The Most Influential Accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt – The 26th President of The Us

Theodore Roosevelt held position as the president of the United States of America from 1901-1909. Roosevelt was born into a wealthy family on October 27, 1858, in Manhattan, New York City, NY and was a very sickly child. He passed away on January 6, 1919, and is buried in Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, Cove Neck, NY. It is thought that Roosevelt’s illness as a child was the reason that he became a risk-taker and adventurer in his adult years.

Roosevelt ran for governor of New York in 1898 and won partially due to his successful exploits as leader of the “Rough Riders”. In 1899, Roosevelt was nominated by William McKinley to be vice president and was confirmed by majority votes in both the House and the Senate (elected November 6th, 1900; served as Vice President from March to September of 1901) (insert citation – mom 2), when the vice president, Garret Hobart, died while in office. Roosevelt then became president after the assassination of President William McKinley and became the youngest U.S. president at the age of forty-two (1901 to 1909). His background prior to taking public office included: graduating from Harvard, magna cum laude in 1880 and getting married; attending Columbia Law School, but changed to a political career in 1882 by joining the Republican party. He was also a prolific writer (articles, speeches and books (over 40 of them from 1882 to 1919).

Of the many great things that our 26th president accomplished, most notable are:

• Lieutenant-Colonel of the Rough Riders (July 1, 1898)
• Progression of national monuments and parks (1901 – 1909)
• The Square Deal slogan for his 1906 presidential campaign
• Winning the Nobel Peace Prize (1906).
• Creating the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party – 1912)
• Building the Panama Canal (1903-1914).

Prior to Roosevelt’s presidency he served in the Navy and worked his way up to Assistant Secretary. When the Spanish war began many urged Roosevelt to hold his position as Assistant secretary in the Navy. Roosevelt ignored the request of his family and peers and stated “…I have always said if my country ever engaged in war, I should take part, so I am going off tomorrow…” Roosevelt was colonel of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry in 1898 in the Spanish–American War. It was nicknamed the Rough Riders. The Rough riders received requests to join from all over the country from men who looked up to Roosevelt and wanted to serve under him. The Rough Riders was made up of a very diverse group that included college graduates, cowboys, miners, law enforcement, Jewish Americans, and Native Americans. The Rough Riders most substantial victory was the conquering on San Juan Hill. The Rough riders joined with the black soldiers and stormed the hill. The U.S. lost roughly eighty-nine soldiers due to injury and death. The gruesome seize of San Juan caused the Spanish to retreat and the U.S. was declared victorious shortly after.

Roosevelt’s presidency is immortalized on Mount Rushmore as a spectacular reminder of the accomplishments he achieved throughout his time in office for all who visit the national monument in Keystone, South Dakota (the sculptor was Gutzon Borglum). The monument is wonderfully appropriate because Roosevelt spearheaded the establishment of many National Parks and Monuments while he was in office. Although Ulysses S. Grant was the very first president to establish a national park in 1872 (Yellowstone National Park), Theodore Roosevelt’s advocacy for nature conservation is one of the most admired. Roosevelt enjoyed the outdoors and spent a lot of time hunting. During his hunting expeditions he often kept notes of the animals he hunted, and the surrounding habitat. Roosevelt observed that the resources around him were being depleted and concluded that humans were the cause. During his presidency, the Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities was established in 1906. It stated, “…declare by proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic and scientific interest…to be National Monuments”. To help retain the natural habitats and resources, Roosevelt used this act to create five national parks, eighteen national monuments, four national game refuges, 51 bird sanctuaries, and 100 million acres of national forest (National Geographic). Although Roosevelt’s obvious passion was the outdoors, he was able to establish more monuments than parks because monuments did not require congressional approval.

Roosevelt’s fascination with the outdoors included animals, and began when he was very young. Roosevelt learned taxidermy and, by the age of twelve, he began donating some of his animals to the American Natural History Museum. Eventually Roosevelt donated a total of 622 birds to the Smithsonian during his life. Roosevelt was also called a “trust buster;” a phrase that came about due to Roosevelt’s negative feeling toward the wealthy trust titans (wall street financiers) of industry. It was his belief that too many wealthy citizens felt they were more important than their elected officials and that the public would start a violent uprising if nothing changed. He also wanted to end the monopoly on the great railroad, and later when the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was enacted, more restraints to big business occurred. The Square Deal was essentially an oath from President Roosevelt to the American people that promised he would favor no group of Americans. “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled, and less than that no man shall have.” – Theodore Roosevelt

This was the primary motivator for Roosevelt's Square Deal Policy which was also the slogan of his successful 1906 presidential campaign. Roosevelt's Square Deal Policy is easily remembered by summarizing it with the three C’s:

• Square Deal: Control of the corporations
• Square Deal: Consumer protection
• Square Deal: Conservation of natural resources.

The control of corporations came about due to the “Laissez-Faire” economic system. The system in place had no regulations on corporations big or small. Laissez-Faire deterred the government from interfering with businesses and prohibited an equal distribution in wealth. Roosevelt had no legal authority over the Big Businesses but threatened businesses that were treating their employees unfairly. In 1903, after a coal strike, Roosevelt created the Department of Commerce and Labor which regulated healthy and safe working conditions for all Americans.

