- NAME – Theodore Roosevelt
Library of Congress - NICKNAME(S) – Teddy
- BIRTH / DEATH – Oct. 27, 1858 New York City / Oyster Bay, New York
- FATHER – merchant, banker, philanthropist
- MOTHER – housewife
- COLLEGE – Harvard / Columbia Law School
- WIFE – Alice Hathaway Lee / Edith Kermit Carow
- KIDS – 6 (4 boys)
- PETS – retriever (Sailor Boy); Pekingese (Manchu); mutt (Skip); terriers (Jack & Pete); cats (Tom Quartz & Slipper); badger (Josiah); pony (Algonquin – would be brought upstairs in an elevator to cheer the boys when they had the measles); Macaw (Eli Yale); rat (Jonathan); garter snake (Emily Spinach); bear (Jonathan Edwards); guinea pigs
- RELIGION – Dutch Reformed
- ANCESTRY – Dutch
- AGE – 42
FIRSTS:
– first to leave the country – Panama to see the Canal construction
– first to ride in a planet
– first to ride in a submarine
MA AND PA: Probably no President was impacted more by his father than Teddy. He had a portrait of him in the White House and never made a decision without thinking about what his father would have done. His father was wealthy from the family business of importing plate glass. He was big on philanthropy and gave a lot of money charities for the poor and homeless. He had the personality to get others to give as well. He met his wife on a trip to the South. She was a classic Southern belle who grew up on a plantation. She was 15 when they met and they were married three years later. They raised their family in a four-story brownstone in New York City. His father hired a substitute to serve for him in the Civil War in deference to his wife’s southern sympathies. Two of Teddy’s uncles served in the Confederate army. Theodore, Sr. was determined to make up for not enlisting by doing philanthropic work to help the soldiers. It was his idea to deduct money from soldier salaries to be sent home to provide for dependents. Teddy always thought his father made a mistake not serving, but he otherwise worshipped his father. His father took the kids on a one-year vacation to Europe to instill a love of history. His father got into politics briefly, but found it too corrupt. He would carry the asthma-suffering child around the home or for a drive. (Some historians theorize the asthma attacks were psychosomatic to subconsciously get attention from his father.) His father died when Teddy was off at college. His mother was quirky and had a cleanliness fetish and inability to keep appointments. She suffered from headaches. Teddy called her “darling beloved little mother”.
BACKGROUND:
– came from a wealthy family
– was a sickly and asthmatic as a child
– elected to the New York state legislature
– first wife died
– went west to become a rancher
– remarried
– appointed to Civil Service Commission by Harrison
– Police Commissioner for New York City
– Assistant Secretary of the Navy for McKinley
– led the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War
– Vice President
Library of Congress
FIRST LADY: Edith was a childhood friend who he reconnected with after the death of his first wife. He called her Edie. Besides the enormous chore of policing their kids (and him), he helped sort his mail, went over papers with his secretary, and perused major newspapers to keep him informed about current events. Kelly 328
TRIVIA:
– he was blinded in the left eye during a sparring match when he was President
– he did not like to be called “Teddy”, as a child his family called him “Teedie”; as an adult, he preferred TR or Colonel
– his uncles on his mother’s side fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War; his father hired a substitute to avoid serving and to continue his charitable work
– he published two books on birds before graduating from Harvard (the first was The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks)
– his book “The Naval War of 1812” became required reading at the Naval War College and was placed on every ship
– all four sons fought in WWI and his daughter Ethel was a nurse
– as Governor of New York, he raised teacher salaries
– when he returned from a trip to Europe, he received the first ticker-tape parade up Broadway Avenue
– he tried to have “In God We Trust” removed from coins because he considered it to be unconstitutional and sacrilegious
– he was possibly the fastest hand-shaker in presidential history – 50 per minute
– the pistol TR carried up Kettle Hill was from the USS Maine
– on his African safari after his presidency, he killed 296 animals including 17 lions and a rhino that was charging at him
