Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was the twenty-sixth president of the United States. Although he came to the presidency as the result of tragedy, he was the era's most popular president. Historians generally rank him as one of the most effective presidents ever.

Early life

Born into a wealthy New York City family on October 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child who suffered from several medical disorders, including severe asthma. His response to his poor health was to lift weights, exercise, and take boxing lessons. By early adulthood, his

asthma had virtually disappeared, and he would spend the rest of his life a passionate outdoorsman.

Roosevelt was homeschooled, and he passed the entrance examinations for Harvard University in 1875. An avid reader and writer, he did well at school and decided to study law. He graduated from Yale University in 1880 with honors and then enrolled in Columbia Law School, but he soon tired of his law studies and focused instead on finishing a book he had begun writing in college. The Naval War of 1812 was published in 1882 and remains one of the most honest studies of its subject.

Leaves law for politics

Roosevelt dropped out of law school and entered politics, joining the Republican Club in New York City. In 1881, at age twenty-two, he became the youngest member of the state legislature, where he immediately established himself as a reform-minded politician and supported bills that called for better conditions for industrial workers. Although Roosevelt was impulsive and somewhat egotistical, he had amazing reserves of energy and intelligence, and he was honest in both his political and personal life.

In 1884, Roosevelt's wife died giving birth to their only child, Alice Lee. On that same day, his beloved mother died as well, in the same house. Roosevelt was a broken man, and he left his daughter behind to be cared for by relatives as he headed west for two years of cattle ranching. That separation from his daughter was the first of many; Alice would grow up to be a strong-willed woman.

During his self-imposed exile in the west, Roosevelt wrote three books about hunting and ranch life. Now and then, he returned to New York to see Alice and take care of business. During one of these trips he saw Edith Carow, a girlfriend from his teenage years. They married in 1886, and eventually had four boys and a girl. Roosevelt spent much of his time writing biographies and history.

In the navy

Roosevelt was appointed civil service commissioner in 1888 and kept the job until 1895, when he accepted a post as president of the New York City Police Board. He cleaned up the city's police force by getting rid of corrupt officers and officials. In 1897, President William McKinley (1843–1901; served 1897–1901) appointed Roosevelt assistant to the secretary of the U.S. Navy . It was a commission he thoroughly enjoyed.

The Spanish-American War

In 1895, Cuba revolted against the repressive rule of the Spanish. Spain's response was to round up three hundred thousand Cubans and put them in camps where they could not help the rebels. This angered many Americans who believed that Cuba should be independent of Spain's rule.

Throughout 1897, President McKinley tried to convince Spain to give Cuba its independence. In November of that year, Spain gave Cuba limited independence and closed the camps. (Limited independence meant that Cuba could govern itself in domestic matters; Spain would still govern international matters.) The peace was short-lived. In January 1898, pro-Spanish demonstrators rioted on the streets of Havana, Cuba. McKinley sent the U.S. battleship Maine to the Havana harbor to protect American citizens who had arrived to help Cuba and to let Spain know that the United States still valued its relationship with Cuba.

Tensions rose when the Cubans intercepted a private letter written by the Spanish minister to the United States describing McKinley as weak and indicating that the Spanish were not negotiating in good faith with the United States. The Cubans leaked the letter to the press, and when it was published in the New York Journal, it infuriated Americans, who saw it as an attack on the honor of both their president and their nation.

The situation worsened when the USS Maine exploded and sank on February 15, 1898. The explosion killed 266 crewmembers. A Navy investigation concluded that the explosion had been caused by an outside source, presumably a Spanish mine. (More recent scholarship has speculated, however, that the explosion more likely occurred because of mechanical problems with the ship itself.) McKinley did not want to go to war, but he saw no alternative at this point. He ordered U.S. ships to block Cuba's ports; the United States and its president wanted an end to the Cuban crisis. On April 23, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. Two days later, the United States declared war on Spain.

The Rough Riders

When the Spanish-American War broke out in Cuba, thirty-nine-year-old Roosevelt was the commander of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, a unit known as the Rough Riders. Roosevelt had left his job with the Navy to join the cavalry, which included more than twelve hundred men of all backgrounds from New Mexico , Arizona , Oklahoma , and other western states.

Roosevelt and Colonel Leonard Wood (1860–1927) trained their volunteers so well that the unit was allowed to engage in battle, even though volunteer units generally were not allowed to see action. They formed in Texas and shipped out to Cuba on June 14, 1898. Although they were called Rough Riders, they fought mainly on foot because there was no room for their horses on the ship to Cuba.

The Rough Riders landed in Cuba on June 22 and saw their first battle two days later. Their next assignment was to join trained military forces in the attack on the Spanish city of Santiago on July 1. Roosevelt's unit, along with regular regiments and the Buffalo Soldiers (African American infantrymen), captured Kettle Hill and moved on to San Juan Heights. With the Buffalo Soldiers reaching the crest of the hill first, the Rough Riders joined in the battle, and the hill was captured. Santiago surrendered soon after, and Spain's war with the United States was over in just three months. According to historian Virgil Harrington Jones, no American unit in the Spanish-American War suffered as many deaths as the Rough Riders, which lost 37 percent of its men before leaving Cuba.

