Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)/biography

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. ( –  ), also known as T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and intimates) as Teddy, was the twenty-sixth, and a leader of the  and of the. He became the youngest President in United States history at the age of 42. He served in many roles including, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier. Roosevelt is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona. His last name, often mispronounced, is, per Roosevelt, "pronounced as if it were spelled "Rosavelt." That is in three syllables. The first syllable as if it was "Rose.""

As Assistant Secretary of the, he prepared for and advocated war with Spain in 1898. He organized and helped command the, the , during the. Returning to New York as a war hero, he was elected Republican governor in 1899. He was a professional historian, a lawyer, a naturalist and explorer of the ; his 35 books include works on outdoor life, natural history, the American frontier, political history, naval history, and his autobiography.

In 1901, as Vice President, Roosevelt succeeded President after McKinley's assassination. He is the youngest person ever to become President ( is the youngest elected President). Roosevelt was a reformer who sought to move the dominant Republican Party into the Progressive camp. He distrusted wealthy businessmen and dissolved 40 monopolistic corporations as a "". He was clear, however, to show that he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle but was only against their corrupt, illegal practices. His "" promised a fair shake for both the average citizen (through regulation of railroad rates and pure food and drugs) and the businessmen. As an outdoorsman, he promoted the conservation movement, emphasizing efficient use of natural resources. After 1906 he attacked big business and suggested the courts were biased against s. In 1910, he broke with his friend and anointed successor, but lost the Republican nomination to Taft and ran in the 1912 on his own one-time  ticket. Roosevelt lost but pulled so many Progressives out of the Republican Party that Democrat won in 1912, and the conservative faction took control of the Republican Party for the next two decades.

Roosevelt understood the strategic significance of the, and negotiated for the U.S. to take control of its construction in 1904; he felt that the Canal's completion was his most important and historically significant international achievement. He was the first American to be awarded the, winning its in 1906, for negotiating the peace in the.

Historian Thomas Bailey, who disagreed with Roosevelt's policies, nevertheless concluded, "Roosevelt was a great personality, a great activist, a great preacher of the moralities, a great controversialist, a great showman. He dominated his era as he dominated conversations....the masses loved him; he proved to be a great popular idol and a great vote getter." His image stands alongside, and  on. have consistently ranked him from #3 to #7 on the.

Childhood, education, and personal life


Theodore Roosevelt was born in a, in the modern-day section of  on , , the second of four children of  (1831–1877) and  (1834–1884). He had an elder sister, nicknamed "Bamie" as a child and "Bye" as an adult for being always on the go; and two younger siblings—his brother (the father of ) and his sister , (grandmother of  columnists,  and ).

The Roosevelts had been in New York since the mid 18th century and had grown with the emerging New York commerce class after the. Unlike many of the earlier "log cabin Presidents," Roosevelt was born into a wealthy family. By the 19th century, the family had grown in wealth, power and influence from the profits of several businesses including hardware and plate-glass importing. The family was strongly in its political affiliation until the mid-1850s, then joined the new. Theodore's father, known in the family as "Thee", was a New York City philanthropist, merchant, and partner in the family glass-importing firm. He was a prominent supporter of and the Union effort during the. Theodore's mother Mittie Bulloch was a Southern belle from a slave-owning family in, and had quiet Confederate sympathies. Mittie's brother, Theodore's uncle,, "Uncle Jimmy", was a U.S. Navy officer who became a Confederate admiral and naval procurement agent in Britain. Another uncle was a midshipman on the Confederate raider, ; both remained in England after the war. From his grandparents' home, a young Roosevelt witnessed Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession in New York.

Sickly and tic as a youngster, Roosevelt had to sleep propped up in bed or slouching in a chair during much of his early childhood, and had frequent ailments. Despite his illnesses, he was a hyperactive and often mischievous young man. His lifelong interest in was formed at age seven upon seeing a dead  at a local market. After obtaining the seal's head, the young Roosevelt and two of his cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". Learning the rudiments of, he filled his makeshift museum with many animals that he killed or caught, studied, and prepared for display. At age nine, he codified his observation of insects with a paper titled "The Natural History of Insects".

To combat his poor physical condition, his father compelled the young Roosevelt to take up exercise. To deal with bullies, Roosevelt started lessons. Two trips abroad had a permanent impact: family tours of Europe in 1869 and 1870, and of the Middle East 1872 to 1873.

had a tremendous influence on young Theodore and was a life-long source of inspiration. Of him Roosevelt wrote, "My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. He would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, or untruthfulness." Roosevelt's sister later wrote, "He told me frequently that he never took any serious step or made any vital decision for his country without thinking first what position his father would have taken."

Young "Teedie", as he was nicknamed as a child, (the nickname "Teddy" was from his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, and he later harbored an intense dislike for it) was mostly home schooled by tutors and his parents. A leading biographer says: "The most obvious drawback to the home schooling Roosevelt keely received was uneven coverage of the various areas of human knowledge." He was solid in geography (thanks to his careful observations on all his travels) and very well read in history, strong in biology, French and German, but deficient in mathematics, Latin and Greek. He matriculated at in 1876, graduating. His father's death in 1878 was a tremendous blow, but Roosevelt redoubled his activities. He did well in science, philosophy and rhetoric courses but fared poorly in Latin and Greek. He studied biology with great interest and indeed was already an accomplished naturalist and published. He had a photographic memory and developed a life-long habit of devouring books, memorizing every detail. He was an unusually eloquent conversationalist who, throughout his life, sought out the company of the smartest men and women. He could multitask in extraordinary fashion, dictating letters to one secretary and memoranda to another, while browsing through a new book. During his adulthood, a visitor would get a not-so-subtle hint that Roosevelt was losing interest in the conversation when he would pick up a book and begin looking at it now and then as the conversation continued.

While at Harvard, Roosevelt was active in numerous clubs, such as rowing and boxing. Other clubs included the and  fraternities. He also edited a student magazine. He was runner-up in the Harvard boxing championship, losing to. The sportsmanship Roosevelt showed in that fight was long remembered. Upon graduating from Harvard, Roosevelt underwent a physical examination and his doctor advised him that due to serious heart problems, he should find a desk job and avoid strenuous activity. Roosevelt disregarded the advice and chose to embrace the strenuous life instead.

