Theodore Roosevelt , Jr. ¹

  General Notes:

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as T.R. or Teddy, was the 26th President of the United States (1901–1909). He was the 25th Vice President before becoming President upon the assassination of President William McKinley. On taking the executive oath at the age of 42, Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history. Within the Republican Party he was a reformer who sought to bring his party's conservative ideals into the 20th century. He later broke with his friend and appointed successor William Howard Taft and ran as a third-party candidate in 1912 on the Progressive Party ticket.

Before 1901, Roosevelt served as a New York State assemblyman, Police Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy. As a colonel, he commanded his famous all-volunteer First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the "Rough Riders", during the Spanish-American War. He also served a successful term as Governor of New York. He was a widely respected historian, naturalist and explorer of the Amazon Basin; his 35 books, listed online [1], include works on outdoor life, natural history, U.S. Western and political history, an autobiography and a host of other topics. In his lifetime, he was considered a foremost authority on North American big game animals and Eastern birds. "Uncle Ted" gave away his niece Eleanor Roosevelt to his his fifth cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt at their wedding in New York City in March 1905. His presence upstaged the bride and the groom, who were left alone after the ceremony when the guests followed the president into another room. The New York Times didn't even identify the bride by name.

Roosevelt took particular pride in leading what he called the "strenuous life". He inspired and led the United States to understand the strategic significance of the Panama Canal, which led to its construction from 1904 to its completion in 1914, after he left office. 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 Nobel Prize, winning its Peace Prize in 1906 for his successful mediation of the Russo-Japanese War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on January 16, 2001 by President Bill Clinton, after almost a century of controversy.
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