Theodore Roosevelt
Best known as: 26st president of the USA
Occupation: Military leader, politician, author, taxonomist, hunter
Nicknames: Teddy, TR, Trustbuster
Nationality: American
Religion: Protestant
Political party: Republican, Progressive
Born: October 27, 1858 in New York City
Died: January 6, 1919, from an arterial blood clot, Oyster Bay, New York
Education: graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1880
Military service: Led the "Rough Riders" in the Spanish-American War
Offices held:
- New York State Assemblyman (1882-1884)
- New York City Police Commissioner (1895)
- Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897-1898)
- Governor of New York (1898-1900)
- Vice-President of the U.S. (1901)
- President of the U.S. (1901-1909)
Short biography:
Teddy Roosevelt rose from humble beginnings as an asthmatic, nearsighted boy to become a progressive, forceful, and flamboyant president. Upon the death of William McKinley, he became the youngest U.S. president in history. A Republican, Roosevelt believed in increasing the powers of the federal government to ensure fairness for all Americans, a policy known as the Square Deal. He enthusiastically supported imperialism, national parks, and the destruction of unfair trusts. In addition to his political duties, TR found time to write numerous books, hunt, and do an activity he called the "point-to-point walk," which entailed traveling in a straight line, regardless of trees, rocks, or ice-choked rivers, to a chosen destination. He was also such an expert on wildlife that the Smithsonian Institution was known to occasionally consult him on the identity of rare specimens.
Awards: Nobel Prize, 1906, for mediating in the Russo-Japanese War
Congressional Medal of Honor
Organizations:
American Philosophical Society
Explorers Club
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Improved Order of Red Men
Loyal Order of Moose
National Press Club
Publications:
The Naval War of 1812 (1882)
Hunting Trips of a Ranch Man (1885)
Thomas Hart Benton (1887)
Gouverneur Morris (1888)
The Winning of the West (1889-96)
Big Game Hunting in the Rockies and in the Great Plains (1899)
The Rough Riders (1899)
Oliver Cromwell (1900)
Good Hunting in Pursuit of Big Game in the West (1907)
Progressive Principles (1913)
History as Literature (1913)
America and the World War (1915)
Fun facts:
- TR was the youngest president.
- In a controvercial decision, TR became the first president to invite an African-American (Booker T. Washington) to the White House.
- He was the first president to ride in an airplane, submarine, or automobile.
- TR was the first U.S. citizen to win a Nobel Prize, and the only president to have done so.
- His picture appears on the U.S. $1 million bill.
- TR held a brown belt in judo.
- One of TR's favorite pastimes was an activity called the point-to-point walk. He would choose a destination and force himself to go there in a straight line, regardless of the obstacles in his way. Sometimes this entailed swimming through icy creeks!