– on his honeymoon to Europe with his first wife Alice, TR climbed the Matterhorn without any previous mountain climbing experience
– his kids would sled down the stairs using a large cookie platters
– daughter Alice would sometimes encourage her siblings to crawl under the table at state dinners and pinch knees and beg for food Kelly 128
– Teddy had the exterior of the White House painted white and began to refer to it officially as “The White House” on Presidential stationary Kelly 129
ANECDOTES:
“FOUR EYES” – When he was ten and he was bullied by some older boys who called him “Four Eyes”. He tried to fight back, but he was easily fended off. When he returned home in tears of frustration, his father counseled him that he did not have the body he wanted so he must “build your body”. Teedie became obsessed with following his dad’s advice. His father created a gym on the second floor of their mansion and hired a personal trainer. He took boxing lessons and studied judo. Boller p. 195
DON’T STEAL FOR ME – When TR was a rancher out West, he was once searching for strays and he and one of his hands found a maverick. A maverick was an unbranded cow that roamed the plains. The rule was the cow belonged to the rancher whose land it was on. TR’s hand build a fire and prepared to put his brand on it. When TR questioned this, the hand said not to worry, he did this all the time. TR immediately fired him saying “anyone who would steal for me, would steal from me.” Boller p. 202
POINT TO POINT MARCHES – One way TR made himself physically fit was through hiking. His hikes were called “point to point marches” because he would pick a destination and the rule was you had to go straight to the place. You could not go around anything like fallen trees. One day, he invited a foreign ambassador to go for a walk. The ambassador showed up in dress clothes including white gloves and was bemused to find the President dressed in hiking clothes. They proceeded into the woods near the White House, pushing their way through brambles and bushes. Finally, they came to a stream and the ambassador breathed a sigh of relief at the end of his torment. He was shocked to see TR take his clothes off. To the ambassador’s puzzled look, the President asked him if he planned to cross the stream with his fancy clothes on. When in Rome, so the gentleman disrobed, but left his gloves on. When TR gave him a quizzical look, the ambassador explained that “we might meet some ladies”. Boller p. 206
CLIFF-HANGER – TR enjoyed his time as a rancher in the West, including the landscapes. Once he found himself on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. Roosevelt decided the best picture to remember the vista would be halfway down the cliffside. He had himself and a camera lowered two hundred feet by rope. He took the picture, but the rope got caught so he could not be pulled back up. After two hours of pulling, TR gave the word to cut the rope and allow him to fall into the icy stream. He was pulled out half-conscious, but with a great story to tell. Whitcomb p. 234
I’M A DEMOCRAT! – TR was once giving a campaign speech and there was a heckler in the audience. The man kept yelling “I’m a Democrat!” Finally, TR had enough so he stopped the speech and addressed the man. “May I ask the gentleman why he is a Democrat?” The man replied: “My grandfather was a Democrat, my father was a Democrat, so I’m a Democrat!” TR figured he had the man right where he wanted him, so he asked: “My friend, suppose your grandfather had been a jackass and your father had been a jackass?” The response came back: “Well, then I’d be a Republican!” Fuller 339
SAVING COLLEGE FOOTBALL – In 1905, 32 college football players were killed and there was outrage from the media, preachers, and college presidents. Thirty state legislatures introduced bills to ban the sport. Roosevelt called a conference of college officials and urged them to improve safety in the sport. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was created. maroon 123
GOOD TO THE LAST DROP – Teddy was in Tennessee for a banquet celebrating the birth to Andrew Jackson. The banquet was at a hotel and the meal was several courses. When the dinner was over, coffee was served. It was a special blend made at the hotel. Teddy really enjoyed his cup and drank it down in one gulp. When he placed it back on its saucer, he exclaimed: “This coffee is good to the last drop!” The hotel’s owner was seated at the table and was impressed with the statement. He asked the President if he could use it to advertise his coffee, which was named after the hotel – Maxwell House.
