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
A Sickly Childhood Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 27 1858 His family lived in a luxurious luxurious home in a fashionable part of the city for the Roosevelts were wealthy and had a secure social position His father Theodore Roosevelt Sr was a noted businessman and philanthropist His mother Martha Bulloch came from a wealthy slave-owning plantation plantation family He had a sister Anna about four years older than he and a younger brother and sister sister Elliott and Corinne Teedie as he was called in his childhood Ellie and Conie were the closest of friends We Three are often mentioned in the diaries he kept as a child Teedie had weak eyesight and he suffered suffered from asthma almost from birth Many a night he sat propped up in bed gasping for breath Sometimes his father bundled him in blankets and took him for a ride in the carriage through the dark silent streets hoping that the gentle night breeze would give the child relief 12 Theodore Roosevelt
Early Life Education and Marriage This portrait of Theodore Roosevelt Sr Teedie’s father was taken around 1875 He was called Great Heart because of his kindness and generosity 13
