Theodore Roosevelt was a man on a mission. Maybe he didnt know it, but he was. He affected millions of people throughout his life in many different ways. He was the leader of a famous military group, he was an author, a lawyer, and he was also the 26th president of the united states, all of these things ended up bringing him fame. He was born in new York city on October 27 1858 into a rich Dutch family. He was always a cowboy at heart. Even though he was born in a big city his cowboy side and his passion for adventure would come up later in his life.
His father taught him to go for his goals, to follow a strict Christian moral code, and to enjoy the life of the mind. His father taught him that the mind was the strongest tool he had. He probably preached this because his son had serious asthma, and a grail un- athletic body. Ted listened to his father and that led to many accomplishments in his life. He did all the normal things that a young man from a wealthy family was supposed to do. He worked hard on his academics, he got good grades, went to Harvard, and graduated with a great education in 1880.
In that same year he married Alice h lee, a girl he met at Harvard. He still wasnt sure of what career he wanted. He ended up serving three one year terms in the new York assembly from 1882-1884. While serving there he became known as an independent republican. Then, in 1884 his mother and his wife died on the same day. He was completely broken-hearted, and he had no idea where he wanted to go from there. after a couple of months of mourning, he decided that he would head west, and he would finally fulfill his childhood dream of being a cowboy.
He decided that he would move to the Dakotas where he became a rancher with all of the rough experienced cowboys of the west. Even though he was this scrawny awkward outcast that wore glasses; something most of the people in the Dakotas never even saw; he was still able to get the respect of the rough and tough cowboys. He did it by tracking three rustlers, and bringing them back for a trial by himself. Even though he loved being a wild cowboy out on a ranch he realized he had a real life back in New York.
He would have loved to live in the west for the rest of his life , but after only two years in the Dakotas he went back to New York. A couple of months after he returned to New York where he met Edith Kermit Carow and married her shortly after. After that he returned to writing books, something he started earlier in the 1880s. Two of the books were biographies, one on Thomas Hart Barton in 1886, and then another one on gouverneur Morris two years later in 1888. He also wrote the first two volumes of a four volume book called the winning of the west, in 1889.
He finished the other two volumes in 1896. He received little fame, and a lot of recognition from these three books. In the next ten years of his life he made a lot of progress in his political career. In 1889 president Benjamin Harrison gave him the title of Civil Service Commissioner. In 1895 he resigned that job. He then became the president of new York Citys Board of Police Commissioners. After two years of that he went back to Washington, this time as an assistant secretary of the navy. This political experience would help him later in life.
While all of these political jobs were going on for Theodore Roosevelt there were some serious problems going on down in Cuba. At that time Cuba was owned by Spain, and at the end of the 1890s people in the united states started reading horrible stories in the newspapers about how the Spaniards were treating the people down in Cuba. The united states decided to stay neutral until February 15, 1898 when the USS Maine, a battleship that was docked in Havana exploded, killing over 250 soldiers and marines. about two months later the united states declared war on Spain, starting the Spanish-american .
After the war started Theodore Roosevelt was chosen to lead a volunteer cavalry group called The Rough Riders, and he was happy to do it for a couple of reasons. First, he was getting a chance to represent and fight for his country in war. Another reason was that he got to be a cowboy again. The men that he was leading werent all a bunch of city boys forced to go to war, they were ruthless cowboys and farmers from the west, and some rich college boys from the east who were willing to do whatever it took to win.
The cavalry was made up of some rich college boys but for the most part it was made up of rough cowboys from the west, native Americans from Oklahoma and other southwestern states, and Mexican Americans from new Mexico. These men were the perfect match for Theodore Roosevelt, because these were the people he envied, they lived the lives he would have like to live. When the rough riders went to Cuba to fight they left their horses back in Florida. when they got to Cuba they fought the battle of San Juan hill. It was a big battle in the war, the rough riders fought ruthlessly and trampled the Spaniards very quickly.
This was the battle that made the rough riders famous. When Theodore Roosevelt returned to the united states in July of the same year he left, he was recognized as a national hero. When he returned to New York , with his fame and recognition from the war he was immediately elected Republican governor of New York. He was in-between subservience to the political machine, and independent reformism. He liked the concept of active state government. Teds bosss were angered because of his reformist beliefs , and his other political beliefs. They couldn’t just give him the boot because of his popularity.
So they did the next closest thing, they nominated him as vice-president of the United States to get rid of him. In 1901 president William McKinley was assassinated, and Ted Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United states. He was also the youngest United states president in history. Most of the republican conservatives were not very happy about Roosevelt being the new president of the United States. In response to this, Roosevelt made a promise to the Republicans that he would continue using William McKinleys policies. Until 1904 he worked continuously to get control of the Republicans.
In these couple of years Washington was starting to move in a different direction. As you might remember, Theodore Roosevelt was a reformist, that is the reason he ever got a chance to be president. If it werent for him being a reformer he would have never been booted from a governor to the vice-president. His boss didnt like his reformist ways so they made him vice-president. Well, his reformist side was showing again, only this time he was the president of the United States not a governor of New York. The first thing he did as a reformer was he accommodated the developing reform movement.
He was also disturbed by the growing power of large corporations, so in 1902 he ordered the Justice Department to use the Sherman Anti-Trust Act against the Northern Securities Company, a railroad monopoly in the Northwest. In 1903 he got congress to establish the Bureau of Corporations, they were an investigative agency of interstate corporations, put in the Newly created department of Commerce and Labor. In 1902, when anthracite coal miners struck, Theodore Roosevelt became the first president to get in on labor management fights, threatening to seize the mines from the owners until they accepted mediation.
Theodore Roosevelt was also a conservationist. He was a great supporter of the New lands Bill made in 1902 that dialed with reclamation and irrigation. Also as a conservationist, he backed Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot in expanding the nations forest reserve. Because of his record and fame for being a military leader, and a well known author, also because of his firm control of the Republican Party he got the presidential nomination, then he won the election in 1904 against Democrat Alton B. Barker. During his second term as the United States president he accomplished many great things.
One was ending the war between Russia and Japan and winning the Nobel Piece Prize for it. He also read a different book everyday. In his second term as president he assumed a completely radical posture. In 1906, Congress enacted moderate reformist legislation: The Hepburn Act, which strengthened the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission over railroads. Also enacted by congress were the Meat Inspection and the Pure Food and Drug bills, which , respectively, provided for federal inspection of packing plants and prohibited the interstate of adulterated, or mislabeled foods.
During the rest of his time in office, Theodore Roosevelt took many more bills to Congress and a lot of them were passed. He also did a lot of other things too, like supervising the construction of the Panama canal. He stepped down from the presidency in 1909. He chose William Taft to be the next president. During the next three years he would bounce in and out of politics. In 1916 he actually tried to get the Republican presidential nomination but he didnt. Three years later on January 6, 1919 he died from an illness at his oyster bay home in Sagamore hill.
Theodore Roosevelt did everything that he wanted to do in life. He was one of the major influences in U. S. Society. He was an author, a cowboy, a very well respected military leader, and he was the president of the United States. He knew how to lead and gain the respect of people. Whether it be by capturing rustlers singlehandedly, or by making a promise to his political party to stick to the old ways. , he could always get the respect of the people he wanted to get respect from.
