The Life and Most Important Accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was an extraordinary man who accomplished many things during his lifetime. According to Anthony Brandt “You cannot sum Theodore Roosevelt up. He was too many men in one …” (Roosevelt pXIII) He was a naturalist, historian, hunter, explorer, writer, soldier, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, governor of New York, and the twenty-sixth president of the United States. He was also a loving husband and the father of six beautiful children.

Theodore Roosevelt had many trials during his childhood that contributed to the man he would ultimately become. Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27th, 1858 in New York City. He was born to Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha Bulloch. When Theodore was a young boy, he was given the nickname, Teddy. This little nickname would stay with him for the rest of his days. As a child, He had many health problems and was constantly sick and suffered from awful asthma. To help combat his weak physical body, Teddy went to a gym on a regular basis. Soon after, He was getting positive results from his exercising routine. At eleven years old, Roosevelt asked his father to build him a gym on the second floor of their residence. Another tribulation Theodore faced was that he was harassed by other children because he was low physical standards and wore thick glasses. Teddy was annoyed of getting bullied, so he worked harder at exercising and took up extracurricular activities such as boxing. Teddy competed in many boxing events and won several lightweight boxing championships.

As a child, Teddy was obsessively fascinated with all the nature around him. It was said that “Teddy’s interests could be summed up in two words, living things.” (Benge p30) This interest continued through college and his adult life. At a noticeably young age, Teddy started studying birds. However, it was not just birds that interested him, “The mere sight of a jackrabbit, flying squirrel, or box turtle caused Roosevelt to light up with glee.” (Brinkley p22) Teddy’s understanding of living things were above and beyond that of a normal adult. When Teddy was eight years old, he read the book Home without Hands by J.G Woods. This book was not considered a child’s book, it was the kind of comprehensive text used in university level biology and zoology courses. This was just the beginning of Teddy’s studies of living things. Theodore Roosevelt spent his college years attending Harvard University. When he was seventeen years old Theodore moved to Cambridge to attend the university. “Roosevelt entered Harvard with the avowed intention of devoting his life to natural history.” (Cutright p2) For the most part, he did very well in college except for Latin and Greek. While he was attending Harvard, his father died. Theodore made a trip back home for his father’s funeral, but quickly returned to Harvard to continue his studies. While in college, Theodore met his future wife Alice Hathaway Lee, on October18, 1878. He met her on one of his trips to visit his friend at the Chestnut Hill Mansion.2After meeting Alice, Theodore wrote, “As long as I live, I shall never forget how sweetly she looked, and how prettily she greeted me.” (Morris p104) Theodore graduated with abeam. from Harvard University on June 30, 1880. A few months after he had graduated, he married Alice. Their wedding took place on October 27, two years after he had met her, which was also his twenty-second birthday.

As he grew older, Roosevelt became quite the explorer and hunter. He made several. trips to Africa, Brazil, and the West. Roosevelt’s first trip to the West was taken in 1883. While there he stayed at a place on the Little Missouri River and fell in love with the area. Soon after, he bought land and built a ranch house which he stayed in on many occasions. On one of his trips to Africa, Theodore wrote about a lion hunt that he went on. This is what he wrote in his journal after missing a shot at his first lion, “This was a great disappointment, and as it was well on in the afternoon, and we had beaten the country most apt to harbor our game, it seemed unlikely that we would have another. chance.” (Roosevelt p174) However, before they day was over Theodore and his hunting party did indeed kill a lion. This was only one of many adventures that Theodore had in Africa. He also had many adventures in Brazil. On one occasion he sailed down the River of Doubt in a canoe. The river was filled with sunken logs and uprooted trees. After sailing the river Roosevelt wrote, “It was interesting work, for no civilized man, no white man, had ever gone down or up this river or seen the country through which we were passing.” (Roosevelt p200) These were just a few of the many daring adventures that Theodore Roosevelt experienced during his life. Along with Roosevelt’s many adventures, he was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and commander of a group of men known as the Rough Riders. When William McKinley was elected president, the position for Assistant Secretary of the Navy opened, and Roosevelt applied for the job. However, the president and his advisors felt that Roosevelt was too eager to prove that the navy could hold its own in battle. They thought that he would be likely to go into war just to prove how strong the navy was. Despite their concerns, Roosevelt was given the position. Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary during the time when America was in the process of helping Cuba gain its independence from Spain. Once the battle with Spain was planned out, Roosevelt decided that he wanted to be in the middle of the upcoming war. He resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and was put in second command of charge of the First Volunteer Calvary, who was under the leadership of Colonel Wood. These group of men were made up of cowboys, Indians, and university students and were accurately named the Rough Riders by a New York newspaper. When he was going into battle with the Rough Riders, Roosevelt wrote “On June 30th we received orders to hold ourselves in readiness to march against Santiago, and all the men were greatly overjoyed, for the inaction was trying.” (Roosevelt p117) In the march against Santiago, the Rough Riders were greatly defeated. Even though they were defeated in the first battle, they did play an important role in the war against Spain.

