President Theodore Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt was born on October 17, 1858 in New York, New York.

He was a sickly child.

The youngest man to become president. He was 42. He was 5' 8" tall.

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. ( Lincoln had invited African-Americans to the White House but not to dine.)

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 own 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.

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.)

In 1912, John Schrank attemted to assassinate President Roosevel while he was cmpaigning for the presidency. The bullet passed through the folded paper copy of the speech he was going to give that day. It also went through his iron eye glass case. The bullet did enter his chest and went in three inches. It lodged in his chest cage. Schrank was committed to a state hospital and stayed there until he died in 1943.

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.

He was the first American and first president to win a Nobel Peace Prize. He won the award for his efforts in ending the Russo-Japanese War.

Theodore Roosevelt died on January 6, 1919, in Oyster Bay, New York. He was 60 years and 71 days old.

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

"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy."

"A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad."

Theodore Roosevelt 1901 - 1909

Theodore Roosevelt
1901 - 1909