He graduated and magna cum laude (22nd of 177) from Harvard in 1880, and entered. When offered a chance to run for man in 1881, he dropped out of law school to pursue his new goal of entering public life.

Roosevelt was a activist during his years in the Assembly, writing more bills than any other New York state legislator. Already a major player in state politics, he attended the Republican National Convention in 1884 and fought alongside the reformers; they lost to the Stalwart faction that nominated. Refusing to join other Mugwumps in supporting Democrat, the nominee, he stayed loyal.

First marriage
(, in  –   in ) was the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt and the mother of their only child together,. Alice Roosevelt died of complications from childbirth two days after Alice Lee was born. Theodore Roosevelt's mother Mittie died in the same house on the same day, Feb. 14, 1884. After the simultaneous deaths of his mother and wife, Roosevelt left his daughter in the care of relatives in New York and moved out to.

Life in Badlands


Roosevelt built a second ranch he named Elk Horn thirty five miles (56 km) north of the boomtown,,. On the banks of the "Little Missouri", Roosevelt learned to ride, rope, and hunt. There, in the waning days of the, he rebuilt his life and began writing about frontier life for Eastern magazines. As a deputy sheriff, Roosevelt hunted down three outlaws who stole his river boat and were escaping north with it up the. Capturing them, he decided against hanging them and sending his foreman back by boat, he took the thieves back overland for trial in, guarding them forty hours without sleep and reading Tolstoy to keep himself awake. When he ran out of his own books he read a dime store western that one of the thieves was carrying.

While working on a tough project aimed at hunting down a group of relentless horse thieves, Roosevelt came across the famous,. The two would remain friends for life. (Morris, Rise of, 241–245, 247–250)

After a winter wiped out his herd of cattle and his $60,000 investment (together with those of his competitors), he returned to the East, where in 1885, he had built  in,. It would be his home and estate until his death. Roosevelt ran as the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City in 1886 as "The Cowboy of the Dakotas". Despite his change of image, he still came in third.

Second Marriage
Following the election, he went to London in 1886 and married his childhood sweetheart,. They honeymooned in Europe, and Roosevelt led a party to the summit of, a feat which resulted in his induction into the. They had five children:, , , "Archie", and. "Uncle Ted" was the godfather and favorite uncle of, whom he gave away in marriage to their fifth cousin on.

Roosevelt is currently the only President to have become a widower and remarry before becoming President.

Historian
In the 1880s, he gained recognition as a serious historian. His The Naval War of 1812 (1882) was the standard history for two generations. For that book, Roosevelt undertook extensive and original research going as far as computing British and American  throw weights. As recently as 2006, no fewer than three American books on the birth of the US Navy and the War of 1812 quote from and comment extensively on Roosevelt's book.

By comparison, however, his hastily-written biographies of ' (1887) and ' (1888) are considered  superficial. His major achievement was a four-volume history of the frontier,  (1889–1896), which had a notable impact on as it presented a highly original version of the  elaborated upon in 1893 by his friend. Roosevelt argued that the harsh frontier conditions had created a new "race": the American people that replaced the "scattered savage tribes, whose life was but a few degrees less meaningless, squalid, and ferocious than that of the wild beasts with whom they held joint ownership". He believed that "the conquest and settlement by the whites of the Indian lands was necessary to the greatness of the race and to the well-being of civilized mankind". He was using a model in which new environmental conditions allow a new species to form. His many articles in upscale magazines provided a much-needed income, as well as cementing a reputation as a major national intellectual. He was later chosen president of the .

Views on Race
In the  (1889–1896), Roosevelt's frontier thesis stressed the struggle between "civilization" and "savagery" to American and world history. His views on the centrality of "race struggle" and his support of, the belief in the superiority of the "Nordic" or "Teuton" race, reflect the and  of that era. Excerpts:


 * 1) "The settler and pioneer have at bottom had justice on their side; this great continent could not have been kept as nothing but a game preserve for squalid savages".
 * 2) "The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages".
 * 3) "American and Indian, Boer and Zulu, Cossack and Tartar, New Zealander and Maori, — in each case the victor, horrible though many of his deeds are, has laid deep the foundations for the future greatness of a mighty people".
 * 4) "..it is of incalculable importance that America, Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant world races".
 * 5) "The world would have halted had it not been for the Teutonic conquests in alien lands; but the victories of Moslem over Christian have always proved a curse in the end. Nothing but sheer evil has come from the victories of Turk and Tartar".

What did not, however, conform to the views of Roosevelt's day was that race should never be the primary factor in someone of ability performing any job. Some notable events in Theodore Roosevelt's life included:


 * Openly supporting a bill in the State Assembly which allowed desegregation of schools in the state, personally noting that his children had been educated with other races and there was nothing wrong with it.


 * Appointed the Collector of the Port of post to an African-American, Dr. William D. Crum, and when he was urged to withdraw the appointment, wrote the following:


 * I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always endeavor to pay regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality; but I cannot consent to take the position that the doorway of hope - the door of opportunity - is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my contentions, be fundamentally wrong.


 * Defended the of, Minnie D. Cox. She was an African-American, and on that basis alone she was threatened with mob violence and was forced to resign. Roosevelt took action by closing the post office there, ignored her resignation, and still paid her what she was due as if nothing happened.

Return to public life
In the, Roosevelt campaigned for in the Midwest. President Harrison appointed Roosevelt to the, where he served until 1895. In his term, he vigorously fought the and demanded the enforcement of civil service laws. In spite of Roosevelt's support for Harrison's reelection bid in the, the eventual winner, (a ), re appointed him to the same post.

