geeky"I know not how philosophers may ultimately define religion, but from Micah to James it has been defined as service to one's fellowmen rendered by following the great rule of justice and mercy, of wisdom and righteousness."
As a child Roosevelt was home schooled. He entered Harvard College on September 27, 1876. When his father died on February 9, 1878, Roosevelt felt a deep sense of grief. On June 30, 1880, he graduated from Harvard. On his 22nd birthday, Roosevelt married socialite Alice Hathaway Lee. Their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born on February 12, 1884. Roosevelt's wife died two days after giving birth due to an undiagnosed case of kidney failure (then called Bright's disease). His mother died on the same day from typhoid fever. In his diary, Roosevelt wrote a large 'X' on the page and then, "The light has gone out of my life."
From the 1880's on, the Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill together with many of their Roosevelt cousins attended Christ Church. Roosevelt attended church regularly. After the death of his first wife, he spent some time in the Dakotas, before returning to New York and becoming involved in politics. On December 2, 1886, Roosevelt married his childhood and family friend, Edith Kermit Carow. The couple married at St George's, Hanover Square in London, England.
Roosevelt's career progressed as he served as a New York State Assemblyman, a New York City Police Commissioner, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. As police commissioner he showed concern for the plight of the city's poor. He fought in the Spanish-American War with his famous "Roughriders" and was elected as Governor of New York, before being selected as William McKinley's running mate in 1900. He became President in 1901 following the assassination of McKinley. Roosevelt said:
"When I first came to Washington, I did not know there was any Dutch Reformed Church there, and went with my wife to the Episcopal Church. But, on becoming President, I learned that there was a little obscure, red brick building tucked away on the back of a lot, and I immediately selected that as my Church."
As President, Roosevelt issued nine Thanksgiving proclamations. He told his countrymen:
"For the very reason that in material well-being we have thus abounded, we owe it to the Almighty to show equal progress in moral and spiritual things. Let us, therefore, as a people set our faces resolutely against evil, and with broad charity, with kindliness and good-will toward all men, but with unflinching determination to smite down wrong, strive with all the strength that is given us for righteousness in public and in private life. I recommend that the people meet devoutly to thank the Almighty for the many and great blessings they have received in the past, and to pray that they may be given the strength so to order their lives as to deserve a continuation of these blessings in the future."
On May 10, 1902, J. F. Corrigan, the brother of Archbishop Michael Corrigan, wrote to Roosevelt on behalf of his family after the archbishop’s death, thanking the president for the respect that he had shown. Corrigan pointed out that his brother spoke fondly of a meeting that he had had with President Roosevelt. His letter read as follows:
Dear Mr. Roosevelt,
I beg leave to express, on behalf of my brother George, my family and myself, our earnest appreciation and gratitude for the respect you have shown to the memory of my brother, the late Archbishop, and for the kindly way in which you have made it known.
The Archbishop always entertained the greatest respect for you, in the years he had known you, and, joined to this, he had a strong personal affection for you.
He spoke to me of his meeting with you in Washington, and of the great pleasure it had given him, and recalled the kind consideration you had always shown him.
I am, dear Mr. President,
Yours most respectfully,
J. F. Corrigan
Roosevelt was elected to a full term as President in 1904. He began his inaugural address by saying:
"MY fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness."
During his State of the Union Address in 1904, Roosevelt condemned Russia for its treatment of Jews and called for tolerance and equality for all races, religion and creeds.
Roosevelt decided not to run for re-election in 1908, a decision he later regretted. He supported his hand-picked successor William Howard Taft and during the presidential campaign, some former Roosevelt supporters did not agree with Taft's selection. Roosevelt occasionally received letters to this effect. One letter-writer suggested that, because of Taft’s family connections to the Catholic Church, he would not make a good candidate. Roosevelt wrote back, blasting the writer for his intolerance. He wrote:
"To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular Church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any Church, is an outrage against the liberty of conscience which is one of the foundations of American life. I do not for one moment believe that the mass of our fellow-citizens, or that any considerable number of our fellow citizens, can be influenced by such narrow bigotry as to refuse to vote for any thoroughly upright and fit man because he happens to have a particular religious creed. I believe that this Republic will endure for many centuries. If so, there will doubtless be among its Presidents Protestants and Catholics, and very probably at some time, Jews. In my Cabinet at the present moment there sit side by side Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Jew, each man chosen because in my belief he is peculiarly fit to exercise on behalf of all our people the duties of the office. In no case does a man’s religious belief in any way influence his discharge of his duties, save as it makes him more eager to act justly and uprightly in his relations to all men. These are the principles upon which all good Americans should act in choosing, whether by election or appointment, the men to fill any office, from the highest to the lowest in the land."
When Roosevelt returned from his South American journey in 1914, he gave the first account of his discoveries in an address at the local church. At the Villiage of Oyster Bay he served as the master of ceremonies over the Christmas tree in Christ Episcopal Church, and played the role of Santa Claus at the Cove Neck School, near Sagamore Hill.
In 1916 Roosevelt published his book entitled Fear God and Take Your Own Part. In the book he wrote:
"Unless we are thorough-going Americans and unless our patriotism is part of the very fiber of our being, we can neither serve God nor take our own part. We must demand honesty, justice, mercy, truthfulness, in our dealings with one another within our own borders. Outside of our own borders we must treat other nations as we would wish to be treated in return, judging each in any given crisis as we ourselves ought to be judged."
Roosevelt attended the Christ Church of Oyster Bay, an Episcopalian parish, until his death in 1919. Edith Kermit Roosevelt was a faithful parishioner up to the time of her death in 1948.
On January 6, 1919, between 4:00 and 4:15 a.m., Roosevelt died in his sleep at Sagamore Hill as a result of a blood clot detaching from a vein and traveling to his lungs. Following a private farewell service in the North Room at Sagamore Hill, a simple funeral was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Oyster Bay. Roosevelt was buried on a hillside overlooking Oyster Bay.