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Last week, mental_floss asked for input on three possible covers for the upcoming magazine issue. The one featuring president Theodore Roosevelt was the favorite among commenters. I don’t know which cover was selected, but it made me think of the many ways Roosevelt stands out in history. Here are just ten, in no particular order. One commenter mentioned that readers of this blog would not know who Teddy R. is. That would surprise me, but maybe this will help you know him a little better.
1. At 42, he was the youngest person to become president, when President McKinley was assassinated (although not as young as this earlier picture would indicate-I just like the picture). He was also the first to succeed to the office after a president’s death, and then to later also win by election.
2. His other jobs were quite varied: cattle rancher, deputy sheriff, historian, naturalist, explorer, author of 35 books, police commissioner, assistant Secretary of the Navy, governor of New York, war hero, and lawyer.
3. He was a Rough Rider. In 1898, he resigned from the Department of the Navy and organized the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, known as the Rough Riders. Among other battles, he led the charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War.
4. Roosevelt called his governing philosophy “Square Deal,” meaning fair dealings between businesses, consumers, and workers. He opened 40 antitrust cases against corporations. He promoted safe handling regulations for food and drugs, fought against misleading advertising, and encouraged arbitration between businesses and unions.
5. As the first conservationist president, he spearheaded the creation of the United States Forest Service, and established five new national parks. He was responsible for the start of the Wildlife Refuge system. During his administration, 42 million acres were set aside as national forests, wildlife refuges, and areas of special interest (such as the Grand Canyon).
6. The teddy bear was named after Roosevelt, in response to a cartoon showing the president refusing to shoot a bear after it had been tied to a tree. He considered it unsportsmanlike.
7. Roosevelt knew an opportunity when he saw it. The French had abandoned construction of the Panama Canal largely because of malaria and yellow fever. In 1904, Roosevelt contracted the U.S. to build the canal in return for control over the area. He dispatched surgeons and sanitation engineers to tackle the mosquito problem, then teams and heavy equipment to complete the canal, which opened in 1914.
8. Then there’s Mt. Rushmore. The father of our country, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Honest Abe, and Teddy. How cool is that?
9. He was a trendsetter. Roosevelt’s Wikipedia entry has a list of presidential firsts, including the first president to refer to the presidential mansion as the White House, host a black man at a White House dinner, appoint a Jewish person as a cabinet member, travel outside the United States while in office, and fly in an airplane. He was also the first American to ever win a Nobel Prize, for Peace in 1906.
10. With the possible exceptions of our current leader and his immediate predecessor, he has the absolute best macros posted to LOL Presidents.
As a bonus postscript, the president’s son, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. distinguished himself at the Normandy Invasion on D-Day and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. In 2001, President Roosevelt himself was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his service at the Battle of San Juan Hill, the only president to ever be so honored.
PS: Lots more cool things about TR are in the comment section!
Comments (43)
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I would add that he has one of the coolest Presidential catch phrases:
Speak softly and carry a big stick…
posted by Scott from Cincy on 8-7-2007 at 5:55 am
Very good article. I kind of knew that he was on Rushmore but never understood why. Also established the USA as a world power with the build up and world cruise of the navy.
posted by Dan Lubbs on 8-7-2007 at 6:12 am
I believe (and I could be wrong) that he is possibly the only person to ever win both a Congressional Medal of Honor for War AND the Nobel Peace Prize. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?!?
posted by Cyndi on 8-7-2007 at 6:58 am
Cyndi, that is TRUE, and it holds for other Nobel Prize categories as well. TR was up for the Medal of Honor in his lifetime, but it was withheld for political reasons.
