We started talking about Theodore Roosevelt in class today, so I thought I'd share a little biography on him to prep us for the rest of the video on him tomorrow.
Theodore Roosevelt is not your average man, or even your average president. Born in 1858 in New York, Roosevelt grew up in a wealthy family, however, as a child Roosevelt was very sick. Teddy suffered from asthma, and because of this spent much of his time indoors studying, and was even home schooled. This childhood of intense studying showed Roosevelt the path to Harvard University. Graduating in 1880, he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1881 one year after graduating and all was going well for young Theodore. In 1884, his life took a drastic turn.
Roosevelt's mother, Martha, and wife, Alice, both died on the same day. Theodore was affected deeply, and spent too years dealing with the hardship living on his ranch in the Dakota territory. Roosevelt finally got over his sorrow in 1898 when he ran for mayor of New York City (he finished third), and later ran the department of the navy. However, later that year when the Spanish-American war broke out, Roosevelt ran from politics again and joined the army. He took command of the Rough Rider Regiment, and by the time the war was over, he had become a hero. After the war, Roosevelt was elected governor, and later became the vice president during President Mckinley's presidency. It was when Theodore was vice president that Mckinley was assassinated, and suddenly, Theodore Roosevelt had become the most important man in America.
When Mckinley was assassinated, Roosevelt was just 43 years old, and the youngest president to ever take office. This, however, did not stop Theodore Roosevelt from making big changes while he was president of the country. One of Roosevelt's first bold moves was challenging J.P. Morgan, who at the time was possibly the most influential man in America. Theodore broke up Morgan's railroad in the Northwest due to the fact that he thought this trust was illegal. It was unheard of at the time to challenge Morgan, and his move stunned everyone, including Morgan. This move was just one of the important maneuvers that Roosevelt completed during his presidency. Theodore Roosevelt also created the Panama Canal to aid transportation, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in bringing the Russo-Japanese war to an end (he was one of three presidents to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize during his presidency). During his presidency, Roosevelt became famous for his efforts to limit the power of large corporations and monopolies, and was a progressive thinker. Theodore Roosevelt will forever be remebered for his unmistakable phyiscal features, and more importantly for the feats that he performed while leading our nation as the president of the United States of America.
sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/theodoreroosevelt
I find it very interesting that Roosevelt was the youngest president though he was 43 years old, which few would consider young. Why is it that it appears like the American people want a slightly older person to be the president?
ReplyDeleteRoosevelt's personality is also intriguing. Mr. Steward made a comment about how do his health problems as a child may have been his motivation for his seeming incredible endurance and energy during his presidency. He also lost many close relatives, including his first wife, which could indicate that the macho-man persona was just a front to disguise his true feelings.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that I find most fascinating about Roosevelt is that he was born in New York a state that is always considered part of the eastern United States. Yet his image in American culture has become one of a Westerner. He is always portrayed riding horses with shotgun in hand. It is interesting to see that he took this image of a western frontiersman and used it to his advantage. I feel like this image would not directly appeal to the northerns but it did well with Westerns. Henceforth I feel this image he created was specifically done to rally support from those in the west and therefore have control of north and west which gave him great amount of support. Throughout the nation.
ReplyDeleteA point I find very interesting is that despite growing up in urban New York City as a very sick child and having to spend many years of his life indoors, Roosevelt found great solace in the outdoors as an adult. Usually people are attracted to the same climate in which they grow up. This idea sort of combines Nick's and Ryan's ideas. Not only did Roosevelt take on the image of an outdoorsman, he went to great lengths to protect vast amounts of land. According to the National Parks Service, "Theodore Roosevelt protected approximately 230,000,000 acres of public land." We are all so indebted to this man.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-and-conservation.htm
Great post, Patrick! One of the interesting things about Roosevelt is his spirit; he didn't care who he was fighting with during the Spanish-American war as the regiment consisted of laborers, African-Americans, and even Native Americans. Another thing to point out is that Mark Hanna declared that there would only be one heartbeat between Roosevelt and the presidency implying that many republicans did not seem to accept Roosevelt as a proper Vice President despite his unanimous win as Senator of New York. I think Nick's point about Roosevelt going to the extremes is completely valid as his "macho" patriotic spirit is definitely compensating for something or perhaps due to the boom of sensationalism and "yellow" media.
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