SPELLING REFORM – TR attempted to reform the English language by adopting “simplified spelling”. He got the u dropped from words like labour and rumour, but was not successful in switching some words to a phonetic spelling, like through (thru) and night (nite). He wanted to substitute z for s in words like surprise and compromise. Some educators supported the reforms and Andrew Carnegie donated $250,000, but the public and the press were very much against it. TR was forced to back down. Shenkman 192-3
SAVED BY THE SPEECH – TR was scheduled to give a speech in Milwaukee during the 1912 campaign when he was shot when leaving his hotel to go to the venue. His speech was on fifty pages and they were folded in half. The bullet went through the speech, which was in his coat pocket. The thickness of the pages slowed the bullet down and probably saved his life. It did crack a rib and left blood on his shirt, but it was not life-threatening. TR decided giving the speech would be a great moment for him. Before he started the speech, he addressed the crowd. He told them he had just been shot. “But it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!” He then opened his coat to show the shocked crowd the blood stain. TR lost the election, but he sure had a great story to tell. Shenkman 201-2
WARRIOR BOYS – All his sons served their country in the military. His youngest son Quentin was shot down and killed in a dogfight with several German fighter planes. The Germans dropped a wreath at his gravesite. Ted Jr. was gassed in WWI and rose to General in WWII. He led the landing at Utah Beach on D-Day and was awarded the Medal of Honor. He died of a heart attack soon after. Kermit lost a thumb in WWI and was killed in the Aleutian Islands campaign in WWII. Sadler 228-229
FOUR WIGGLIES – TR’s son Quentin once returned from a pet shop with four snakes. He marched into the President’s office while he was conducting a meeting and dumped them on the desk where they proceeded to fight each other. The guests cleared out and TR and his son rounded up the wigglies and they were returned to the pet shop. Apparently, there was a limit to what pets would be allowed in the White House. Kelly 158
A TRAGIC VALENTINE’S DAY – On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Teddy’s mother died of typhoid fever and his first wife died from a kidney disease that had gone undiagnosed during her pregnancy. This tragedy took place in the same house with Teddy moving up and down the stairs to be with the two most important women in his life. Teddy wrote in his diary that the light had gone out in his life with the death of his wife. He left his newborn baby Alice to the care of his sister and went West to try to outrun his depression.
SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER – When Teddy was running for Governor of New York, he campaigned with several of his Rough Riders. At one campaign stop, Sergeant Buck Taylor addressed the crowd. He concluded his talk with: “And when it came to that great day, he led us up San Juan Hill like sheep to the slaughter, and so he will lead you!” Weird 266
THE HISTORY OF THE TEDDY BEAR
One of the most famous toys in history was named after an American president. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt went to Mississippi for a hunting trip. Roosevelt was an avid hunter and this was not his first bear hunt. There was lot of pressure on the guide to make sure the President went home happy. But Holt Collier was used to pressure. He was a former slave who had served under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the famous cavalry leader who had been a slave trader and would later found the Ku Klux Klan. After the Civil War, Collier became a hunter and hunting guide. He killed over 3,000 bears in his life. He had to make sure Teddy killed one. At first, things did not go well as the first few days no bears were found. Collier got desperate so he had his hunting dogs track down a bear. It was an old, fat black bear that was surrounded at a watering hole. It put up a good fight, killing a dog and wounding several, until Collier knocked him out by clubbing him with his rifle. The bear was tied to a tree and Collier led Roosevelt to the spot for the kill. Teddy took one look at the bruised and battered old bear and refused to shoot it. Sportsmen did not shoot defenseless bears. Teddy returned to the White House bearless and that should have been the end of it. But Teddy was a celebrity and an article ran in newspapers about his refusal to shoot the bear. A political cartoonist named Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon of the incident. He had Teddy in his Rough Riders uniform and he made the bear small and cute. The caption was “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” which may have been a reference to his stand against lynchings in the South. The cartoon was seen by many Americans and Teddy became associated with bears. A couple in New York saw the cartoon. Morris and Rose Michtom were Jewish immigrants who owned a candy store. Rose sewed a stuffed bear and they put it in the window of the store with a placard saying “Teddy’s Bear”. Everyone wanted one. They mailed the bear to the White House and asked Roosevelt if he would mind if they named it after him. Teddy, who hated the nickname “Teddy” (his friends and family called him “Teedie”), gave his permission and made the Michtom’s millionaires. They created the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. In 1963, one of the original bears took a deserved place in the Smithsonian Institute. In 1999, the Teddy Bear was one of the original inductees in the Toy Hall of Fame.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear
http://socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/cultures/teddy_bear_history.htm