president theodore roosevelt 
twenty-sixed president of the united states
interesting facts
Theodore Roosevelt, nature lover and conservationist, let a strenuous life.
quotation
"No man has had a happier life than I have led; a happier life in every way."
biography
Roosevelt was born on Oct. 27, 1858, at 28 East 20th Street in New York City. It was a luxurious home in a fashionable part of the city, for the Roosevelts were wealthy and had a secure social position.
He had a sister, Anna, about four years older than he and a younger brother and sister, Elliott and Corinne. Teedie, as he was called in his childhood, Ellie, and Conie were the closest of friends. "We Three" are often mentioned in the diaries he kept as a child.
Along with his defective eyesight, Teedie suffered from asthma almost from birth. Many a night he sat propped up in bed, gasping for breath. Sometimes his father bundled him in blankets and took him for a ride in the carriage through the dark, silent streets, hoping that the gentle night breeze would give the child relief.
In his senior year in college Roosevelt fell in love with Alice Lee. They were married after his graduation and went to live in New York City. He attended Columbia Law School but spent most of the year writing a `Naval History of the War of 1812'.
In 1881, when he was only 23 years old, he was elected to the New York State legislature. In spite of his youth he made himself respected, and quickly became known for his opposition to corrupt, party-machine politics. He was easily the leader of the Republicans in the legislature. In 1884 he was chairman of the New York State delegation to the Republican National Convention.
In February 1884 his wife died, two days after the birth of their daughter, Alice. On the same night, in the same house, Roosevelt's mother died. He completed his term in the legislature and then went to his two ranches in the Bad Lands of North Dakota along the Little Missouri River. His sister Anna took care of the baby. For two years he threw himself into the rough life of the frontier, rounding up cattle, hunting, sometimes serving as deputy sheriff.
In December 1886 he married his childhood playmate, Edith Carow, in London and settled down to a new life at Sagamore Hill, in Oyster Bay. Their five young children were later called the "Roosevelt Gang" when they lived in the White House.
In 1895 he took the post of police commissioner in New York City. He tried to put an end to graft and corruption in the police force. He prowled the streets from midnight to dawn in a black cloak and a wide-brimmed hat pulled down over his face. Often his companion on these trips was Jacob Riis, social reformer and newspaper reporter, whose book `How the Other Half Lives' had awakened the public to the sufferings of the very poor. Roosevelt's efforts, however, were opposed by politicians and newspapers alike. He was vigorous and honest, but he did not always use good judgment or diplomacy.
After two years he resigned to accept President McKinley's offer of a post as assistant secretary of the Navy. McKinley sometimes thought his secretary was like a "bull in a china shop." He complained that "Roosevelt is always in such a state of mind."
As war with Spain neared, Roosevelt, on his own authority, quietly ordered preparations. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel, he raised the First United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, with his friend Col. Leonard Wood in command. Their men were called Rough Riders because many of them were cowboys. Roosevelt was acclaimed a hero when he led the daring charge on Kettle Hill (wrongly called the charge on San Juan Hill). When Wood was promoted, Roosevelt was made a colonel and given command of the regiment. He came home to be elected governor of New York in 1898.
His term provided little outstanding legislation. Those who were closest to him, however, notably Senator Thomas C. Platt, the Republican boss of New York, were disturbed by his gift for publicity and his startlingly unconventional approach to politics. Fearing him as a candidate for the presidency, they succeeded in putting him in the post with the most unpromising future--that of vice-president of the United States when William McKinley was reelected in 1900. He presided over the Senate for a week during a special session. But before the time for the regular session of the Senate, McKinley had been assassinated.
Roosevelt's entrance into the presidency, like everything he did, was dramatic. He hastened to Buffalo where McKinley had been shot by a crazed anarchist. Assured that the president was recovering and out of danger, he joined his family at a camp in the Adirondack Mountains. With a few companions he climbed up Mount Tahawus. He was overtaken by a guide with the news that the president was dying. It was a ten-mile hike to the nearest road. Then followed a wild ride by horse and buggy for 40 miles in the dead of night, over roads dangerously washed by heavy rains a few days earlier. They reached the railroad station at five-thirty in the morning, where a special train was waiting to rush him to Buffalo. McKinley had died, and Roosevelt took the oath of office in the home of a friend.