In 1895, he became president of the board of s. During the two years that he held this post, Roosevelt radically changed the way the police department was run. The police force was reputed as one of the most corrupt in America. NYPD's history division records that Roosevelt was, "an iron-willed leader of unimpeachable honesty, (who) brought a reforming zeal to the New York City Police Commission in 1895." Roosevelt and his fellow commissioners established new disciplinary rules, created a bicycle squad to police New York's traffic problems and standardized the use of pistols by officers. Roosevelt implemented regular inspections of firearms, annual physical exams, appointed 1,600 new recruits based on their physical and mental qualifications and not on political affiliation, opened the department to ethnic minorities and women, established meritorious service medals, and shut down the corrupt police hostelries. During his tenure a Municipal Lodging House was established by the Board of Charities and Roosevelt required his officers to register with the Board. He also had telephones installed in station houses. Always an energetic man, he made a habit of walking officers' beats late at night and early in the morning to make sure that they were on duty. He became caught up in public disagreements with commissioner Parker, who sought to negate or delay the promotion of many officers put forward by Roosevelt.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Roosevelt had always been fascinated by navies and their history. Urged by Roosevelt's close friend, Congressman, President appointed a delighted Roosevelt to the post of  in 1897. (Because of the inactivity of  at the time, this basically gave Roosevelt control over the department.) Roosevelt was instrumental in preparing the Navy for the  and was an enthusiastic proponent of testing the U.S. military in battle, at one point stating "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one".

War in Cuba


Upon the declaration of war in 1898 that would be known as the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt resigned from the Navy Department and, with the aid of U.S. Army Colonel, organized the out of a diverse crew that ranged from s from the Western territories to  friends from New York. The newspapers called them the "Rough Riders." Originally Roosevelt held the rank of and served under Colonel Wood, but after Wood was promoted to  of Volunteer Forces, Roosevelt was promoted to Colonel and given command of the Regiment. . Thereafter, Roosevelt preferred to be known as "Colonel Roosevelt" or "The Colonel," even after his return to civilian life. As a moniker, "Teddy" remained much more popular with the general public; however, political friends and others who worked closely with Roosevelt customarily addressed him by his rank.

Under his leadership, the became famous for their dual charges up  and  in July 1898 (the battle was named after the latter hill). Out of all the Rough Riders, Roosevelt was the only one who had a horse, and was forced to dismount and walk up Kettle Hill on foot after his horse, Little Texas, became tired. For his actions, Roosevelt was nominated for the Medal of Honor which was subsequently disapproved. It has been widely speculated this disapproval was because of Roosevelt's outspoken comments of the handling of the War. In September 1997, Congressman Rick Lazio representing the 2nd District of New York sent two award recommendations to the U.S. Army Military Awards Branch. These recommendations addressed to Brigadier General Earl Simms, the Army's Adjutant General and one to Master Sergeant Gary Soots, Chief of Authorizations, would prove successful in garnering the much sought after award. Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the in 2001 for his actions. He was the first and,, the only President of the United States to be awarded with America's highest military honor, and the only person in history to receive both his nation's highest honor for military valor and the world's foremost prize for peace.

Governor and Vice President
On leaving the Army, Roosevelt re-entered New York state politics and was elected governor of New York in 1898 on the Republican ticket. He made such a concerted effort to root out corruption and "" that Republican boss forced him on McKinley as a running mate in, against the wishes of McKinley's manager Senator. Roosevelt was a powerful campaign asset for the Republican ticket, which defeated in a landslide based on restoration of prosperity at home and a successful war and new prestige abroad. Bryan stumped for Free Silver again, but McKinley's promise of prosperity through the Gold Standard, high tariffs, and the restoration of business confidence proved far more attractive to voters and he enlarged his margin of victory. Bryan had strongly supported the war against Spain, but denounced the annexation of the Philippines as imperialism that would spoil America's innocence. Roosevelt countered with many speeches that argued it was best for the Filipinos to have stability, and the Americans to have a proud place in the world. Roosevelt's six months as Vice President (March to September, 1901) were uneventful. On September 2, 1901, at the, Roosevelt first used in a public speech a saying that would later be universally associated with him: " Twelve days later, President McKinley would be dead, and Roosevelt would succeed him.

Presidency 1901–1909


was shot by (Zol-gash), on, , at the  in. When he first heard of the shooting, Roosevelt had been giving a speech in Vermont. He rushed to Buffalo, but after being assured by McKinley's people that the crisis had passed and that the President would recover, Roosevelt went on a planned family camping and hiking trip to Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks. He was climbing up in the mountains when a runner finally caught up with him and told him that McKinley's condition had greatly worsened and that he was on his death bed. Not wanting to simply show up in Buffalo and wait on McKinley's death, Roosevelt was pondering with his wife, Edith, how best to respond to this turn of events, when additional news reached him that McKinley would soon die. Roosevelt was rushed by a series of stagecoaches to North Creek train station. At the station, Roosevelt was handed a telegram that said only that the President had died. Turning the telegram upside down and reading it again, Roosevelt expressed a sense of helplessness that the telegram contained no additional information and said only that McKinley had died at 2:30 AM that morning. Officially having learned that he was now President of the United States, he continued by train from North Creek to Buffalo. He arrived in Buffalo later that same day, accepting an invitation to stay at the home of, a prominent lawyer and friend since the early 1880s when they had both worked closely with New York State Governor on civil service reform. Wilcox would recall that "the family and most of the household were in the country, but he Roosevelt was offered a quiet place to sleep and eat, and accepted it." Roosevelt took the oath of office in the at,  borrowing Wilcox's morning coat. Roosevelt did not swear on a, in contrast to the usual tradition of US presidents. lamented that "that damned cowboy is president now," giving expression to the fears of many old line Republicans. Roosevelt was the youngest person to assume the presidency, at 42, and he promised to continue McKinley's cabinet and his basic policies. Roosevelt did so, but after winning election in 1904, he moved to the political left, stretching his ties to the Republican Party's conservative leaders.

Anthracite coal strike of 1902
A national emergency was averted in 1902 when Roosevelt found a compromise to the anthracite coal strike by the that threatened the heating supplies of most urban homes. Roosevelt called the mine owners and the labor leaders to the White House and negotiated a compromise. Miners were on strike for 163 days before it ended; they were granted a 10% pay increase and a 9-hour day (from the previous 10 hours), but the union was not officially recognized and the price of coal went up.

