them companions on these exercises were known as the tennis cabinet In his autobiography Roosevelt wrote that often they would make a point to point walk not turning aside for anything If their route took through Rock Creek Park in Washington they might have to swim Rock Creek and scale the steep walls of cliffs They swam the creek in their clothes when ice was floating thick in it Roosevelt brought the same vigor and determination to his presidency He worked for peaceful relations between businesses and laborers through a program he called the Square Deal He also tirelessly battled groups of big companies called trusts that tried to Roosevelt as a young man is pictured here wearing ranch clothing He always admired frontier living 8 Theodore Roosevelt
Introduction put smaller companies out of business and he became known as a Trust Buster He also asked Congress to pass legislation against the sale of contaminated food and drugs In addition Roosevelt wanted to preserve the country’s natural resources He set aside lands as national forests which then became off-limits to companies looking for lumber minerals and water Congress established the Forest Service in 1905 to oversee and protect the national forests Roosevelt also steered the nation toward an active role in world politics particularly particularly in Europe and Asia One of his boldest acts came in 1903 when he helped Panama gain independence from Colombia and in exchange demanded a piece of land that cut through Panama Roosevelt thus secured the route for construction of the Panama Canal a vital waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans Furthermore Roosevelt expanded the Monroe Doctrine In 1823 President James Monroe had said that Europe should not become involved in the Americas In 1904 Roosevelt added that the United States would police the countries of Latin America to make sure they fulfilled their agreements with other countries 9
After leaving office in 1909 Roosevelt traveled to Africa on a hunting safari and then toured Europe In 1912 he founded the Progressive Party nicknamed the Bull Moose Party and ran for president as its candidate Both he and Republican president William Howard Taft lost to the Democratic candidate candidate Woodrow Wilson During World War I Roosevelt was both a fierce advocate of the Allied cause and an outspoken critic of Wilson The Republicans seemed ready to nominate him again for president in 1920 but he died in 1919 After his death a New York police captain captain remarked It was not only that he was a great man but oh there was such fun in being led by him A New York newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr said of him While he is in the neighborhood the public can no more look the other way than the small boy can turn his head away from a circus parade followed by a steam calliope 10 Theodore Roosevelt
Chapter 1 In his autobiography Theodore Roosevelt tells us that his grandfather on his father’s side was of almost pure Dutch blood About 1644 his ancestor Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt came to New Amsterdam From that time for the next seven generations every one of us was born on Manhattan Island The forebears of his father’s mother came to Pennsylvania with William Penn His mother came from Georgia where her Scottish and English ancestors had settled settled before the American Revolution 11 Early Life Education and Marriage