The hero returns

Roosevelt returned to New York a war hero and used his popularity and status to get elected as his state's governor in November 1898. He immediately set to work reforming the corrupt political system. In 1900, the Republicans chose Roosevelt as the running mate for President McKinley, who was seeking his second term. (McKinley's first-term vice president, Garret A. Hobart [1844–1899], had died in November 1899.) In the campaign, Roosevelt covered more than 21,000 miles (33,789 kilometers) and made hundreds of speeches in 567 cities and 24 states. McKinley, in contrast, gave speeches from the front porch of his home in Canton, Ohio . Many historians believe that Roosevelt's popularity helped McKinley win the election. Only six months after the inauguration, McKinley died from an assassin's bullet; on September 14, 1901, the forty-two-year-old Roosevelt became the youngest president of the United States.

President for the people

Throughout his presidency, Roosevelt promoted social reform, naval expansion, and nature conservation. He was called the “great conservationist,” and passed many laws benefiting the environment and preserving America's natural resources. (See Conservation Movement .)

The president earned a reputation as a trustbuster as well. During his tenure, it was common practice for powerful companies and businesses to band together to limit competition and control the production and distribution of products or services. This banding together was known as a trust, and trusts were illegal by 1890. In Roosevelt's eyes, some trusts were good, others were bad, and he made it his mission to disband those he believed were harmful to healthy commerce. (See Monopolies and Trusts .)

Roosevelt took action in 1902 against both the beef trust and the Northern Securities Company, a railroad monopoly. (In a monopoly, one company dominates a sector of business, leaving the consumer no choices and other businesses no possibility of success.) Northern Securities had been established by some of the country's wealthiest businessmen: John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937), J. P. Morgan (1837–1913), James Hill (1838–1916), and Edward Harriman (1848–1909). Roosevelt ordered the Justice Department to file a suit to dissolve the company. Within a few months, the president filed another suit, against a Chicago meatpacking company called Swift & Company. Roosevelt had made his point: Big business would have to deal with the federal government if it broke the law.

Roosevelt's “Square Deal”

In May 1902, coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike (refused to work). They had tried for months to meet with management and mine owners to negotiate better pay, shorter hours, and safer working conditions. When negotiations failed, the workers refused to enter the mines.

Anthracite (hard) coal was used to fuel trains and to heat houses and businesses. In 1902, as spring passed into summer and then into fall, Americans became concerned that the continued strike would result in a coal shortage: Businesses would close and citizens would freeze in their homes. In October, Roosevelt invited representatives from the miners and the coal operators to the White House. In doing so, he became the first president in history to mediate (act as a go-between in) a labor strike. The meeting was called the Coal Strike Conference of 1902. During the conference, Roosevelt expressed his concerns, and the miners agreed to go back to work if they could get a small, immediate pay increase and a promise that negotiations would continue. The coal operators refused, despite the president's involvement.

When Roosevelt realized the strike would continue, he took direct action. He threatened to send military troops to take over operation of the mines. If this were to happen, both the miners and the owners would lose. Both sides entered into negotiations with a committee appointed by Roosevelt, and miners returned to work on October 23. They had received a 10-percent increase in wages as well as a guarantee of shorter workdays.

Roosevelt's involvement in the mining dispute set a precedent (an established example) of what could happen in future labor-management conflicts. The working class realized it had the support of an intelligent, influential president. Big business was put on notice that its power was no longer limitless. Roosevelt called his program the “square deal,” meaning both sides got fair treatment and consideration.

The president showed his support of business regulation again in 1903 when he passed a bill to establish the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor (ten years later it was split into two departments), and again when he passed the Elkins Act. This law prohibited railroads from giving rebates (refunds) to those shippers who used their services most. The refunds were discriminatory because they favored only the big companies; smaller companies did not do enough shipping to qualify for them. (See Railroad Industry .)

Big Stick diplomacy

Days before President McKinley was shot in 1901, Roosevelt made a speech about foreign policy at the Minnesota State Fair, quoting an African proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” With this slogan, Roosevelt expressed his belief that to be effective, the nation needed to back up its foreign diplomacy with an implied threat of military force. His ideas about foreign policy became known as “Big Stick diplomacy.” The president embraced this policy throughout his two terms in office.

An example of Big Stick diplomacy was the U.S. role in the creation of the Republic of Panama in 1903. Roosevelt wanted to construct a canal in what was then Colombian territory to make shipping trade easier for the United States. When the Colombian government rejected Roosevelt's plan, the United States supported the independence movement in Panama, and sent the gunboat Nashville to prevent the Colombian military from sailing to the area to reassert its control. The United States was the first country to recognize Panama's independence, and later, Roosevelt sent troops to protect U.S. interests in Panama. In Panama, and in other areas of the world, when U.S. diplomacy failed, military force was the next step.

Reelection and retirement

Roosevelt was elected for another term in office in 1904 and continued in his quest for reform. His successor, whom Roosevelt had supported, was William Howard Taft (1857–1930; served 1909–13). Taft had made some decisions that Roosevelt disagreed with, and the former president decided to run against Taft in the 1912 presidential election. Roosevelt formed a new party, the Progressive Party, but lost the election to Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924; served 1913–21).

Roosevelt spent his retirement years traveling on safari with his son Kermit. His health slowly declined, and he died in his sleep on January 6, 1919.