Square Deal and regulation of industry
Theodore Roosevelt promised to continue McKinley's program, and at first he worked closely with McKinley's men. His 20,000-word address to the Congress in December 1901, asked Congress to curb the power of s "within reasonable limits." They did not act but Roosevelt did, issuing 44 lawsuits against major corporations; he was called the "."

Roosevelt firmly believed: "The Government must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce." Inaction was a danger, he argued: "Such increased supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other."

His biggest success was passage of the of 1906, the provisions of which were to be regulated by the  (ICC). The most important provision of the Act gave the ICC the power to replace existing rates with "just-and-reasonable" maximum rates, with the ICC to define what was just and reasonable. Anti-rebate provisions were toughened, free passes were outlawed, and the penalties for violation were increased. Finally, the ICC gained the power to prescribe a uniform system of accounting, require standardized reports, and inspect railroad accounts. The Act made ICC orders binding; that is, the railroads had to either obey or contest the ICC orders in federal court. To speed the process, appeals from the district courts would go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In response to public clamor (and due to the uproar cause by 's book ), Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass the of 1906, as well as the  of 1906. These laws provided for labeling of foods and drugs, inspection of livestock and mandated sanitary conditions at meatpacking plants. Congress replaced Roosevelt's proposals with a version supported by the major meatpackers who worried about the overseas markets, and did not want small unsanitary plants undercutting their domestic market.



Election in 1904
Theodore Roosevelt was the fifth Vice President to succeed to the office of President, but the first to win election in his own right. ( ran and lost on a third-party ticket four years after leaving office and was denied nomination by his party in 1884). After Senator, McKinley's old campaign manager, died in February 1904, there was no one in the Republican Party to oppose Roosevelt and he easily won the nomination. When an effort to draft former president failed, the Democrats were without a candidate and finally settled on obscure New York judge. The outcome was never in doubt. Roosevelt crushed Parker 56%-38% in the popular vote and 336-140 in the, sweeping the country outside the perenially Democratic. Socialist got 3%. The night of the election, after his victory was clear, Roosevelt promised not to run again in 1908. He later regretted that promise, as it compelled him to leave the White House at the age of only fifty, at the height of his popularity.

Conservationist


Roosevelt was the first American president to consider the long-term needs for efficient conservation of national resources, winning the support of fellow hunters and fishermen to bolster his political base. Roosevelt was the last trained observer to ever see a, and on , , Roosevelt created the first National Bird Preserve, (the beginning of the Wildlife Refuge system) on Pelican Island,. Assuming the role was a natural step for him, and he decided that it was overdue to put the issue high on the national agenda. He worked with all the major figures of the movement, especially his chief advisor on the matter. Roosevelt urged Congress to establish the (1905), to manage government forest lands, and he appointed Gifford Pinchot to head the service. Roosevelt set aside more land for s and s than all of his predecessors combined, 194 million acres (785,000 km²). In all, by 1909, the Roosevelt administration had created an unprecedented 42 million acres (170,000 km²) of s, 53 s and 18 areas of "special interest", including the. The in the  commemorates his conservationist philosophy. In 1903, Roosevelt toured the Yosemite Valley with, founder of the Sierra Club, but he rejected Muir's philosophy that privileged nature, and emphasized instead the more efficient use of nature. In 1907, with Congress about to block him, Roosevelt hurried to designate 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new national forests. In May 1908, he sponsored the held in the White House, with a focus on the most efficient planning, analysis and use of water, forests and other natural resources. Roosevelt explained, "There is an intimate relation between our streams and the development and conservation of all the other great permanent sources of wealth." During his presidency, Roosevelt promoted the nascent conservation movement in essays for  magazine. Roosevelt, like Pinchot (but unlike Muir), believed in the more efficient use of natural resources by corporations like lumber companies. To Roosevelt, conservation meant more and better usage and less waste, and a long-term perspective.

Roosevelt's conservationist leanings also impelled him to preserve national sites of scientific, particularly, interest. The 1906 passage of the gave him a tool for creating  by presidential proclamation, without requiring Congressional approval for each monument on an item-by-item basis. The language of the Antiquities Act specifically called for the preservation of "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest," and was primarily construed by its creator, Congressman (assisted by the prominent archaeologist ), as targeting the prehistoric ruins of the American Southwest. Roosevelt, however, applied a typically broad interpretation to the Act, and the first national monument he proclaimed, in, was preserved for reasons tied more to  than archaeology.

Roosevelt's conservationism extended so far as to cause him to forbid having a in the. He was reportedly upset when he found a small tree that had been hidden by his son. After learning of the industry of commercial farming of the trees, where no virgin forests were cut down to supply the demand during the Christmas holiday, he relented and allowed his family to have a tree each season.

Foreign policy
Roosevelt's administration was marked by an active approach to foreign policy. Roosevelt saw it as the duty of more developed ("civilized") nations to help the underdeveloped ("uncivilized") world move forward. In, the , , and the , he used the Army's medical service, under and , to eliminate the  menace and install a new regime of public health. He used the army to build up the infrastructure of the new possessions, building railways, telegraph and telephone lines, and upgrading roads and port facilities.

The Philippines saw the US Army for the first time using a systematic doctrine of counter-insurgency. Despite the ad hoc nature of the force deployed by Roosevelt the Army was able to end the insurgency by 1902. Over the course of the war the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built over 3000 miles of roads as well as the infrastructure necessary for a modern society. Most notably, Roosevelt saw fit to create an entire education system, even bringing in thousands of American teachers to spearhead the effort.

Roosevelt dramatically increased the size of the navy, forming the, which toured the world in 1907. This display was designed as a show of force to impress the Japanese. Yet, the ships were almost forced to return because of the inadequacy of American ports in the Pacific. Roosevelt also added the to the, which stated that the United States could intervene in  affairs when corruption of governments made it necessary.

Roosevelt gained international praise for helping negotiate the end of the, for which he was awarded the. Roosevelt later arbitrated a dispute between and  over the division of. Some historians have argued these latter two actions helped in a small way to avert a.

