Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919) was the 26th president of the United States and one of the most energetic and consequential figures of the Progressive Era. Born into a wealthy New York family, Roosevelt overcame severe childhood health problems to become a scholar, author, soldier, reformer, conservationist, and political leader. He became president in 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley and transformed the presidency into a more active force in American political and economic life. During his administration, Roosevelt pursued corporate regulation, consumer protection, conservation, and a more assertive foreign policy, while promoting what he called the “Square Deal” for Americans. After leaving office, he remained a powerful public figure, eventually running for president again in 1912 as the nominee of the Progressive Party. His life was characterized by an extraordinary combination of intellectual curiosity, physical vigor, political ambition, and a conviction that public service was a moral responsibility.

Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 27, 1858, to Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. His family was wealthy and socially prominent, and his father was a successful businessman and philanthropist who strongly encouraged his children to serve others. Theodore was an intelligent and exceptionally curious child, but he suffered from severe asthma and other physical ailments that frequently left him weak and confined indoors. Rather than accepting his physical limitations, he developed a rigorous program of exercise and outdoor activity to strengthen himself, later famously declaring that he had to “make his body.” He was educated primarily by private tutors and became an avid reader, naturalist, and amateur historian. Roosevelt entered Harvard College in 1876, where he studied a wide range of subjects and developed an interest in history, politics, and natural science. Shortly after graduating in 1880, he entered Columbia Law School but soon abandoned his legal studies to pursue politics, beginning a career that would eventually carry him from the New York State Assembly to the presidency.

Roosevelt entered public life at the age of 23 when he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1881. There he quickly gained a reputation as a reformer willing to challenge corruption and political machines, although his political career was interrupted by profound personal tragedy. In 1884, both his mother and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, died within hours of each other, and Roosevelt withdrew from politics for a time, moving to the Dakota Territory to work as a rancher. The experience strengthened his love of the American West and the outdoors, while also providing material for several of his books. He eventually returned to New York and became increasingly influential in the Republican Party. Roosevelt served as a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, president of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. During the Spanish-American War in 1898, he resigned his Navy position and helped organize the Rough Riders, gaining national fame after fighting in Cuba. His military reputation helped propel him into the New York governorship in 1899, where he pursued progressive reforms and challenged the power of powerful Republican political bosses.

Roosevelt became vice president under William McKinley in March 1901, but only six months later McKinley was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, making Roosevelt president at the age of 42—the youngest person to hold the office up to that time. He quickly established a new model of presidential leadership, believing that the president could take any action not expressly prohibited by the Constitution. His domestic program, known as the Square Deal, sought to balance the interests of business, labor, and consumers. His administration aggressively pursued federal regulation of large corporations, most famously through the prosecution of the Northern Securities Company, while the Hepburn Act strengthened federal regulation of railroads. Roosevelt also championed consumer protection, helping inspire the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. He dramatically expanded federal conservation efforts, establishing national forests, wildlife refuges, and national monuments and protecting millions of acres of public land. In foreign affairs, Roosevelt pursued an assertive policy summarized by the phrase “speak softly and carry a big stick.” He helped negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War, for which he received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, and oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal. He won reelection in 1904 and left office in 1909, choosing his close political ally William Howard Taft as his successor.

After leaving the presidency, Roosevelt traveled extensively and went on an expedition to Africa, where he collected specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. He later embarked on a dangerous expedition down an unexplored river in the Amazon Basin with his son Kermit, an experience that nearly cost him his life. Increasingly dissatisfied with President Taft, whom he believed had abandoned the progressive principles of his administration, Roosevelt returned to politics. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in 1912, but Taft and the Republican establishment retained control of the party. Roosevelt and his supporters then created the Progressive Party, popularly known as the “Bull Moose Party,” and Roosevelt became its presidential nominee. He survived an assassination attempt during the campaign and famously continued his speech after being shot, remarking that “it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” Although he lost the 1912 election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt's Progressive campaign advocated an ambitious program of political, economic, and social reforms and helped shape the future of American progressivism. During World War I, Roosevelt became an outspoken advocate of American intervention and sharply criticized Wilson's neutrality, while four of Roosevelt's sons served in the war.

Roosevelt's health declined after years of physical exertion, injuries, and tropical disease, although he remained active in public affairs until the end of his life. His youngest son, Quentin, was killed while serving as a pilot in France in July 1918, a devastating loss from which Roosevelt never fully recovered. On January 6, 1919, Roosevelt died in his sleep at his home at Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York, at the age of 60. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall famously remarked that Roosevelt “had to sleep,” reflecting the extraordinary energy with which he had approached public life. Roosevelt was buried at Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay. His legacy remains both celebrated and debated: he dramatically expanded the power and visibility of the modern presidency, strengthened federal regulation of corporations, helped establish the federal government as a protector of consumers and natural resources, and permanently expanded the nation's conservation system. At the same time, his nationalism, imperialism, and attitudes toward race and foreign peoples have drawn substantial criticism. Nevertheless, Theodore Roosevelt remains one of the most influential presidents in American history, and his conception of an energetic presidency helped define the role the office would play throughout the twentieth century.