Theodore Roosevelt Man In The Arena
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States who would go onto live and ultimately die on Long Island, NY. The long island home of Theodore Roosevelt was named Sagamore Hills. Located in Nassau County within the Town of Oyster Bay, Teddy Roosevelt’s former home would be known today as the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
Teddy Roosevelt birthplace was in New York City at the address 28 E. 20th St. From this point on would be the beginning of the rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Throughout the entire List of US Presidents, one must pause in admiration in how he shaped our great nation.
Presidential Assassination Attempts
Statistically the most unsafe occupation may be the President of the United States. Throughout US History there have been many successful and unsuccessful assassination attempts. Many have used a gun as their choice of weapon for Presidential Assassinations, which ended the lives of Abraham Lincoln to John F Kennedy.
Many other Presidents have been shot at and lived from Andrew Jackson to Ronald Reagan. If you can count this as an assassination attempt a foreign reporter throw a shoe at George W. Bush. The shoe moved to slow for the agility of our 43rd President.
There is another Presidential assassination that is important in regard to the context of this article on Teddy Roosevelt. You will discover this secret information if you continue reading.
How Did Theodore Roosevelt Become President
The assassination of then President William McKinley would lead to Theodore Roosevelt becoming the 26th President of The United States.
Take in mind McKinley was part of the Republican Party and Teddy Roosevelt was a Democrat. At this time in contrast to our political climate today there was more harmony between political parties. John D. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan bought the 25th election making William McKinley the leader of the free world.
The richest men of the world at this time feared Theodore Roosevelt because of his rising popularity that they planted him as the Vice President. This would shock these big trusts and monopoly groups as now their enemy has the power.
Trust Buster
Theodore Roosevelt has great distaste for the monopolies and trusts these big business tycoons of the day possessed. He believed that there was a fine line between these billionaires and what the original 13 colonies declared independence against in 1776.
The reason why he disliked The monopolies like Standard Oil is because it made John D. Rockefeller a King within a democracy. As Teddy was privy to the influence these rich elites pulled the strings on the lives and freedoms of Americans.
Theodore Roosevelt’s belief was that no one elected John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie or J.P. Morgan into public office. All the while they act as Kings, perhaps more powerful than our elected officials. Seeing this as a threat to democracy our 26th President would be known as Teddy Roosevelt Trust Buster.
What is an example of “trust-busting” that Theodore Roosevelt Enforced?
An example of trust busting by Theodor Roosevelt was when he enacted the Sherman Antitrust Act APUSH. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 became the silver bullet that broke up the monopolized Railroad and Oil Companies.
Many at the time especially the Rockefeller’s & Vanderbilt’s would argue that this is anti-capitalism but in all reality is quite the opposite.
Capitalism is to exist in a democratic society but if one industry dominates completely then our free market mutates into a Dictatorship. Monopolies are bad because they don’t allow for competition within American Industries.
Competition is good because not only does it not give power to one large tyrant, but it forces companies to improve their goods or services to outsell the other.
Teddy Roosevelt Shot
On October 14th, 1912 Teddy Roosevelt was shot by John Schrank during his speech although as he bleed out through his shirt he continued. Right after the gun shot the failed Presidential Assassin would be arrested and taken away but went on to finish a 90 minute speech.
The most memorable line from Theodore Roosevelt was what he said in response to getting shot.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." – Teddy Roosevelt aka the Bullmoose.
10 Facts About Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt was the Youngest President of USA, and still is in 2020!
- Roosevelt was the 1st U.S. President to win the Nobel Prize
- Theodore Roosevelt vacationed often on the north shore of Long Island.
- A 50 page book and his glasses was a bullet stop that may have saved his life.
- Roosevelt saw the funeral procession of the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.
- The Teddy Bear was inspired by Teddy Roosevelt
- Teddy Roosevelt was an accomplished and amazing author.
- He was a College Drop Out
- Theodore Roosevelt’s parents both died on the same day. It was Valentine’s Day 1884.
- When Roosevelt read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair which exposed how poorly the meat people consumed was contaminated and dirty he decided to act. In 1906 he signed The Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act into law.
In Conclusion
Overall Teddy Roosevelt’s accomplishments would be unprecedented and many of his achievements still exist to this day. The most notable was Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. If you didn’t know it was our 26th President who took on the engineering adventure of creating the Panama Canal. This canal still exists to this day and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Without the creation of the Panama Canal sailors would save sailors close to 8 thousand miles by not having to wrap around South America to get into the Pacific Ocean.
Overall Theodore Roosevelt was one of America’s greatest Presidents in US history. We will leave off from where we started. On the North Shore on Long Island, NY from 1885 to 1919 would live until the end of his days.
If you found this educational. You'll love this site: List of US Presidents
By Lawrence E. Orient