Today is the anniversary of the birth of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. In honor of the occasion, Rossiya Segodnya offers a baker's dozen facts that you may have not known about the man.
Teddy Roosevelt was well-known as a tough guy; he worked as the commissioner of the New York Police Department in the 1890s; his efforts included an anti-corruption drive to clean up the department, and work to ensure that beat cops were doing their jobs properly. He later fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, resigning his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1898 and forming a volunteer cavalry regiment known as the “Rough Riders”. Roosevelt won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in the war.
Above: Theadore Roosevelt poses as a Badlands hunter in this photo, taken in a New York City photo studio in 1885.
Above: Theadore Roosevelt poses as a Badlands hunter in this photo, taken in a New York City photo studio in 1885.
Following the death of his wife and mother in February 1884, a heartbroken and distraught Roosevelt moved out west to the Dakotas and became a Dude rancher.
Above: An engraving of President Roosevelt.
Above: An engraving of President Roosevelt.
In 1912, having just been shot in the chest in an assassination attempt while on the campaign trail in Milwaukee, Roosevelt insisted on completing a 90 minute speech before going to the hospital. Roosevelt told the audience: “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” His Progressive Party had been nicknamed the Bull Moose Party by journalists.
Above: Former president Roosevelt speaking at the Hotel Allen in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1914.
Above: Former president Roosevelt speaking at the Hotel Allen in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1914.
A passionate outdoorsman, Roosevelt created five state parks, and spearheaded the creation of the United States Forest Service. He was known for nature walks around Washington, D.C., and even went skinny dipping in the Potomac. Following his retirement from the presidency, he went on safari in Africa, and to the Amazon, where he discovered a remote river, which was named “Roosevelt River” in his honor. The “teddy bear” is named after Roosevelt, in response to a famous political cartoon where Roosevelt demonstrably refuses to shoot a bear tied to a tree, considering it unsportsmanlike.
Above: Theodore Roosevelt on safari in Africa.
Above: Theodore Roosevelt on safari in Africa.
Roosevelt created regulations to help manage and sometimes reign in the fledgling nation’s corporations, railroads, and banks. Using the Sherman Antitrust Act, Roosevelt’s Attorney General Philander Knox prosecuted companies that sought to monopolize industries. The Hepburn Act, passed with Roosevelt’s approval, created national regulation of railroad rates for cargo and passengers. Roosevelt oversaw the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, mandating sanitary standards for food and beverages. The Roosevelt administration also encouraged arbitration between businesses and unions.
Above: Roosevelt and his Vice President, Senator Charles Warren Fairbanks.
Above: Roosevelt and his Vice President, Senator Charles Warren Fairbanks.
Teddy Roosevelt was the first American president to travel outside the continental United States as president, visiting Panama in 1906 as part of the US-led effort to build the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914.
Above: A 1914 photo of Roosevelt in Brazil, where he would explore the Amazon and get a river named after him.
Above: A 1914 photo of Roosevelt in Brazil, where he would explore the Amazon and get a river named after him.
Roosevelt oversaw the construction of the American navy, laying the foundations for the US drive to global naval supremacy.
Above: Colonel Roosevelt standing with the Rough Riders regiment on San Juan Hill, Cuba in July 1898.
Above: Colonel Roosevelt standing with the Rough Riders regiment on San Juan Hill, Cuba in July 1898.
Roosevelt invited African American scholar and presidential advisor Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House. Washington became the first African American to have dinner at the presidential mansion as a guest. Incidentally, Roosevelt was also the first to call the White House by its iconic name; before it had been called the Executive Mansion.
Above: Roosevelt's official presidential portrait, created by John Singer Sargent in 1903. The colorful story behind the portrait notes that Roosevelt and Sargent had had a difficult time finding the right pose for the president.
Above: Roosevelt's official presidential portrait, created by John Singer Sargent in 1903. The colorful story behind the portrait notes that Roosevelt and Sargent had had a difficult time finding the right pose for the president.
Following America’s entry into the First World War, the 58-year-old ex-president volunteered to lead the US fighting forces in France. President Woodrow Wilson rejected his request.
Above: Theodore Roosevelt from his days in the Rough Riders.
Above: Theodore Roosevelt from his days in the Rough Riders.
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© Flickr / Kyle Rush
As a young man, Roosevelt suffered from asthma, near-sightedness and a weak heart; his family doctor warned him against pursuing an active lifestyle, to which Roosevelt replied: “Doctor, I’m going to do all the things you tell me not to do. If I’ve got to live the sort of life you have described, I don’t care how short it is.”
Above: A statue of Roosevelt on Theodore Roosevelt Island, an island and memorial complex on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
Above: A statue of Roosevelt on Theodore Roosevelt Island, an island and memorial complex on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