Panama Canal
Roosevelt's most famous foreign policy initiative, following the, was the construction of the , which upon its completion shortened the route of freighters between , and  by 8,000 miles (13,000 km).

first proposed the canal in their country as opposed to rival, and Colombia signed a treaty for an agreed-upon sum. At that time, was a province of Colombia. According to the treaty, in 1902, the U.S. was to buy out the equipment and excavations from France, which had been attempting to build a canal since 1881. While the Colombian negotiating team had signed the treaty, ratification by the Colombian Senate became problematic. The Colombian Senate balked at the price and asked for 10 million dollars over the original agreed upon price. When the U.S. refused to re-negotiate the price, the Colombian politicians proposed cutting the original French company that started the project out of the deal and giving that difference to Colombia.

The original deal stipulated that the French company was to be reasonably compensated. Realizing that the Colombian Senate was no longer bargaining in good faith, Roosevelt tired of these last-minute attempts by the Colombians to cheat the French out of their entire investment, and ultimately decided, with the encouragement of Panamanian business interests, to help Panama declare independence from Colombia in 1903.

A brief Panamanian revolution of only a few hours followed the declaration, as Colombian soldiers were bribed $50 each to lay down their arms. On, , the Republic of Panama was created, with its constitution written in advance by the United States. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. signed a protection treaty with Panama. And after the signing of the treaty, a man named assisted Panama with the initial planning phases for the canal. The U.S. then paid $10 million to secure rights to build on, and control, the Canal Zone. Construction began in 1904 and was completed in 1914.

It took a long time to build the Panama Canal because of the rampant spread of tropical diseases among the workforce. Over 200 workers died of yellow fever and malaria, spread by mosquitoes. Roosevelt initiated work on clearing swamps and other areas in which the insects bred. As the health threat finally receded, this greatly facilitated the construction of the Canal.

The Great White Fleet
As Roosevelt's administration drew to a close, the president dispatched a fleet consisting of four  squadrons and their escorts, on a world-wide voyage of  from, , to ,. With their hulls painted white (except for the beautiful gilded scrollwork) and red, white, and blue banners on their bows, these ships would come to be known as The. Roosevelt wanted to demonstrate to his country and the world that the US Navy was capable of operating in a global theater, particularly in the Pacific. This was extraordinarily important at a time when tensions were slowly growing between the United States and Japan. The latter had recently shown its navy's competence in defeating the in the, and the US Navy fleet in the west was relatively small. As a mark of the mission's success, the battleships only later came to be known as the "Great White Fleet."

When the real Great White Fleet sailed into Yokahama, Japan, the Japanese went to extraordinary lengths to show that their country desired peace with the US. Thousands of Japanese school children waved American flags, purchased by the government, as they greeted the Navy brass coming ashore. In February 1909, the fleet returned home to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and Roosevelt was there to witness the triumphant return. His appearance indicated that he saw the fleet's long voyage as a fitting finish for his administration. Roosevelt said to the officers of the Fleet, "Other nations may do what you have done, but they'll have to follow you." This parting act of by Roosevelt greatly expanded the respect for, as well as the role of, the United States in the international arena. However, the visit of the Great White Fleet to Tokyo also encouraged Japanese militarists. They had always argued for an even more aggressive Japanese ship building and naval expansion program, and the recent show of force by the U.S. convinced enough of their countrymen that they were right. In a real sense, this set in motion the chain of events leading to the U.S. & Japan confronting each other 30 years later - during WWII.

Life in the White House
Roosevelt relished the presidency and seemed to be everywhere at once. He took Cabinet members and friends on long, fast-paced hikes, boxed in the state rooms of the White House, romped with his children, and read voraciously. In 1908, he was permanently blinded in his left eye during one of his boxing bouts, but this injury was kept from the public at the time. His many enthusiastic interests and limitless energy led one ambassador to wryly explain, "You must always remember that the President is about six."



During his presidency, Roosevelt tried but did not succeed to advance the cause of. He tried to force government to adopt the system, sending an order to the Public Printer to use the system in all public documents. The order was obeyed, and among the documents thus printed was the President's special message regarding the Panama Canal. The New York World translated the Thanksgiving Day proclamation:

When nearly three centuries ago, the first settlers came to the country which has become this great republic, that confronted not only hardship and privashun, but terrible risk of their lives. . . . The custom has now become national and hallowed by immemorial usage.

The reform annoyed the public, forcing him to rescind the order. Roosevelt's friend, literary critic, one of the chief advocates of the reform, remonstrated with him for abandoning the effort. Roosevelt replied on : "I could not by fighting have kept the new spelling in, and it was evidently worse than useless to go into an undignified contest when I was beaten. Do you know that the one word as to which I thought the new spelling was wrong &mdash; thru &mdash; was more responsible than anything else for our discomfiture?" Next summer Roosevelt was watching a naval review when a launch marked "Pres Bot" chugged ostentatiously by. The President waved and laughed with delight.

Roosevelt's oldest daughter,, was a controversial character during Roosevelt's stay in the White House. When friends asked if he could rein in his elder daughter, Roosevelt said, "I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both." In turn, Alice said of him that he always wanted to be "the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral."

Roosevelt's contribution to the White House was the construction of the original, which he had built to free up the second floor rooms in the residence that formerly housed the president's staff. He and Edith also had the entire house renovated and restored to the, tearing out the Victorian furnishings and details (including windows) that had been installed over the previous three decades.