Theodore Roosevelt used his experiences in life to shape his views as the president of the United States. Governor of New York State was one of the many political positions that Roosevelt held. He was the vice president of the United States until September 14,1901, when President McKinley was murdered. This is the date that Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth president of the United States of America. According to Riis, “Lots of people were uneasy when he became President.” Even though the people were uneasy, Roosevelt was determined to do the job to the best of his ability. He believed in a government of men, instead of a government of laws. He thought that if men were good then they would make good laws and if men were bad no laws in the world could make them good. Roosevelt was a president who was for the people. Hesitated “I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power. In other words, I acted for the public welfare, I acted for the common well-being of all our people, whenever and in whatever manner was necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative prohibition.” Roosevelt was president for two terms and his last day in office was May 4, 1909.

Theodore Roosevelt was the man who was responsible for preserving and taking care of many of America’s national parks. “As a fervent enthusiast of national parks, Roosevelt hoped to establish a few new ones during his tenure as president. Only five national parks existed in the spring of 1902; Yellowstone, Sequoia, General Grant, Yosemite, and Mount Rainier; and he was eager to establish the sixth.” (Brinkley p450) The Grand Canyon was Roosevelt’s first choice for a new national park. However, he had a lot of opposition because the area around the Grand Canyon was used for mining. When Roosevelt discovered how hard it would be to turn the Grand Canyon into a national park, he decided to work on making Crater Lake into the next national park. Crater Lake did end up becoming Roosevelt’s first new national park. Along with Crater Lake, Roosevelt created Wind Cave National Park, Sully’s Hill, Platt National Park, and Mesa Verde National Park. He was also able to turn the Grand Canyon into a protected National Monument. Even though Roosevelt was a remarkably busy man who accomplished many things he still took the time for his wife and children. Roosevelt had six children; his oldest daughter Alice was the only child he had with his first wife before she died. His other five children were Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin. He had these children with his second wife, Edith whom he married after the death of his first wife. Roosevelt spent a lot of time teaching and playing with his children. Even when he was president, he would take the time to camp with his sons and teach them to hunt and fish. He also spent many hours playing games with his children on the White House lawn. His love for nature rubbed off on his children, they had many pets including ponies, raccoons, and skunks. The children were also quite adventurous. One night his youngest son Quentin brought a pony upstairs by using the White House elevator. The kids also slid down the White House staircase on large silver platters. Roosevelt loved his children and enjoyed spending time with them. Theodore spent the years after his presidency enjoying life with his family. A few days after his presidency ended, newspapers were trying to get interviews and pictures of him. He told them he would not have any more interviews or pictures. When they inquired if he meant never again, he said, “Not while I am a private citizen. Inquiring how long that might be they were told, ‘As long as I can make it’.” Once Roosevelt was out of office he wanted to be out of public view. Theodore and his family spent much of their time traveling the world. The first trip he took after he left the White House was to Africa with his son Kermit. It was not until June of 1918 that Theodore, and his wife Edith decided to settle down into a quiet peaceful life. He spent the next couple of years before he died with his children and grandchildren. He also spent a lot of his time writing articles for magazines. After a long struggle with a serious illness, Roosevelt died on January 6, 1920.

To sum up, Theodore Roosevelt accomplished many things during his lifetime. He is remembered as a great president, a great leader, and just a great man. His personality was "an unsurpassed combination of the unterrified fighter of what he believed to be the worst, and the tenderhearted love of what he believed to be the best in mankind.”