The Presidential Reign of Theodore Roosevelt
When President McKinley died in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States, and the youngest at that. Theo was only 43 when this tragedy occured. So as not to startle the nation with a different approach to politics, he decided to keep McKinley's policies until early 1902. In 1902, he began to protect the average citizen's interests and started a campaign to control corporate interests.
Roosevelt eventually changed the way presidents interacted with the media. Reporters were able to acquire insider tips on the presidency and other issues and in turn wrote stories that the public enjoyed and favored. They were able to do so because Theo was holding daily press conferences. Soon, all sorts of people were showing up at the doorstep of the White House in utter fascination of what was happening inside. Theo was also the first president to have the opportunity to be photographed while he worked and because of this there were few people who didn't know what he looked like.
In 1904, all the campaigning that Theo had done was finally paying off. He ended up winning the 1904 election by a landslide. He won 7,628,875 of the popular votes and 336 of the electoral votes; the most votes of any president who has run for a re-election ever. Because of this, he swore he wouldn't run for president again. Well, everybody lies once, and this is one place where he did. He then gave his inaugural address to a nation happy about his re-election.
During his presidency, the Panama Canal was formed. Roosevelt acquired the land from a French company run by Ferdinand de Lesseps for a sum of 40 million dollars and with the passing of the Spooner Act in 1902. This act stated that the U.S. must work out a treaty with Colombia for a lease on the land where they wished to build the canal. The Colombians didn't want to work anything out, and Roosevelt secretly told Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who was with the French company, that if they started a Panamanian revolt against Colombia, the U.S. would not interfere. So the revolt was carried out and the U.S. immediately recognized the now independent Panama and became its protector. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed and the U.S. got to work on the canal in 1904.
In late 1904, Roosevelt gave a message to congress. This message became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
"It must be understood that under no
circumstances will the United States
use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for
territorial aggression. We desire peace
with all the world, but perhaps most of
all with the other peoples of the American
continent....It is always possible that
wrong actions toward this nation...may
result in our having to take action to
protect our rights; but such action will
not be taken with a view to territorial
agression."
This corollary was first tested by the little island of Santo Domingo. The island had gone bankrupt and the countries in Europe were threatening to come in and take their money. Bankers quickly rushed to take over Santa Domingo's finances and handed all the money owed to European countries.
Theodore was very concerned about keeping an "open door" policy with China involving trade. He thought in order to do so that Japan and Russia had to be kept in check. In 1904 the two countries ended up going to war, and in 1905 he mediated a peace agreement to the war. Because of his efforts and holding the position of mediator, Theodore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Although he did run for the presidency in 1908, he did not win. William Howard Taft ended up winning, and the aggressiveness towards foreign policy dropped with this election. However, this was not the end of Roosevelt's political career.
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