Teddy Roosevelt

Over the past 200 years, the United States of America has experienced many different types of presidents. Some were great presidents, and others were not so great. It is difficult to take on the role of presidency, since you have an entire country depending on you even when you sleep. Teddy Roosevelt took on this role as presidency in an extraordinary fashion. He was certainly one of the utmost presidents of the early 20th century, and is often thought to be one of the greatest presidents in United States history. Through Roosevelt’s amazingly energetic personality and astonishing courage pushed America through the early 20th century, as well as created many much-needed reforms.

Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 27, 1858, as the second of four children of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. His father was a New York City philanthropist, merchant, and partner in the glass-importing firm. His uncle was a leading Confederate admiral in the Civil War. Roosevelt suffered from many illnesses, which required him to sit up or slouch over in a chair to fall asleep. He became very interested in animals at a young age, and he actually wanted to pursue zoology as a career. He put together an animal museum, which sheltered various types of animals he had caught. He traveled to many different places across the world, including Egypt, the Holy Land, and Germany.

In 1876 he started attending Harvard College, where he excelled in science, philosophy, and rhetoric courses, but did poorly in classical languages. Since he was already highly interested in animals, he did well in biology. Roosevelt was a very educated man and learned much more since he had a photographic memory. During school, he acquired a life-long habit of devouring books, memorizing every detail. He could multitask in extraordinary fashion, dictating letters to one secretary and memoranda to another, while browsing through a book.

President William McKinley appointed Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897. His friend, Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge, urged Roosevelt to take the position. In 1898 he resigned from his position as Assistant Secretary of First U.S. of the Navy, and with the help of U.S. Army Colonel Leonard Wood, put together National Cavalry out of a diverse crew that ranged from cowboys from the Western territories to Ivy League chums from New York. Roosevelt later reentered New York State politics and was elected governor of New York in 1898. Republican boss, Thomas Collier Platt, pressured McKinley into taking Roosevelt as a running partner in the election of 1900.

Roosevelt was the second youngest vice president in United States history at the time. John C. Breckinridge, at 36, was the youngest vice president ever to take office. Roosevelt found the vice-presidency unfulfilling, and thinking that he had little future in politics, considered returning to law school after leaving office. During a speech at the Minnesota State Fair, Roosevelt first uttered a sentence that would become strongly associated with his presidency, urging Americans to "speak softly and carry