Though it may seem a conflict of interest, it feeds into my theory that leaders who have experienced war, heroically or not, work the hardest for peace.
posted by Miss Cellania on 8-7-2007 at 7:08 am
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For giving props to TR! Two other really cool things: As TR was arriving at a hotel to give a speech, he was shot at close range. The speech folded in his pocket slowed the bullet and he went right on to give the speech and was rushed to hospital afterward. Also, he coined the phrase “good to the last drop” after being asked about the quality of Maxwell House coffee.
posted by Allison on 8-7-2007 at 7:49 am
Allison, I had forgotten about the coffee! Yeah, that’s cool. Anyway, there are so many things I could have included, but I limited myself to ten. I also wanted to find out what commenters would add.
posted by Miss Cellania on 8-7-2007 at 7:58 am
There is not a conflict regarding the Medal of Honor (note, it is not correct to call it the “Congressional Medal of Honor”) and the Nobel Peace Prize. The Medal of Honor is issued for gallantry and action beyond the call of duty under risk of life. It is about honor during war, not war-making. Many medics who never handled a firearm earned it for saving others on the battlefield. It involves courage in action with an enemy, not necessarily killing the most of them.
Why TR is cool? In the words of Robert Heinlein:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
posted by Sid Morrison on 8-7-2007 at 8:06 am
Another cool thing about Teddy: In the Smithsonian Museum of American History, they had a small exhibit about presidential assassinations. Teddy was shot in 1912 while delivering a speech – and continued giving the speech! The bullet was slowed because TR had put his prepared speech in his breast pocket, and it was very very long and managed to slow the bullet.
The Smithsonian had the speech. Which was pretty cool. But what’s best? The exhibit did not even give a mention to President McKinley, who was actually killed by an assassin’s bullet!
posted by Brendan on 8-7-2007 at 8:22 am
I served on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) a while back. They had a museum on there with a lot of memorabilia in it. I learned quite a bit about him, but am always surprised at what I didn’t know.
I’m in the process of reading Theodore Rex. An excellent book (thus far.)
posted by Ed Hands on 8-7-2007 at 8:36 am
He was a Republican.
He kept an impeccable diary. On one page of his diary is a big cross. At the bottom of the page was “The light has gone out of my life.” His mother had died upstairs and his wife had died on her sickbed downstairs on the same afternoon.
posted by BelchSpeak on 8-7-2007 at 9:03 am
Don’t get me wrong.
Teddy was cool but I think everyone likes to run past the Rough Rider part however.
A bunch of guys want to fight but aren’t part of the US Military, get wealthy people to finance them then they go off and kill people.
Today we would call them mercenaries or “soldiers of fortune”.
posted by Learned Hand on 8-7-2007 at 9:17 am
While TR seems a romantic figure now, he definitely had his flaws. As Asst Secretary of the Navy, he massaged communications between his superiors and the Spanish to help manufacture the Spanish American war (1898 – our first international adventure to bring democracy to other places). He felt that war was a manly enterprise that would help mature our country. I find that one troubling.
posted by Jennifer on 8-7-2007 at 9:31 am
Learned Hand Says:
August 7th, 2007 at 9:17 am
… Today we would call them mercenaries or “soldiers of fortune”.
Or, The A-Team! DUN DA DUH, na na na!
posted by Chief on 8-7-2007 at 10:57 am
And to think, what we now have as a president.
posted by Sly on 8-7-2007 at 11:02 am
Some prose From TR
She was beautiful in face and form, and lovelier still in spirit;
As a flower she grew, and as a fair young flower she died. Her life
had been always in the sunshine; there had never come to her a
single sorrow; and none ever knew her who did not love and
revere her for the bright, sunny temper and her saintly unselfishness.
Fair, pure, and joyous as a maiden; loving , tender, and happy.
As a young wife; when she had just become a mother, when her
life seemed to be just begun, and when the years seemed so bright
before her—then, by a strange and terrible fate, death came to
her. And when my heart’s dearest died, the light went from my
life forever.
Roosevelt’s future silence concerning Alice may be explained by a letter he wrote
Corrinne (his sister) regarding a friend whose life had taken a tragic turn:
“I hate to think of her suffering, but the only thing for her to do now is to treat the
past as the past; the event as finished and out of her life; to dwell on it, and above all to keep talking of it with anyone, would be both weak and morbid. She should try not to think of it…”
A letter to Alice while campaigning for the New York State Assembly:
“I so longed for you when I received your darling letter that I could hardly contain my desire to see you. Oh, my sweetest true-love, pray for nothing but that I may be worthy of you.”