Presidential firsts

 * 1) In the sphere of, became the first black man to dine as a guest at the  in 1901.
 * 2) became the first Jewish person  appointed as a Cabinet Secretary, under Roosevelt.
 * 3) In August,, Roosevelt became the first president to take a public automobile ride. This occurred during a parade in ,
 * 4) In 1902, in response to the assassination of President on , Theodore Roosevelt became the first president to be under constant  protection.
 * 5) In 1906, Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded a.
 * 6) In 1906, he made the first trip, by a President, outside the United States, visiting Panama to inspect the construction progress of the on.
 * 7) He was the first and to date only president from, New York.
 * 8) He was the first President to refer to the White House as such on his official stationery. Until then the mansion had been referred to simply as "The Executive Mansion"
 * 9) He was the first President to fly in an airplane.
 * 10) He was the first President to wear a necktie for his official Presidential Portrait.
 * 11) He was the first President to ride in a military when he boarded the.
 * 12) In 2001, he became the first and only President up to date to receive a Medal of Honor

Supreme Court appointment
Roosevelt appointed the following Justices to the :


 * – 1902
 * – 1903
 * – 1906

States admitted to the Union

 * – 1907

African safari
In March 1909, shortly after the end of his second term, Roosevelt left New York for a in Africa. Financed by and by his own proposed writings, Roosevelt hunted for specimens for the  and for the  in New York. His party, which included scientists from the Smithsonian and was led by, the famous big game hunter and explorer, and they killed or trapped over 110,397 animals, from s and to es and s. 51,627 of the animals were big game animals, including six rare. 26,200 of these were consumed by the expedition. Tons of salted animals and their skins were shipped to ; the quantity was so large that it took years to them all, and the Smithsonian was able to share many duplicate animals with other s. Little known fact was that  traveled on this journey with Teddy at age 10. Many metaphors in Ernest's books reflect on these events.

Regarding the large number of animals taken, Roosevelt said, "I can be condemned only if the existence of the, the , and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned." However, although the safari was ostensibly conducted in the name of, there was another, quite large element to it as well. In addition to many native peoples and local leaders, interaction with renowned professional hunters and land owning families made the safari as much a political and social event, as it was a hunting excursion. Roosevelt wrote a detailed account of the adventure in the book "African Game Trails", where he describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met, and the and  he collected in the name of science.

Republican Party rift
Roosevelt certified to be a genuine "progressive" in, when Roosevelt pushed through the nomination of his Secretary of War for the Presidency. Taft easily defeated three-time candidate. Taft had a different progressivism, one that stressed the rule of law and preferred that judges rather than administrators or politicians make the basic decisions about fairness. Taft usually proved a less adroit politician than Roosevelt and lacked the energy and personal magnetism, not to mention the publicity devices, the dedicated supporters, and the broad base of public support that made Roosevelt so formidable. When Roosevelt realized that lowering the tariff would risk severe tensions inside the Republican Party&mdash;pitting producers (manufacturers and farmers) against merchants and consumers&mdash;he stopped talking about the issue. Taft ignored the risks and tackled the tariff boldly, on the one hand encouraging reformers to fight for lower rates, and then cutting deals with conservative leaders that kept overall rates high. The resulting of 1909 was too high for most reformers, but instead of blaming this on Senator  and big business, Taft took credit, calling it the best tariff ever. Again he had managed to alienate all sides. While the crisis was building inside the Party, Roosevelt was touring Africa and Europe, so as to allow Taft to be his own man. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft never attacked business or businessmen in his rhetoric. However, he was attentive to the law, so he launched 90 antitrust suits, including one against the largest corporation, U.S. Steel, for an acquisition that Roosevelt had personally approved. Consequently, Taft lost the support of antitrust reformers (who disliked his conservative rhetoric), of big business (which disliked his actions), and of Roosevelt, who felt humiliated by his protégé. The left wing of the Republican Party began agitating against Taft. Senator of  created the National Progressive Republican League (precursor to the ) to defeat the power of political bossism at the state level and to replace Taft at the national level. More trouble came when Taft fired, a leading conservationist and close ally of Roosevelt. Pinchot alleged that Taft's Secretary of Interior was in league with big timber interests. Conservationists sided with Pinchot, and Taft alienated yet another vocal constituency.

Roosevelt, back from Europe, unexpectedly launched an attack on the federal courts, which deeply upset Taft. Not only had Roosevelt alienated big business, he was also attacking both the judiciary and the deep faith Republicans had in their judges (most of whom had been appointed by McKinley, Roosevelt or Taft.) In the 1910 Congressional elections, Democrats swept to power, and Taft's reelection in 1912 was increasingly in doubt. In 1911, Taft responded with a vigorous stumping tour that allowed him to sign up most of the party leaders long before Roosevelt announced.

Election of 1912


Late in 1911, Roosevelt finally broke with Taft and LaFollette and announced himself as a candidate for the Republican nomination. But Roosevelt had delayed too long, and Taft had already won the support of most party leaders in the country. Because of LaFollette's nervous breakdown on the campaign trail before Roosevelt's entry, most of LaFollette's supporters went over to Roosevelt, the new progressive Republican candidate.

Roosevelt, stepping up his attack on judges, carried 9 of the states with preferential primaries, LaFollette took two, and Taft only one. The 1912 Primaries represented the first extensive use of the Presidential Primary, a reform achievement of the progressive movement. However, these primary elections, while demonstrating Roosevelt's popularity with the electorate, were in no ways as important as primaries are today. First of all, there were fewer states where the common voter was given a forum to express himself, such as a primary. Many more states selected convention delegates either at party conventions, or in caucuses, which were not as open as today's caucuses. So while the man in the street still adored Roosevelt, most professional Republican politicians were supporting Taft, and they proved difficult to upset in non-primary states.

At the in, despite being the incumbent, Taft's victory was not immediately assured. But after two weeks, Roosevelt, realizing that he would not be able to win the nomination outright, asked his followers to leave the convention hall. They moved to the, and then Roosevelt, along with key allies such as and  created the , structuring it as a permanent organization that would field complete tickets at the presidential and state level. It was popularly known as the "", which got its name after Roosevelt told reporters, "I'm as fit as a bull moose." At the convention Roosevelt cried out, "We stand at and we battle for the Lord." The crusading rhetoric resonated well with the delegates, many of them long-time reformers, crusaders, activists and opponents of politics as usual. Included in the ranks were and many other feminists and peace activists. The platform echoed Roosevelt's 1907–08 proposals, calling for vigorous government intervention to protect the people from the selfish interests.