In 1904, with Charles W. Fairbanks as vice-president, he was elected president in his own right by a triumphant majority.
Industrial monopolies, popularly known as "trusts," were among the targets of the muckrakers and the cause of popular alarm. Roosevelt was not concerned with breaking up the monopolies so much as with correcting their evils.
To this end he asked Congress in 1903 to create a Department of Commerce and Labor and a Bureau of Corporations. They were authorized to investigate business combinations and to warn them against practices harmful to the public.
Railroad mergers had produced huge monopolies. About 1901 the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Burlington systems were brought together under the Northern Securities Company. In 1903, through Attorney General Philander C. Knox, Roosevelt brought suit under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 for the dissolution of the Northern Securities Company as a conspiracy in restraint of trade. The United States won the suit. Suits were also begun against the United States Steel Corporation, the Standard Oil Company, and other large combinations. In all, Roosevelt obtained 25 indictments during his two administrations, although some of the cases were not decided until he was out of office.
In addition to dissolving the Northern Securities Company, Roosevelt attacked railroad monopoly in two acts passed by Congress. The Elkins Act made illegal the granting or accepting of secret rebates; that is, repayments of shipping charges.
The Hepburn Act gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the right to fix rates. It extended the commission's jurisdiction to include pipelines, terminals, ferries, and express companies. It forbade railroads to grant free passes to anyone but employees, and it forbade the roads to carry commodities in the production of which they were interested.
The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty had cleared the way for an American canal across the Isthmus of Panama . It was followed in 1903 by a treaty with Colombia granting the right to build the canal. The Colombian Senate rejected the treaty. Especially alarmed by Colombia's action were members of the French Panama Canal Company who would lose 40 million dollars if they did not sell their rights to the United States before their franchise expired in 1904. Using a revolutionist, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, as their agent, they planned a rebellion to free the state of Panama from Colombia.
Roosevelt ordered American naval vessels to keep any hostile forces off the isthmus and to prevent the Colombian troops at Colon from proceeding to Panama City. The president's explanation was that he wanted to avoid bloodshed and that the United States was bound by treaty to keep the isthmian railroad open. Secretary of State John Hay formally recognized the Republic of Panama, and a few days later the new republic gave the United States control of a ten-mile-wide strip across the isthmus. Colombia charged that Roosevelt violated neutrality by aiding Panama's revolution. It requested, and in 1921 received, an indemnity from the United States.
In September 1905, Roosevelt brought about a peace conference between warring Russia and Japan. The conference was held in Portsmouth, N.H. (See Russo-Japanese War). For this service he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize.
In 1906, when France and Germany were ready to fight over their interests in Morocco, Roosevelt took the lead in arranging a conference of the powers in Algeciras, Spain. This meeting temporarily settled the differences.
Roosevelt was active in planning the Second Hague Peace Conference, where representatives from 44 countries adopted rules governing arbitration. One dispute settled by the Permanent Court of Arbitration concerned the rights of American fishermen in Canadian waters (1910). It was settled in America's favor.
When Secretary of State John Hay died in 1905 he was succeeded by Elihu Root, who had been the secretary of war. Root in 1908 negotiated the Root-Takahira agreement, in which the United States and Japan agreed to respect each other's territorial possessions in the Pacific and to support Chinese independence and the "open-door policy."
American prestige was further helped by strengthening the Army and Navy. Roosevelt pushed Congress hard to get an appropriation for two new battleships a year, and he kept the fleet highly efficient. This was shown by the cruise around the world of 16 battleships, all built since the Spanish-American War. President Roosevelt decided on this cruise in 1907 at a moment when relations between Japan and the United States were strained because of anti-Japanese agitation in California and in Congress. He always regarded it as one of his most important contributions to world peace.
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EVENTS DURING THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S ADMINISTRATIONS 1901-09
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CABINET AND SUPREME COURT OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
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