Another portion of the Square Deal included consumer protection which was enacted after Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle”. Roosevelt signed the Meat Inspection Act which enforced federal inspection of the meat packing industry. The Meat Inspection Act was then followed up by the Pure Food and Drug Act which included: “sanitary standards for slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct the ongoing monitoring and inspection of slaughter and processing operations, the mandatory inspection of livestock before slaughter, and the mandatory inspection postmortem inspection of every carcass after slaughter”. The last segment of the Square Deal was the conservation of natural resources. As previously touched on, the conservation of natural resources began with the National Forest Services, establishment of new national parks and monuments, and bird sanctuaries. Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. Roosevelt’s win was met with much controversy since it was awarded due the Treaty of Portsmouth. The Treaty of Portsmouth ended the Japanese and Russian war, yet Roosevelt was often criticized for being war hungry and for conquering the Philippines.

Roosevelt also wanted America to move forward and progress as a strong nation. He was considered the leader of the progressive movement. Progressivism is often associated with science, engineering, technology, and social science. The progressive movement was focused on the modernization of America which included stopping corruption, and the removal of ineffective branches of government. The Bull Moose Party was an alternate name for the progressive movement and came into being because there was an attempt made on his life during Roosevelt’s campaigning for president in Milwaukee. After the failed assassination, Roosevelt announced that “…it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose…,” giving the Progressive Party an additional name to be known by, the “Bull Moose” Party. The Progressive Party was created to reform the Republican Party in opposition to William Howard Taft’s conservative ideals for republicans. The Progressive Party Platform of 1912 gave a detailed description of a complete overhaul of the Republican Party; they stated that their top priority was justice. The following partial list of discussion items for the party platform gives a good idea of the direction the party was going: “…the old parties, a covenant with the people, the rule of the people, amendment of constitution, nation and state, equal suffrage, corrupt practices, publicity and public service, the courts. In addition the platform also discussed the administration of justice, social and industrial justice, department of labor, country life, high cost of living, health, business, patents…” The Republican Party became split between Progressives and the Conservatives. When Roosevelt first came into office he believed that he needed to uphold McKinley’s policies and refused to change anyone’s position in the cabinet. Roosevelt also expanded the power for future President’s in a lawful manor and encouraged foreign policy. The Panama Canal had been an idea set in motion for centuries. Ulysses S. Grant planned expeditions of the land to see if building a canal was a good investment for Americans. The French began digging the canal in 1881. The French soon realize that the risk of disease and death was rampant. Thousands were dying from disease carrying mosquitos. In addition to the death and improper hospitalization of the sick the canal was rumored to be dealing with fraud. French investors lost roughly $287 million dollars. When Theodore Roosevelt took office he also wanted to take over the massive canal project. Roosevelt believed that he could be the one to complete the canal which would be an advantage to U.S. for trading and for the military. When Americans began to manage the work on the canal they quickly ran into the same issues the French did. The canal project then hired John Stevens who had overseen the Great Northern Railroad. Stevens saw the working conditions and told them to stop digging/building and start cleaning. Roosevelt pushed for a new engineering plan for the canal and finally in 1914 the Panama Canal was completed.

“Speak softly, carry a big stick, and you will go far”. – Theodore Roosevelt. Often related to the Panama Canal is the Monroe Doctrine and Big Stick. The Big Stick proverb was used during conflict with South America. After Roosevelt’s victory with the rough riders he believed that the fear of losing would stop any other country from trying to start a war with the U.S. The Big Stick foreign policy came into play after the U.S. had taken over the canal project. The Columbian government was extremely upset when they realized how much land was being taken from them. The Columbian government decided that they would end the Panama Canal and rejected the treaty between Columbia and American. Roosevelt told the media that if the native people of panama wanted to revolt against Columbia that the U.S. military would support them. The revolt of the people of Panama only lasted a week. Roosevelt sent over military battle ships and blocked the Columbian soldiers from entering. Once the revolution ended Panama was officially declared its own country. Panama has had promised protection from the U.S. military ever since. While the Panama Canal was being built Roosevelt made it very clear to Europe and South America that they were no longer allowed to colonize the western civilization. In order to get his message across, Roosevelt essentially threatened the entire world. Roosevelt told other nations that if they began colonizing he would send the American military to intervene in order to maintain peace. Thus, was created the Roosevelt Corollary. The Roosevelt Corollary was based on the Monroe doctrine. The major difference between the two was the U.S. being able to interfere in colonization of other countries. The Roosevelt Corollary stated that the U.S. will use military force if necessary to keep the peace between countries and prevent colonies. The Monroe Doctrine, however, stated that there would be no interference.

In my opinion, our 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, was an incredible man who positively influenced America and the world with his leadership, devotion to his country and literary works. Highlighting his accomplishments across Rough Riders, national parks and monuments, the Square Deal, Nobel Peace prize, Bull Moose Party and the Panama Canal, is just a scratch on the surface of an incredibly talented, complex and great man. Hopefully, future Americans will cultivate many more great leaders of Roosevelt’s capacity who can match and surpass the contributions he made throughout his life.