To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the of the day." - 1912 Progressive Party Platform, attributed to him and quoted again in his autobiography where he continues "'This country belongs to the people. Its resources, its business, its laws, its institutions, should be utilized, maintained, or altered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest.' This assertion is explicit. ... must know that every  in the United States opposes the Progressive party. ... I challenge him ... to name the monopoly that did support the Progressive party, whether ... the Sugar, the Trust, the Harvester Trust, the  Trust, the Tobacco Trust, or any other. ... Ours was the only programme to which they objected, and they supported either Mr. Wilson or ...

While campaigning in, on , , a saloonkeeper named  failed in an  attempt on Roosevelt. Schrank did shoot the former President, but the bullet lodged in Roosevelt's only after hitting both his   case and a copy of his speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt declined suggestions that he go to the hospital, and delivered his scheduled speech. He spoke vigorously for ninety minutes. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "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." Afterwards, doctors determined that he was not seriously wounded and that it would be more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet than to leave it in his chest. Roosevelt carried it with him until he died.

Due to the bullet wound, Roosevelt was taken out of the final months of the race. The effect was that he failed to move the political system in his direction. He did win 4.1 million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5 million (23%). However, Wilson's 6.3 million votes (42%) were enough to garner 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt had 88 electoral votes to Taft's 8 electoral votes. (This meant that Taft became the only incumbent President in history to actually come in third place in an attempt to be re-elected.) But  was Roosevelt's only  state; in the  he carried,  and ; in the ,  and ; he did not win any Southern states. Although he lost, he won more votes than former presidents and  who also ran again and also lost. More important, he pulled so many progressives out of the Republican party that it took on a much more conservative cast for the next generation.

1913–1914 South American Expedition
Roosevelt's popular book Through the Brazilian Wilderness describes his expedition into the ian jungle in 1913 as a member of the co-named after its leader, ian explorer. The book describes all of the scientific discovery, scenic tropical vistas and exotic flora, fauna and wild life experienced on the expedition. A friend, Father, had searched for new adventures and found them in the forests of South America. After a briefing of several of his own expeditions, he convinced Roosevelt to commit to such an expedition in 1912. To finance the expedition, Roosevelt received support from the, promising to bring back many new animal specimens. Once in South America, a new far more ambitious goal was added: to find the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida, the, and trace it north to the Madiera and thence to the. It was later renamed (Rio Teodoro today, 640 km long) in honor of the former President. Roosevelt's crew consisted of his 24-year-old son Kermit, Colonel, a naturalist sent by the named George K. Cherrie, Brazilian Lieutenant Joao Lyra, team physician Dr. José Antonio Cajazeira, and sixteen highly skilled paddlers (called camaradas in ). The initial expedition started, probably unwisely, on, , at the height of the rainy season. The trip down the River of Doubt started on,.

During the trip down the river, Roosevelt contracted and a serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound. These illnesses so weakened Roosevelt that, by six weeks into the expedition, he had to be attended day and night by the expedition's physician, Dr. Cajazeira, and his son, Kermit. By this time, Roosevelt considered his own condition a threat to the survival of the others. At one point, Kermit had to talk him out of his wish to be left behind so as not to slow down the expedition, now with only a few weeks rations left. Roosevelt was having chest pains when he tried to walk, his temperature soared to 103 °F (39 °C), and at times he was delirious. He had lost over fifty pounds (20 kg). Without the constant support of his son, Kermit, Dr. Cajazeira, and the continued leadership of Colonel Rondon, Roosevelt would likely have perished. Despite his concern for Roosevelt, Rondon had been slowing down the pace of the expedition by his dedication to his own map-making and other geographical goals that demanded regular stops to fix the expedition's position via sun-based survey.

Upon his return to New York, friends and family were startled by Roosevelt's physical appearance and fatigue. Roosevelt wrote to a friend that the trip had cut his life short by ten years. He might not have really known just how accurate that analysis would prove to be, because the effects of the South America expedition had so greatly weakened him that they significantly contributed to his declining health. For the rest of his life, he would be plagued by flareups of malaria and leg inflammations so severe that they would require hospitalization.

When Roosevelt had recovered enough of his strength, he found that he had a new battle on his hands. In professional circles, there was doubt about his claims of having discovered and navigated a completely uncharted river over 625 miles (1,000 km) long. Roosevelt would have to defend himself and win international recognition of the expedition's newly-named. Toward this end, Roosevelt went to Washington, D.C., and spoke at a standing-room-only convention to defend his claims. His official report and its defense silenced the critics, and he was able to triumphantly return to his home in.

Writer
Despite his weakened condition and slow recovery from his South America expedition, Roosevelt continued to write with passion on subjects ranging from foreign policy to the importance of the national park system. As an editor of Outlook magazine, he had weekly access to a large, educated national audience. In all, Roosevelt wrote about 18 books (each in several editions), including his Autobiography, Rough Riders and History of the Naval War of 1812, ranching, explorations, and wildlife. His most ambitious book was the 4 volume narrative The Winning of the West, which attempted to connect the origin of a new "race" of Americans (i.e. what he considered the present population of the United States to be) to the frontier conditions their ancestors endured in throughout the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.

World War I
Roosevelt angrily complained about the foreign policy of President Wilson, calling it "weak". This caused him to develop an intense dislike for Woodrow Wilson. When began in 1914, Roosevelt strongly supported,  and the  because he admired their fight for civilization; he demanded a harsher policy against , especially regarding submarine warfare. In 1916, he campaigned energetically for and repeatedly denounced those Irish-Americans and German-Americans whose pleas for neutrality Roosevelt said were unpatriotic because they put the interest of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's. He insisted that one had to be 100% American, not a "" who juggled multiple loyalties. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Roosevelt sought to raise a volunteer infantry division, but Wilson refused.

Roosevelt's attacks on Wilson helped the Republicans win control of Congress in the off-year elections of 1918. Roosevelt was popular enough to seriously contest the 1920 Republican nomination, but his health was broken by 1918, because of the lingering malaria. His son, a daring pilot with the American forces in France, was shot down behind German lines in 1918. Quentin was his youngest son and probably the most liked by him. It is said that the death of his son distressed him so much that Roosevelt never recovered from his loss.

