American President
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
Facts at a Glance
- Term
- 26th President of the United States (1901–1909)
- Born
- October 27, 1858, New York, New York
- Nickname
- “TR”, “Trust-Buster”, “Teddy”
- Education
- Harvard College (graduated 1880)
- Religion
- Dutch Reformed
- Marriage
- October 27, 1880, to Alice Hathaway Lee (1861–1884), December 2, 1886, to Edith Kermit Carow (1861–1948)
- Children
- Alice Lee (1884–1980), Theodore (1887–1944), Kermit (1889–1943), Ethel Carow (1891–1977), Archibald Bulloch (1894–1979), Quentin (1897–1918)
- Career
- Author, Lawyer, Public Official
- Political Party
- Republican
- Writings
- The Naval War of 1812 (1882), The Winning of the West (1889-96), African Game Trails (1910), Autobiography (1913), America and the World War (1915)
- Died
- January 6, 1919, Oyster Bay, New York
- Buried
- Young’s Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York
- A Life in Brief
- Theodore Roosevelt, who came into office in 1901 and served until 1909, is considered the first modern President because he significantly expanded the influence and power of the executive office. From the Civil War to the turn of the twentieth century, the seat of power in the national government resided in the U.S. Congress. Beginning in the 1880s, the executive branch gradually increased its power. More »
- Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities.
- March 4, 1905
Essays on Theodore Roosevelt and His Administration
- Theodore Roosevelt
- A Life in Brief
- Life Before the Presidency
- Campaigns and Elections
- Domestic Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Life After the Presidency
- Family Life
- The American Franchise
- Impact and Legacy
- Key Events
- First Lady
- Edith Roosevelt
- Vice President
- Charles W. Fairbanks
- Secretary of State
- John M. Hay (1901–1905)
- Elihu Root (1905–1909)
- Robert Bacon (1909–1909)
- Secretary of the Treasury
- Lyman J. Gage (1901–1902)
- Leslie M. Shaw (1902–1907)
- George B. Cortelyou (1907–1909)
- Attorney General
- Philander C. Knox (1901–1904)
- William H. Moody (1904–1906)
- Charles J. Bonaparte (1906–1909)
- Secretary of the Interior
- Ethan A. Hitchcock (1901–1907)
- James R. Garfield (1907–1909)
- Secretary of the Navy
- John D. Long (1901–1902)
- Paul Morton (1904–1905)
- William H. Moody (1904–1906)
- Charles J. Bonaparte (1905–1906)
- Victor H. Metcalf (1906–1908)
- Truman H. Newberry (1908–1905)
- Secretary of War
- Elihu Root (1901–1904)
- William H. Taft (1904–1908)
- Luke Wright (1908–1909)
- Postmaster General
- Charles E. Smith (1901–1902)
- Henry C. Payne (1902–1904)
- Robert J. Wynne (1904–1905)
- George B. Cortelyou (1905–1907)
- George von Lengerke Meyer (1907–1909)
- Secretary of Agriculture
- James Wilson (1901–1909)
- Secretary of Commerce and Labor
- George B. Cortelyou (1903–1904)
- Victor H. Metcalf (1904–1906)
- Oscar S. Straus (1906–1909)
Consulting Editor: Sidney Milkis
Professor Milkis is the White Burkett Miller Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and Assistant Director for Academic Programs at the Miller Center of Public Affairs. His writings include:
American Government: Balancing Democracy and Rights (Co-authored with Marc Landy, McGraw-Hill, 2004)
Presidential Greatness (Co-authored with Marc Landy, University Press of Kansas, 2000)
Progressivism and the New Democracy (Co-edited with Jerome Mileur, University of Massachusetts Press, 1999)
The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776–1990 (Co-authored with Michael Nelson, CQ Press, 1990)
Presidential Speeches
Below are selections from the Miller Center’s Theodore Roosevelt speech collection.
Scholarship and Speakers
The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on Theodore Roosevelt.
Watch political scientist Sidney Milkis’s 2003 presentation at the Miller Center on Theodore Roosevelt and the Creation of
the Modern Presidency.
Learn more about the Center’s National Commission on the Vice Presidency and its relationship to Roosevelt.
Scripps Library Reference Resources
Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center’s Scripps Library, designed to help students and scholars conduct their research quickly.
Information on Theodore Roosevelt’s Private and Public Papers
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