Theodore Roosevelt

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Theodore Roosevelt

• A Strenuous Life David C. HansonVirginia
  Western Com. College

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• "I have never in my life envied a human being
  who led an easy life I have envied a great many
  people who led difficult lives and led them well."

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• The highest form of success comes to the man
  who does not shrink from danger, from hardship,
  or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins
  the splendid ultimate triumph. Let us boldly
  face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty
  well and manfully resolute to uphold
  righteousness by deed and by word resolute to be
  both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet
  to use practical methods. Above all, let us
  shrink from no strife, moral or physical
  provided we are certain that the strife is
  justified.
• --TR, The Doctrine of the Strenuous
  Life (1899)

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• Whether in his exploits with Western cowboys
  and outlaws, leading the Rough Riders in Cuba,
  rattling Wall Street plutocrats, or battling
  political adversaries in Congress, Roosevelt
  always enjoyed a good fight.

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• During his presidency, Roosevelt maintained
  an active life of horseback riding, tennis,
  hiking, swimming, hunting, polo, rowing,
  wrestling, boxing, and judo.  He often led
  visiting foreign dignitaries to the White House
  on strenuous swims in the Potomac and hikes in
  Washington's Rock Creek Park.  Among family and
  friends he was famous for challenging outdoor
  romps.

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Teddy was the second of four children born into a
wealthy New York family on October 27, 1858. His
father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., was a successful
businessman and prominent philanthropist.
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Young Thee was a bookish and sickly child.  To
overcome severe asthma, at the urging of his
father, he began a strenuous regimen of exercise
and outdoor activity that would become a lifelong
obsession.
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• Teddy was studying at Harvard when his father
  unexpectedly died of cancer at age 47. He
  overcame his grief, graduated Phi Beta Kappa in
  1880, and married Alice Lee. In 1882 he was
  elected to the New York Assembly.

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• Politics was considered unseemly for someone
  of Roosevelt's social class, but he inherited a
  strong commitment to public service from his
  father, and he enjoyed the combativeness. Young
  Mr. Roosevelt quickly earned a reputation for
  integrity, tenacity and courage through his
  efforts on behalf of "good government."

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• In 1884 his wife gave birth to a daughter
  named Alice (after her mother) within days both
  TRs wife (just 23 years old) and his mother
  died.  Emotionally devastated, he wrote in his
  diary "The light has gone out of my life." (He
  never wrote or spoke of Alice again.)  When the
  legislative session ended, Roosevelt sought
  relief in the great escape of the 19th century
  the West.

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• From 1884 to 1886 Roosevelt lived the rough
  life of a rancher in the Badlands of Dakota
  Territory. 
• Though the typical Eastern dude in some
  respects--with his fancy cowboy outfit,
  eyeglasses, books, clean language and hygiene--he
  soon gained the respect of the other ranchers. 

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• Roosevelt spent entire days in the saddle and
  was physically transformed, developing a deep
  tan, broad shoulders, a powerful chest, and a
  purposeful walk.  The western experience also
  deepened his love of the great outdoors.

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• Roosevelt sold his ranch in 1886 and returned
  to New York. After an unsuccessful bid for
  mayor, he married Edith Carrow and became a
  successful historian. Then in 1889 he was
  appointed to the U.S. Civil Service Commission.
  In 1895, at the age of 36, he was appointed New
  York City Police Commissioner.

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• Roosevelt campaigned for William McKinley in
  1896, leading to a presidential appointment to
  the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy
  in 1897. In 1898 the U.S. went to war against
  Spain, and Roosevelt became a Lt. Colonel of the
  First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry.

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• On July 1, 1898, Col. Roosevelt led the
  Rough Riders to victory in the Battle of San
  Juan Hill. Roosevelt was nominated for the
  Congressional Medal of Honor (awarded
  posthumously 100 years later).

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• A certified war hero, Roosevelt was elected
  Governor of New York and then nominated to become
  McKinleys vice president in 1900. McKinleys
  assassination in September 1901 made Roosevelt an
  accidental president.

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• At age 42, skeptics called him the Boy
  President. He brought his wife Edith and six
  children to the White House. Roosevelt wasted no
  time establishing himself as a strong and
  independent president.

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• His achievements in domestic affairs included
  trust-busting helping settle the 1902 coal
  strike and passage of the Elkins Act, Hepburn
  Act, Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act,
  and Newlands Act.

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• Many historians consider conservation of
  natural resources to be Roosevelts most
  important legacy in domestic affairs. He
  established 51 wildlife refuges, 150 national
  forests, 5 national parks, and 18 natural
  monuments (230 million acres).

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• His achievements in foreign affairs include
  the Panama Canal, adding teeth to the Monroe
  Doctrine, sending the Great White Fleet around
  the world, and mediating the Russo-Japanese War
  (for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in
  1905).

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• Roosevelt considered the Panama Canal to be
  his most important achievement in foreign
  affairs. It was also the most controversial
  demonstration of his famous saying speak softly
  and carry a big stick.

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• After seven years as the nations President,
  Theodore Roosevelt retired from politics and went
  on an African safari in 1909(a splendid
  adventure), followed by a European tour.

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• In 1912 Roosevelt came out of retirement to
  challenge President Taft for the Republican
  nomination. TR won most of the primaries but was
  denied the nomination so he ran as the
  Progressive Bull Moose candidate.

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• During the 1912 campaign, TR was shot in the
  chest by a would-be assassin. He survived but
  lost the election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson
  (Taft finished third).

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• In 1913 Roosevelt led an expedition into the
  Brazilian jungle (my last chance to be a boy),
  exploring an uncharted river through the Amazon
  rainforest. He nearly died from an infected
  wound, malaria and dysentery. (The Brazilian
  government named the river Rio Roosevelt in his
  honor.)

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• Roosevelts physical health never fully
  recovered from his Brazilian adventure, but he
  remained active in national politics. In
  countless articles and speeches, he advocated
  progressive reform and military preparedness.

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• From the onset of the Great War in Europe
  (1914) until the reluctant entry of the U.S. in
  1917, Roosevelt chided President Wilson for
  cowardice. All four of his sons volunteered
  for military service. The youngest, Quentin, was
  killed in an aerial dogfight.

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• Theodore Roosevelt died quietly in his sleep
  on January 9, 1919, at the age of sixty. Vice
  President Thomas Marshall said it best Death had
  to take him while sleeping. If he had been awake
  there would have been a fight.

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• "The worst of all fears is the fear of
  living.
• I don't think any President ever enjoyed
  himself more than I did. Moreover, I don't think
  any ex-President ever enjoyed himself more....

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It is not the critic who counts not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles or where
the doer of deeds could have done better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the
arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and
blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes
up short again and again, because there is no
effort without error or shortcoming, but who
knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself for a worthy cause who, at
the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails,
at least he fails while daring greatly, so that
his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
--Theodore Roosevelt (1910)