Theodore Roosevelt's
Presidency

 Theodore Roosevelt became President due to the assassination of President William McKinley.  Here is the place where he was inaugurated.   He was the 26th President of the United States.  During his presidency, he encountered many things.  He had many quotes.  One of his most well-known quotes was his "Big Stick Policy".  It meant speak softly and carry a big stick.

    Roosevelt also passed the Hepburn Act, which controlled railroads and kept the prices down.  He passed another law that protected laborers. All of this was called the "Square Deal".

    Theodore Roosevelt was very interested in wildlife.   He loved animals.  He had many wildlife parks.  Today they are National Parks. Click here for more on his wildlife parks.

       President Roosevelt was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  One of Roosevelt's most well-known achievements was being sculpted on Mt. Rushmore.  He held many political offices.  He was an Assemblyman.  He also worked on the U.S. Civil Service commission, and was a Police Chief.  Theodore Roosevelt lead a military group named the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.

    Theodore Roosevelt was also involved with the Panama Canal. "I took the [Panama] Canal Zone and let Congress debate, and while the debate goes on the canal does also." - Berkeley, California, March 31, 1911.

    Roosevelt's Election in 1904 to a full term was a foregone conclusion. Senator Hanna, a potential rival for the nomination, died before the convention, and Republican conservatives had no one else to turn to. Roosevelt's Democratic opponent, Judge Alton B. Parker of New York, was a colorless conservative. Even the spokesmen of high finance supported Roosevelt in the persuasion that "the impulsive candidate of the party of conservatism" was preferable to "the conservative candidate of the party which the business interests regard as permanently and dangerously impulsive."

    Roosevelt and his running mate, Sen. Charles W. Fairbanks (Indiana), swept the Electoral College, 336 to 140, and won the greatest popular victory to that time, polling 7,628,831 votes to 5,084,533 for the Democrats. In an election night statement that weakened his later effectiveness, Roosevelt renounced aspirations for another nomination in 1908.  In 1888 Roosevelt saw his chance to jump back into politics by campaigning for the election of Benjamin Harrison. When Harrison won, he appointed Roosevelt to be a Civil Service Commissioner.

    It was with this job and later as Police Commissioner that Roosevelt made his reputation as a reformer.  At the time both the Civil Service and the New York Police Department had serious corruption problems.  Roosevelt did his best to clean up the corruption and make things work fairly.  For example, as a Police Commissioner he took control of the police department, reorganized it, fired corrupt policemen and used to spend his nights walking through the city looking for policemen asleep on their jobs.

     Theodore Roosevelt's life was even saved by a speech he had in his pocket.