Author: Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858–1919) was the nation’s twenty-sixth President of the United States. Born into a wealthy family in New York City, Roosevelt attended Harvard University and then entered into a life of public service, adventure, and scholarship. He was serving in the Department of the Navy in 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out; he quickly resigned his position to form the Rough Riders, a cavalry regiment that he led in the Battle of San Juan Hill. In 1901, while Roosevelt was serving as Vice President of the United States, President William McKinley was shot and killed, making Roosevelt the youngest person to become president at the age of forty-two. He was elected in his own right in 1904. Though he chose not to run for another term in the 1908 election, he did run—and lose—in the 1912 election. He died in January 1919. 

Americanism

Theodore Roosevelt

In this Columbus Day speech from 1915 (excerpted), former President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) addressed the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization that advanced the cause of equality and civil rights, on the subject of immigration and Americanization.

Lincoln Centennial Address

Theodore Roosevelt
In Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln’s birthplace, President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) delivered the keynote remarks and later applied the first trowel of mortar on the cornerstone of the temple John Russell Pope would build to shelter the tiny log cabin.

True Americanism

Theodore Roosevelt

Questions about our identity are not new. They were especially prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as European immigrants, not always warmly welcomed, flooded the American shores. In this essay (1894), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1916) addresses the question of immigration and American identity.