic dignity, Mrs. Roosevelt meant to guard the privacy of a family that attracted everyone's interest, and she tried to keep reporters outside her domain. The public, in consequence, heard little of the vigor of her character, her sound judgment, her efficient household management. But in this administration, the White House was unmistakably the social center of the land. Beyond the formal occasions, smaller parties brought together distinguished men and women from varied walks of life. Two family events were highlights: the wedding of "Princess Alice" to Nicholas Longworth, and Ethel's debut. A perceptive aide described the first lady as "always the gentle, high-bred hostess; smiling often at what went on about her, yet never critical of the ignorant and tolerant always of the little insincerities of political life." Roosevelt once wrote to Ted Jr. that "if Mother had been a mere unhealthy Patient Griselda, I might have grown set in selfish and inconsiderate ways." Mrs. Roosevelt continued, with keen humor and unfailing dignity, to balance her husband's exuberance after they retired in 1909. After President Roosevelt's death in 1919, she traveled abroad but always returned to Sagamore Hill, New York, as her home. Alone much of the time, she never appeared lonely, being still an avid reader, "not only cultured but scholarly," as Mr. Roosevelt had said. She kept till the end her interest in the Needlework Guild, a charity which provided garments for the poor, and in the work of Christ Church at Oyster Bay. She died on September 30, 1948, at the age of 87. MAJOR EVENTS 1904: Panama Canal rights acquired. 1904–1905: Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. 1904–1905: Russo-Japanese War. A Japanese victory shocks the West and leads to Russian internal discontent and eventually to the Russian Revolution of 1905. 1906: Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize. 1906: Food and Drug Act. 1906: San Francisco earthquake. 1907: Bankers' Panic financial crisis. 1907: Oklahoma joins the Union. TRIVIA 1. Theodore Roosevelt did not like being called "Teddy," and would correct those who used the nickname though it became widely used by newspapers during his presidency. 2. The "Teddy Bear" was created after he spared the life of a young bear cub while hunting. 3. Roosevelt began the construction of the Panama Canal. 4. Roosevelt established most of the original national parks and the National Park Service. 5. While preparing to give a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot at close range. He exclaimed, "It will take more than that to kill a bull moose!" and completed his lengthy speech before going to a hospital.