On Valentine’s Day 1884 Alice Roosevelt died after giving birth. That same day, in the same house, Roosevelt’s mother died of typhiod fever. Shattered he moved to Dakota Territory ranch and never spoke of his first bride again, not even to their child, who was named after her.
I went to The Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone. Not impressive, but something I had to do…
posted by Daniel on 8-7-2007 at 11:15 am
In response to Learned Hand. The Armies of the world were in a transition at this point in time. It was almost expected that volunteers would organize themselves and volunteer as a unit to the Government. They usually had some level of autonomy, as they were expected to pay for thier own transport and supplies.
Many of the units that fought in the US Civil War were organized this way. And the practice continued until the First World War I believe.
posted by Chris Waldrip on 8-7-2007 at 11:51 am
I’m glad Ed Hands above made reference to the planned 3-part biography of TR by Edmund Morris. THE RISE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT (part 1) was excellent. I have yet to get to part 2, THEODORE REX. I hope the third book comes out soon. Recommend that you get them in paperback if anyone interested. They are good reading, but thick tomes.
posted by WizardBoy on 8-7-2007 at 12:07 pm
While he did pick up where the French left off in Panama, he only was able to do so through funding and encouraging civil war to erupt into full out revolution. So as to have an independent Panama to start a new deal with and save some money.
posted by howdy on 8-7-2007 at 12:36 pm
TR was a brown belt in judo and had a dojo in the whitehouse.
posted by Keith on 8-7-2007 at 12:41 pm
Why does the gentlemen over at Neatorama claim he wrote this article?
posted by Bob on 8-7-2007 at 2:15 pm
heh… because you’re reading a post from the same author, Bob! Miss C works for both mental_floss and the terrific, terrific site that’s neatorama.
posted by Mangesh on 8-7-2007 at 2:18 pm
The Sailors on the USS Roosevelt call her “The Stick”.
As fine tribute as I have ever seen.
posted by TechSupport on 8-7-2007 at 2:53 pm
TR has recently become one of my favorite presidents for most of the reasons here. It’s great to see his coolness discussed on this blog.
A friend and I recently went to the Museum of Natural History in New York City, and as we were waiting to buy our tickets in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda, we got to ponder some of his thoughts immortalized on the walls in gigantic letters. The problem with them is that there is no punctuation whatsoever. Surely the lack of punctuation is just some norm that exists for putting paragraphs in huge letters on walls, but the lack of punctuation seems to fit his character, don’t you think? Teddy Roosevelt doesn’t have time for commas!
posted by Cynthia on 8-7-2007 at 3:05 pm
I really do not appreciate phoney balogna’s comment above.
Derogatory homosexually epitaphs and vulgar language can be found on most comment boards.
Mental_Floss is different and I hope that there is no place for those things here.
posted by n2y2 on 8-7-2007 at 3:57 pm
Cynthia,
In the face of all TR’s successes, one thing in which he failed was a plan for “simplified” spelling — skipt for skipped, rime for rhyme, and so on. He ordered government departments to adopt the new system, but he was ridiculed for it.
I don’t know if the Museum of Natural History’s TR display used his simplified spellings, but your description made me think of his quixotic quest.
posted by Jeff on 8-7-2007 at 4:26 pm
Also, he had one of the coolest presidential kids ever – Alice Roosevelt, who was just as smart and strong-willed as her dad. She was known for her sharp temper and quick wit (i.e., “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone… sit right here by me.”) Once, when someone commented that Alice was running wild, TR exasperatedly said that he could run a country, or he could control his daughter, but he couldn’t do both.
posted by Amory on 8-7-2007 at 6:46 pm
He also sported those very cool glasses years before Morpheus.
posted by William on 8-7-2007 at 8:34 pm
He taught himself TAXIDERMY.
