Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or T. R., was an American politician, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He was previously active in New York politics and served as the state's 33rd governor for two years. He was the vice president under President William McKinley for six months in 1901, assuming the presidency after McKinley's assassination. As president, Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies.
A sickly child with debilitating asthma, Roosevelt overcame health problems through a strenuous lifestyle. He integrated his exuberant personality and a range of interests and achievements into a "cowboy" persona defined by robust masculinity. He was home-schooled and began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College. His book The Naval War of 1812 established his reputation as a historian and popular writer. Roosevelt became the leader of the reform faction of Republicans in the New York State Legislature. His first wife and mother died on the same night, devastating him psychologically. He recuperated by buying and operating a cattle ranch in the Dakotas. Roosevelt served as assistant secretary of the Navy under McKinley, and in 1898 helped plan the successful naval war against Spain. He resigned to help form and lead the Rough Riders, a unit that fought the Spanish Army in Cuba to great publicity. Returning a war hero, Roosevelt was elected New York's governor in 1898. The New York state party leadership disliked his ambitious agenda and convinced McKinley to choose him as his running mate in the 1900 presidential election; the McKinley–Roosevelt ticket won a landslide victory based on a platform of victory, peace, and prosperity.
Roosevelt assumed the presidency aged 42, and is the youngest person to become US president. As a leader of the progressive movement, he championed his "Square Deal" domestic policies, which called for fairness for all citizens, breaking bad trusts, regulating railroads, and pure food and drugs. Roosevelt prioritized conservation and established national parks, forests, and monuments to preserve America's natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, beginning construction of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt expanded the Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project naval power. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, the first American to win a Nobel Prize. Roosevelt was elected to a full term in 1904 and promoted policies to the left, despite opposition from Republican leaders. He groomed his ally William Howard Taft to succeed him in 1908.
Early life
Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, at 28 East 20th Street in Manhattan, New York City.
He was the second of four children born to socialite Martha Stewart Bulloch and businessman and philanthropist Theodore Roosevelt Sr. He had an older sister (Anna), a younger brother (Elliott) and a younger sister (Corinne). Theodore Sr. was the fifth son of businessman Cornelius Van Schaack "C. V. S." Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill, and a brother of Robert Roosevelt and James A. Roosevelt. Martha was the younger daughter of Major James Stephens Bulloch and Martha P. "Patsy" Stewart.
Roosevelt's youth was largely shaped by his poor health and debilitating asthma. He repeatedly experienced sudden nighttime asthma attacks that caused the experience of being smothered to death, which terrified both Theodore and his parents. Doctors had no cure. Nevertheless, he was energetic and mischievously inquisitive. His lifelong interest in zoology began at age seven when he saw a dead seal at a local market; after obtaining the seal's head, Roosevelt and two cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". Having learned the rudiments of taxidermy, he filled his makeshift museum with animals that he killed or caught. At age nine, he recorded his observation of insects in a paper entitled "The Natural History of Insects".
First marriage and widowerhood
In 1880, Roosevelt married socialite Alice Hathaway Lee. Their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born on February 12, 1884. Two days later, the new mother died of undiagnosed kidney failure. In his diary, Roosevelt wrote a large "X" on the page and then, "The light has gone out of my life." His mother, Martha, had died of typhoid fever eleven hours earlier at 3:00 a.m., in the same house on 57th Street in Manhattan. Distraught, Roosevelt left baby Alice in the care of his sister Bamie while he grieved; he assumed custody of Alice when she was three.
After the deaths of his wife and mother, Roosevelt focused on his work, specifically by re-energizing a legislative investigation into corruption of the New York City government, which arose from a concurrent bill proposing that power be centralized in the mayor's office. For the rest of his life, he rarely spoke about his wife Alice and did not write about her in his autobiography.
Cattle rancher in Dakota
Roosevelt first visited the Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison. Exhilarated by the western lifestyle and with the cattle business booming in the territory, Roosevelt invested $14,000 ($457,800 in 2023) in hopes of becoming a prosperous cattle rancher. For the next several years, he shuttled between his home in New York and his ranch in Dakota.
Following the 1884 United States presidential election, Roosevelt built Elkhorn Ranch 35 miles north of the boomtown of Medora, North Dakota. Roosevelt learned to ride western style, rope, and hunt on the banks of the Little Missouri. Though he earned the respect of the authentic cowboys, they were not overly impressed. However, he identified with the herdsman of history. A cowboy, he said, possesses, "few of the emasculated, milk-and-water moralities admired by the pseudo-philanthropists; but he does possess, to a very high degree, the stern, manly qualities that are invaluable to a nation". He began writing about frontier life for national magazines; he also published three books: Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail, and The Wilderness Hunter.
Second marriage
On December 2, 1886, Roosevelt married his childhood friend, Edith Kermit Carow. Roosevelt felt deeply troubled that his second marriage was soon after the death of his first wife and he faced resistance from his sisters. The couple married nonetheless at St George's, Hanover Square, in London, England. The couple had five children: Theodore "Ted" III in 1887, Kermit in 1889, Ethel in 1891, Archibald in 1894, and Quentin in 1897. They also raised Roosevelt's daughter from his first marriage, Alice, who often clashed with her stepmother.
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- SERVES
- 6
- COOK TIME
- 25 Min
Take a day off from your ordinary dinner routine to make this extraordinary Layered Italian Crescent Ring. It's as easy as layering some of your favorite Italian sub ingredients and wrapping them up in a cozy crescent dough blanket. The whole family is going to love this one!
- 2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
- 1 cup sliced roasted red bell peppers, drained well
- 8 slices provolone cheese, cut in half
- 16 thin slices deli Genoa salami
- 10 thin slices deli ham
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup banana pepper rings, drained well
- 1/4 cup Italian dressing
- Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray.
- Unroll crescent rolls. Place wide end of triangles in middle of pan, forming a ring, overlapping dough as necessary.
- Place bell peppers on widest part of dough. Layer with half the cheese, salami, and ham. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and evenly place banana pepper rings. Drizzle half the Italian dressing over the banana peppers. Layer with remaining cheese, salami, and ham. Drizzle remaining dressing over meats. Bring narrow ends of triangles over meat, tucking ends under.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until dough is cooked and golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes, then slice and serve.
1927 – Janet Leigh, American actress (d. 2004)
1946 – Sylvester Stallone, American actor
