The Strenuous Life

THE EARLY YEARS

1858-83

Born in New York City on Oct. 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt is the second of four children of Theodore and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. At age 6, T.R., his brother Elliott and friend Edith Carow (who would one day be his second wife) watch Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession from the home of T.R.’s grandfather on Manhattan’s Union Square. He graduates magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1880 and marries Alice Lee a few months later, on his 22nd birthday. The next year, he becomes the youngest man ever elected to the New York state assembly. A Republican, Roosevelt serves three one-year terms, one as minority leader. During that time, he publishes his first book, on the War of 1812, which becomes required reading at the U.S. Naval Academy. He also buys a stake in the Maltese Cross, a cattle ranch near what is now Medora, N.D.

TRAGEDY

1884-85

On Valentine’s Day 1884, less than four years after Roosevelt’s wedding, his mother and wife die within hours of each other, in the same house. His first child, Alice, is just two days old. That summer he flees to Dakota to mourn, staying for two years (and acquiring a second ranch, Elkhorn), while his sister Bamie rears Alice. During this time, work is completed on Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s spacious home in Oyster Bay, N.Y., which will serve as the summer White House from 1902 to 1908.

A NEW BEGINNING

1886-97

In November 1886, Roosevelt, just 28, loses the race for mayor of New York City. A month later, he marries his childhood friend Edith Carow. They will have five children: Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archie and Quentin. Once settled, he becomes increasingly involved in national politics, serving as a U.S. Civil Service commissioner in Washington and president of New York City’s board of police commissioners before President William McKinley appoints him Assistant Secretary of the Navy on April 6, 1897.

THE ROUGH RIDER

1898

In May 1898, less than a month after the start of the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt resigns from the Navy Department to become lieutenant colonel of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment–the “Rough Riders”–and fight in Cuba. Soon promoted to colonel, he leads two charges in the Battle of San Juan Heights, which he calls his “crowded hour.” Roosevelt is later nominated for, but denied, the Congressional Medal of Honor. He finally receives it in 2001.

RISE TO POWER

1898-1901

Not long after being discharged from the Rough Riders, Roosevelt is elected Governor of New York. During his two years in office, he signs nearly 1,000 bills into law, including one desegregating state schools. After being nominated as McKinley’s vice-presidential running mate in 1900, he and McKinley defeat William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson by fewer than 900,000 votes. On Sept. 6, 1901, six months after taking office, President McKinley is shot while touring the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. McKinley dies eight days later, and Roosevelt is sworn in as the 26th President. Just 42, he is the youngest man ever to hold the office.

THE PRESIDENCY BEGINS

1901-04

Five months into his first term, T.R. launches his trust-busting campaign by suing the Northern Securities Co. He also establishes himself as a conservationist, creating Crater Lake National Park in Oregon (the first of five such parks he designates) and proclaiming Pelican Island, Fla., the first federal bird reservation. (He will set up 50 more.) Other highlights include his July 4, 1903, “Square Deal” speech in Springfield, Ill., and the treaty with Panama to build the Panama Canal.

SECOND TERM

1904-09

On Nov. 8, 1904, Roosevelt wins the election, saying, “I am glad to be elected President in my own right.” His Dec. 6 message to Congress includes the so-called Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which justifies U.S. intervention in Latin America. In 1905 he establishes the Forest Service; gives away his niece Eleanor Roosevelt at her March 17 wedding to distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt; brokers the Treaty of Portsmouth–signed on Sept. 5 in New Hampshire–ending the Russo-Japanese War; and persuades colleges to make football games less dangerous. The next year, T.R. mediates a dispute between France and Germany over Morocco and signs the Antiquities or National Monuments Act–which enables the President to protect sites like California’s Muir Woods, New Mexico’s Gila cliff dwellings and the Grand Canyon–as well as the Pure Food and Drug Act and a meat-inspection law. On Feb. 17, T.R.’s daughter Alice marries Ohio

Congressman Nicholas Longworth, and in November he and

Edith inspect the partly built Panama Canal–the first time a President has left the U.S. while in office. On Dec. 10, T.R. wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese War; he is the first American Nobel laureate. Finally, on Dec. 16, 1907, T.R. dispatches the “Great White Fleet” on a round-the-world voyage that he believes is “the most important service that I rendered to peace.”

T.R.’S LEGACY

1909-19

Soon after the Inauguration of his successor, William Howard Taft, on March 4, 1909, Roosevelt and his son Kermit sail to Africa, where they spend nearly a year shooting animals for the Smithsonian. In early 1912, T.R. announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, but the party renominates Taft–even though Roosevelt won all but one primary and caucus. The new Progressive (Bull Moose) Party promptly adopts T.R. as its candidate. That October he is shot while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wis., but gives a 90-min. speech before seeing a doctor. Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected on Nov. 5, 1912; T.R., the runner-up, garners the largest percentage of votes ever by a third-party candidate. In the fall of 1913, T.R. travels to South America, where he gives lectures and explores Brazil’s “River of Doubt.” He nearly dies, but later says, “I had to go. It was my last chance to be a boy.” After he returns to the U.S., war breaks out in Europe, and the Panama Canal opens to traffic. The U.S. enters World War I in April 1917; 15 months later, T.R.’s son Quentin, 20, is killed in France. Devastated, Roosevelt declines to run (again) for Governor of New York. On Jan. 6, 1919, T.R. dies in his sleep at Sagamore Hill of a coronary embolism. He is only 60.