posted by Don Carl on 8-7-2007 at 8:49 pm
Something nobody’s mentioned so far is that TR was athsmatic as a child & teenager. He was so disgusted with his weakness that he developed a series of exercises to strengthen his body and respiratory system and constantly pushed himself to and beyond his limitations. He would be damned if he’d let it get him down…
posted by Doc on 8-8-2007 at 7:00 am
Because Teddy Roosevelt gave his name to the teddy bear, his birthday, October 27th, is celebrated as Good Bear Day in the USA, Canada, England, Holland, Japan and Australia by over 4,000 members of Good Bears of the World (GBW). GBW’s goal is to give teddy bears to children and lonely adults in trauma situations.
posted by Donna on 8-9-2007 at 9:54 am
He was also shot in the chest in 1912 and refused to move until his speech was over.
“I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”
posted by Clay on 8-9-2007 at 7:56 pm
Been a fan of the man since I was a toddler, because my grandfather was named after him. I thought that my Grandpa Teddy was the late president..and Grandpa looked just like Ike, who was in office at the time, so you can understand my confusion. Thanks for an informative post.
posted by threecollie on 8-11-2007 at 12:53 pm
A few days after McKinley was shot and seemed to be doing well, TR went hunting/camping. He went to a remote area in the NY state Adirondak Mountains (Tahawus). They had to hike in to find him and bring him out of the wilderness.
posted by Stew on 1-4-2008 at 8:50 am
Nobody mentioned TR’s exploits as an adventurer. He was on the first exploration of a tributary of the Amazon, nealry dying in the process. It’s the subject of a fascinating book called “The River of Doubt”. I recommend it to any fan of TR!
posted by Annette on 1-4-2008 at 9:28 am
Congress authorized Roosevelt to raise four DIVISIONS of volunteers to fight in WWI. He had already selected officers before President Wilson put the kibosh on it. Wikipedia has an article on it, but I can’t link to it, you’ll have to look it up.
posted by Jim on 1-4-2008 at 9:55 am
Don’t forget that he also created the “Great White Fleet”, which was the Navy’s way of going around the world to say we can come any where anytime. The Navy just celebrated the 100th anniversary of this event recently.
posted by Rob on 1-5-2008 at 9:47 am
He threatened to outlaw college football after 18 players died in 1905. Then in 1906 (along with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton) he helped create the IAAUS, the precursor to the NCAA, in order to make the sport safer.
posted by Brian on 1-7-2008 at 2:27 am
I teach public speaking at UNLV and every semester I read a passage from the book Departing Glory by Joseph Gardner. It recounts the assasination attempt on Bull Moose Pary candidate Teddy Roosevelt in Chicago before his campaign speech and the fact that he went on to deliver the speech with a bullet lodged in his chest. After that I expalin to the students that my hero Teddy Roosevelt sets the standard in my class for what constitutes an excused late speech.
posted by Dick Benoit on 1-17-2008 at 4:07 pm
TR did not let asthma or the silver spoon interfere with a newfound mental toughness as adolescent. While at Harvard, he boxed, led a nature club and wrote several historical books. While president, he cleaned up college athletics and helped form the NCAA. This man was as patriotic and energetic as any other American, ever, period.
posted by Patric Brechbill on 2-18-2008 at 3:26 pm
Excellent idea; T.R. as the coolest President. At age 55, he went to South America with his son Kermit to explore and chart a river. Both he and his son caught malaria, there was a murder and a drowning on the expedition. What an adventurer!
posted by Michael Angelo Caruso on 2-18-2008 at 7:56 pm
He participated in the largest big game safari ever organized. One of my favorite all time books is African Game Trails by T.R. He was a real American hero. What I wouldn’t give for a president like him again.
posted by Eric on 1-8-2009 at 7:55 pm
first president to ride in a submarine
posted by Brittany Symonette on 3-15-2009 at 6:54 pm
TR..won the congressional medal of honor for courage and the nobel peace prize for common sense! He brought dignity and honesty to the white house,which he named,He gave us safer foods and drugs..(now back again tho) he was faithful to his wife.(shocking)every position held he raised up in integrity..I am proud to have known Archie and Ethel..two of his children..
posted by Nino Baldino on 7-24-2009 at 9:26 am