Remembering The Old Lion TR
On January 6, 1919 (192 years ago today) Theodore Roosevelt died of coronary thrombosis. He was 62 years old. He had been so robust in life and accomplished so much, it seems like he should have lived much longer. After his Presidency ended in 1908, he hand picked William Howard Taft to be his successor, but soon had a falling out with Taft and challenged his portly protege in 1912, first for the Republican nomination, and then for the presidency, running as a candidate for the Bull Moose Party. He finished second in that election, acquiring the best showing for any third party candidate in a presidential election. Taft finished third and Democrat Woodrow Wilson became President.
After his final foray into Presidential politics, Roosevelt's next challenge was his expedition into the Brazilian jungle in 1913. The adventure was called the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition, co-named after its leader, Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon. To finance the expedition Roosevelt received support from the American Museum of Natural History, promising to bring back many new animal specimens. One of the expedition's goals was to find the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida, the River of Doubt, and trace it north to the Madeira and then to the Amazon River. It was later renamed the Roosevelt River in his honor. Roosevelt's crew included his 24-year-old son Kermit. The expedition began on December 9, 1913, at the height of the rainy season. The trip down the River of Doubt started on February 27, 1914.
During the trip down the river, Roosevelt contracted malaria and a serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound. These conditions weakened Roosevelt severely and he had to be attended day and night by the expedition's physician and by his son, Kermit. By then he was unable to walk, due to the infection, fighting a fever that soared to 103 °F (39 °C). At times delirious. Roosevelt insisted he be left behind to allow the by then poorly provisioned expedition to proceed as rapidly as it could. Only an appeal by his son convinced him to continue. In spite of his continued decline and loss of what ultimately amounted to over 50 pounds (20 kg) of his original 220, Roosevelt completed the journey and then returned to New York, where friends and family were startled by his physical appearance and fatigue. Roosevelt wrote to a friend that the trip had cut his life short by ten years. When he had recovered sufficiently, he addressed a standing-room-only convention organized in Washington, D.C. by the National Geographic Society.
When World War I began in 1914, Roosevelt strongly supported the Allies and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially when it came to submarine warfare. Roosevelt angrily denounced the foreign policy of President Wilson, calling it a failure, citing atrocities in Belgium and the violations of American rights. In 1916, he campaigned energetically for Charles Evans Hughes and denounced Irish-Americans and German-Americans who Roosevelt said were unpatriotic because they put the interest of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's by supporting neutrality. He insisted one had to be 100% American, not a "hyphenated American" with divided loyalties. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Roosevelt wanted to raise a volunteer infantry division, but President Wilson refused to permit this.
His son Quentin, a pilot with the American forces in France, was shot down behind German lines in 1918. Quentin was his youngest son and probably his favorite. He took Quentin's death very hard.
Despite his poor health, Roosevelt was an enthusiastic proponent of the Scouting movement. The Boy Scouts of America gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to hold such title.
On January 6, 1919, Roosevelt died in his sleep at Oyster Bay, New York, of a coronary thrombosis (heart attack), preceded by a 2½-month illness described as inflammatory rheumatism. He is buried in nearby Young's Memorial Cemetery. Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archie telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall said "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."
After his final foray into Presidential politics, Roosevelt's next challenge was his expedition into the Brazilian jungle in 1913. The adventure was called the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition, co-named after its leader, Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon. To finance the expedition Roosevelt received support from the American Museum of Natural History, promising to bring back many new animal specimens. One of the expedition's goals was to find the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida, the River of Doubt, and trace it north to the Madeira and then to the Amazon River. It was later renamed the Roosevelt River in his honor. Roosevelt's crew included his 24-year-old son Kermit. The expedition began on December 9, 1913, at the height of the rainy season. The trip down the River of Doubt started on February 27, 1914.
During the trip down the river, Roosevelt contracted malaria and a serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound. These conditions weakened Roosevelt severely and he had to be attended day and night by the expedition's physician and by his son, Kermit. By then he was unable to walk, due to the infection, fighting a fever that soared to 103 °F (39 °C). At times delirious. Roosevelt insisted he be left behind to allow the by then poorly provisioned expedition to proceed as rapidly as it could. Only an appeal by his son convinced him to continue. In spite of his continued decline and loss of what ultimately amounted to over 50 pounds (20 kg) of his original 220, Roosevelt completed the journey and then returned to New York, where friends and family were startled by his physical appearance and fatigue. Roosevelt wrote to a friend that the trip had cut his life short by ten years. When he had recovered sufficiently, he addressed a standing-room-only convention organized in Washington, D.C. by the National Geographic Society.
When World War I began in 1914, Roosevelt strongly supported the Allies and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially when it came to submarine warfare. Roosevelt angrily denounced the foreign policy of President Wilson, calling it a failure, citing atrocities in Belgium and the violations of American rights. In 1916, he campaigned energetically for Charles Evans Hughes and denounced Irish-Americans and German-Americans who Roosevelt said were unpatriotic because they put the interest of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's by supporting neutrality. He insisted one had to be 100% American, not a "hyphenated American" with divided loyalties. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Roosevelt wanted to raise a volunteer infantry division, but President Wilson refused to permit this.
His son Quentin, a pilot with the American forces in France, was shot down behind German lines in 1918. Quentin was his youngest son and probably his favorite. He took Quentin's death very hard.
Despite his poor health, Roosevelt was an enthusiastic proponent of the Scouting movement. The Boy Scouts of America gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to hold such title.
On January 6, 1919, Roosevelt died in his sleep at Oyster Bay, New York, of a coronary thrombosis (heart attack), preceded by a 2½-month illness described as inflammatory rheumatism. He is buried in nearby Young's Memorial Cemetery. Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archie telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall said "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."