Last years


Despite his debilitating diseases, Roosevelt remained active to the end of his life. He was an enthusiastic proponent of the movement. The gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to hold such title. One early Scout leader said, "The two things that gave Scouting great impetus and made it very popular were the uniform and Teddie Roosevelt's jingoism."

Death
On, , Roosevelt died in his sleep of a coronary at Oyster Bay, and was buried in nearby Youngs Memorial Cemetery. Upon receiving word of his death, his son,, telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." Woodrow Wilson's vice president at the time said of his death " had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."

Roosevelt intensely disliked being called "Teddy," and was quick to point out this fact to those who used the nickname, though it would become widely used by newspapers during his political career. He attended the until the age of 16. Later in life, when Roosevelt lived at Oyster Bay he attended an church with his wife. While in Washington he attended services at. As President he firmly believed in the and thought it unwise to have  on currency, because he thought it sacrilegious to put the name of the Deity on something so common as money. He was also a, and regularly attended the Matinecock Lodge's meetings. He once said that "One of the things that so greatly attracted me to Masonry that I hailed the chance of becoming a Mason was that it really did act up to what we, as a government, are pledged to &mdash; namely to treat each man on his merit as a man."

Roosevelt had a lifelong interest in pursuing what he called, in an 1899 speech, "." To this end, he exercised regularly and took up boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. As governor of New York, he boxed with sparring partners several times a week, a practice he regularly continued as President until one blow detached his left retina, leaving him blind in that eye (a fact not made public until many years later). Thereafter, he practiced and continued his habit of  in the  during winter. He was an enthusiastic player and, according to, in 1905 showed up at a White House reception with his arm bandaged after a bout with General. Roosevelt was also an avid reader, reading tens of thousands of books, at a rate of several a day in multiple languages. Along with Roosevelt is often considered the most well read of any American politician.

His younger two sons made up a part of what was called the "White House Gang".

Legacy
For his gallantry at San Juan Hill, Roosevelt's commanders recommended him for the, but his subsequent telegrams to the War Department complaining about the delays in returning American troops from doomed his chances. In the late 1990s, Roosevelt's supporters again took up the flag on his behalf and overcame opposition from elements within the U.S. Army and the. On, , President awarded Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor posthumously for his charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt's eldest son, Brigadier General, received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the in 1944. The Roosevelts thus became one of only two father-son pairs to receive this honor.

Roosevelt's legacy includes several other important commemorations. Roosevelt was included with, and  at the , designed in 1927. The named two ships for Roosevelt: the, a submarine was in commission from 1961 to 1982; and the , an aircraft carrier that has been on active duty in the Atlantic Fleet since 1986.

The (later the ) or "TRA", was founded in 1919 to preserve Roosevelt's legacy. The Association preserved, "" home, papers, and video film.

Overall, historians credit Roosevelt for changing the nation's political system by permanently placing the presidency at center stage and making character as important as the issues. His notable accomplishments include trust-busting and conservationism. However, he has been criticized for his interventionist and imperialist approach to nations he considered "uncivilized". Even so, history and legend have been kind to him. His friend, historian, proclaimed, "Roosevelt, more than any other living man ....showed the singular primitive quality that belongs to ultimate matter &mdash; the quality that mediaeval theology assigned to God &mdash; he was pure act." Historians typically rank Roosevelt among the top five presidents.

Popular culture
Roosevelt's 1901 saying "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick" is still being occasionally quoted by politicians and columnists in different countries - not only in English but also in translation to various other languages. For example, following the of August 2006, opponents of i Prime Minister  accused him of "Speaking loudly and carrying a small stick".

The well-known n poet published in 1905 a poem entitled A Roosevelt (To Roosevelt) (see ), which was included in Cantos de Vida y Esperanza (Songs of Life and Hope).

As a charismatic President often considered larger than life, Roosevelt (or characters using his name loosely based on him) has appeared in numerous fiction books, television shows, films, and other media of popular culture. Roosvelt was played by in the box office hit  and its upcoming sequel. Here he's a mentor for the main character Larry and was having an affair with. When this historical inaccuracy was pointed out to him he reminds Larry, that he isn't the real Roosevelt, just a statue of him. "I'm made of wax Larry. What are you made of."

Filmmaker also directed two films in which Roosevelt was a central character: ' (1975) in which he was played by ; and ' (1997) in which he was played by. Keith's performance is widely considered to be the definitive screen depiction of Roosevelt.

Roosevelt's lasting popular legacy, however, is the stuffed toy bears——named after him following an incident on a hunting trip in 1902. Roosevelt famously refused to kill a captured simply for the sake of making a kill. Bears and later bear cubs became closely associated with Roosevelt in political cartoons thereafter.

On, , Roosevelt, once again, made the cover of  magazine with the lead story, "The Making of America—Theodore Roosevelt—The 20th Century Express": "At home and abroad, Theodore Roosevelt was the locomotive President, the man who drew his flourishing nation into the future."

The major league baseball team has a fan tradition called the. In it four caricatures of presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt race against each other. A running gag has been Theodore Roosevelt's inability to win a single Presidents Race.

Media
Theodore Roosevelt was one of the first presidents whose voice was recorded for posterity. Several of his recorded speeches survive.


 * Roosevelt goes for first aeroplane ride in plane 1910

Foreign policy

 * Beale Howard K. Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power. (1956). standard history of his foreign policy
 * Holmes, James R. Theodore Roosevelt and World Order: Police Power in International Relations. 2006. 328 pp.
 * Marks III, Frederick W. Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt (1979)
 * David McCullough. The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914 (1977).
 * Ricard, Serge. "The Roosevelt Corollary." Presidential Studies Quarterly 2006 36(1): 17–26. Issn: 0360-4918 Fulltext: in Swetswise and Ingenta
 * Tilchin, William N. and Neu, Charles E., ed. Artists of Power: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Their Enduring Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy. Praeger, 2006. 196 pp.
 * Tilchin, William N. Theodore Roosevelt and the British Empire: A Study in Presidential Statecraft (1997)