Teddy Roosevelt was born in the State of New York.
The youngest man to become president. He was 42.
He and John Quincy Adams were the two presidents who didn't lay their hand on the Bible to take the oath of office.
Theodore Roosevelt didn't have a Vice President from (1901-1905). During his second term Charles Fairbanks (1905-1909) was Vice President.
President Roosevelt was the first president to refer to his residence as the "White House." Prior to his term it was known as the Executive Mansion or just the President's House.
When the Great White Fleet, which TR sent around the world in 1907, returned to America in 1909, it was immediately painted gray.
Theodore Roosevelt served in the Spanish-American War
Theodore Roosevelt: third cousin twice removed of Martin Van Buren
Booker T. Washington was the first black man invited to dine at the White House, a guest of TR.
His sons, Archie and Quentin, sometimes lined up for morning roll-call with the White House police.
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) founded the Progressive or Bull Moose Party.
He was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize (1906).
He set aside vast wilderness lands for conservation. These later became part of the country's national parks and nature reserves.
Roosevelt tried to have "In God We Trust" removed from coins. He thought it sacrilegious and unconstitutional.
Teddy was the first president to ride in an automobile--it was a purple-lined Columbia Electric Victoria. He rode through Hartford, Connecticut on August 22, 1902. 20 carriages followed the president's car. He was also the first president to own a car.
President Roosevelt was also the first president to submerge in a submarine.
He had a guinea pig named Father O'Grady and a snake named Emily Spinach. He also had a Bull Dog named Pete and a Cheapeake Retriever named Sailor Boy.
TR was the first president to ride in an airplane, a Wright biplane October 11, 1910 in St. Louis, Missouri. (He rode in the plane after his term of office.)
The teddy bear was named after President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1902, while hunting in Mississippi, Teddy's dogs cornered a small bear cub. Roosevelt refused to shoot it. This act of mercy was published in the newspaper in cartoon form. Morris Michtom and his partner ask Theodore Roosevelt to use his name for a toy bear. Teddy agreed to let his name be used. Now the soft cuddly bears are known as Teddy Bears. (Morris Michtom went on to found the Ideal Toy Company.)
President Roosevelt's daughter, Alice, had a pet garter snake named Emily Spinach. The family had numerous pets while they lived in the White House.
Theodore Roosevelt died on January 6, 1919, in Oyster Bay, New York. He was 60 years and 71 days old.
Quotes from Theodore Roosevelt:
Get action. Do things; be sane, don't fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.
1900 Many-Sided Roosevelt, p. 83
The only safe rule is to promise little, and faithfully to keep every promise; to "speak softly and carry a big stick." -1913 Autobiography p. 537
Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.
Kansas City Star, Nov. 1, 1917
Sources:
The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/>
Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004
James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002
Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.
