The Early Years of Theodore Roosevelt
NOT a pic of Theo as a baby...but I think it fits the subject well!
As Teedie (this was his nickname; he hated being called Teddy) matured and started his education, he decided to take on two different careers. Law and politics. Not a bad mix you say? Well, just think of all the hard work that took. He was attending two different colleges, Harvard and Columbia Law School. And through all this hard work he was having problems getting boosted into politics. As he went through both colleges, he just happened to meet a Mr. Joe Murray. And you're wondering what he has to do with it all. You've never heard his name before? Well, Mr. Murray just happens to be the man who got Theo involved in politics for the first time. He got Theo nominated as a 21st District State Republican Assemblyman. Wow what a LONG title. With the help of Murray, Roosevelt easily won the election at the tender age of 23.
Well, young Theo ended up carrying out three terms as a New York Assemblyman. His determination shone through brightly in these three terms. He was known for being VERY outspoken about matters of political corruption and the wealthy criminal class. Through all this, he was starting to rise to the top of the political ladder. Unfortunately, he had a roadblock thrown in his path by the 1884 presidential election.
In the 1884 presidential election, the young Roosevelt was one of the delegates in the Republican convention. He was extremely opposed to the leaders of the Republican pack: James G. Blaine and the current President Arthur. Really the only person that Roosevelt wasn't opposed to was a reformer known as Senator George F. Edmunds. Unfortunately for Theo, Mr. Blaine won the nomination. This posed a problem for him because he didn't view Blaine and the most honest man who walked the planet. But if he wanted to keep his political career alive, he had to support all that Blaine did. Another unfortunate thing happened to Theodore. I know you're wondering what that could be. Hasn't poor Teedie suffered enough? Obviously not. Blaine ended up losing the election, Theodore didn't receive any political position, his political career had come to an abrupt end, and he decided to devote the rest of his life to ranching.
Not only had his political life come to an end, but it seemed as if he was losing his family, too. Just two days after his first daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born, his mother and his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, died. Roosevelt was an avid journal keeper, but on February 14th, 1884, his journal was marked simply with a large X. In March his sister Anna pushed that Roosevelt build a house for his daughter to grow up in.
So Theo signed a contract with the firm of Joseph Wood & Sons of Lawrence, Long Island, and had a home built in Oyster Bay, New York. The house was later named Sagamore Hill in honor of the Indian Sagamore Mohannis who met on that very hill with settlers and signed his tribe's rights to the land over to these settlers. The house was completed in 1885.
Theo believed that the U.S. needed to establish its supremacy. To do this, he felt that they needed to have a quicker route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. At this time, the only way to get from one to the other was around the bottom of South America. The only problem was if they were to create a quicker way to get from one to the other, they would have to secure the Caribbean. He knew to do so would cause a war between the U.S. and Spain, so he pushed for this to happen. When the U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898, Roosevelt got what he'd been wishing for. Everyone suspected Spain for the explosion and war was declared on April 21. When the U.S. declared war, Theodore decided to join the Army as Lieutenant Colonel. Once he was in the military, he and a man named Colonel Wood drafted volunteers for their regiment, and formed the famed Rough Riders.
After his rough rider days, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York. Because of being so honest and so politically strong, many politicians were afraid of him. Because of this fear, they nominated him Vice-President thinking that it would put him out of the way with nothing to do. These guys had the totally wrong idea because on September 6th, 1901, President McKinley was shot and killed. Hey boys! Guess who's president now? Theodore Roosevelt!! I guess they shouldn't have jinxed it.
