Theodore Roosevelt

U.S. President

Born: 27 October 1858
Died: 6 January 1919 (arterial blood clot)
Birthplace: New York, New York
Best known as: President of the United States, 1901-1909
Teddy Roosevelt was a weak and asthmatic child who grew up to be one of the most robust and ambitious U.S. presidents ever. A former New York City police commissioner (1895-97), author, and hero of the Spanish-American War (1898), he reluctantly accepted an offer to become William McKinley's vice president upon McKinley's re-election in 1900. When McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Roosevelt became the youngest man ever to become president. (He was 42.) He served two terms, built up the Navy, used "battleship diplopmacy" to create an independent Panama and then build the Panama Canal, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 for helping to end the Russo-Japanese War, designated dozens of national forests, parks, and monuments, and strengthened the executive branch through his progressive agenda and the sheer force of his personality. He is often remembered for his policy pronouncement, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." He was succeeded in 1909 by William Howard Taft. Roosevelt ran for president again in 1912, as a candidate of the National Progressive (or "Bull Moose") Party; he beat Taft but came in second to the next president, Democrat Woodrow Wilson. In the last years of his life he traveled widely, explored Brazil, supported America's entry into World War I, and published several books including Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography in 1913.
Extra credit: Teddy Roosevelt was fifth cousin to a later president, Franklin Roosevelt... Teddy was the first president to visit a foreign country, Panama, in 1906... He was also the first American to win a Nobel Prize... He was the 26th U.S. president... The Rough Riders were an all-volunteer cavalry regiment organized by Roosevelt and Leonard Wood in 1898; on July 1 of that year he led the Rough Riders on successful charges up Kettle Hill and San Juan Heights (better known as San Juan Hill) near Santiago, Cuba, thus cementing his fame in America... John F. Kennedy remains the youngest man ever elected president, at the age of 43... Roosevelt graduated from Harvard in 1880; he attended law school at Columbia but did not graduate... Roosevelt was married to the former Alice Hathaway Lee from 1880 until her death after giving birth to their daughter Alice in 1884. He married Edith Kermit Carow in 1886, and they had five children: Theodore, Jr. (b. 1887), Kermit (b. 1889), Ethel (b. 1891), Archibald (b. 1894) and Quentin (b. 1897). Quentin, a pilot, was killed in France in World War I... Teddy's mother died the same day as his first wife, 14 February 1886.


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