Presidents of the United States: Theodore Roosevelt, the president who served as inspiration for the Teddy Bear

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of profiles taking a closer look at US presidents ahead of the 2024 presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Theodore Roosevelt was a larger-than-life figure. He was a writer, a big-game hunter, and a soldier - a man’s man. Roosevelt served as the inspiration for the Teddy Bear, one of America’s most popular toys.

Let’s take a closer look at the 26th President of the United States.

Early years

Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York, New York. His father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr, was a businessman, while his mother Martha came from a wealthy family that owned slaves.

As a boy, Roosevelt was often in poor health. However, in his teen years, he dedicated himself to gymnastics and weightlifting. His early education, as was fitting with the time, was given over to private tutors.

Roosevelt went to Harvard College and briefly attended Columbia Law School. But he was not one for the law. Instead, he turned his attention to writing and politics.

Politics

In 1882, Roosevelt was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican. Just 23 years old, Roosevelt would serve two terms in office. However, in 1884, tragedy would befall Roosevelt when his wife Alice and mother Martha died on the same day.

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A grief-stricken Roosevelt abandoned politics. He would spend the next two years on a ranch in Dakota – hunting big game animals, herding cattle and working as sheriff.

When he finally returned to New York, Roosevelt married his childhood sweetheart Edith Kermit Carow. They would have six children together.

In 1886, Roosevelt launched an unsuccessful bid for the mayor of New York. He next served in the Civil Service Commission and then became assistant secretary of the US Navy.

Roosevelt gained national fame after fighting in the Spanish-American war as part of the Rough Riders – a volunteer cavalry unit he put together to fight in Cuba. Roosevelt would recount tales of the fighting in his popular memoirs including the famous charge up Kettle Hill.

By the time Roosevelt returned to the United States, he was practically a national hero. Little surprise then that the Republican bosses tapped him to run for governor of New York. In 1898, Roosevelt was elected governor. He immediately began rooting out corruption in the system and even defied his powerful party bosses.

So angry were they with Roosevelt that they hatched a scheme to get rid of him. Their solution? Make Roosevelt the running mate of then-president William McKinley. It worked. The McKinley-Roosevelt ticket easily defeated the Democratic ticket of William Jennings Bryan and Adlai E Stevenson.

But history was to take a left turn. On September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. Eight agonising days later, he passed away. And Roosevelt was commander-in-chief.

At 43 years old, Roosevelt became the youngest president in American history.

Time in office

Roosevelt’s first change was to give the White House its current name. He would also open up its doors to a parade of entertainers, artists, writers, cowboys and prizefighters. His biggest action was arguably reviving the Sherman Antitrust Act.

This would lead to the dissolution of the railroad giant Northern Securities Company and earn Roosevelt the moniker of ‘trust buster.’ He would file similar lawsuits against dozens of other companies and become wildly popular with the American people.

Arguably his biggest achievement came in a field that was dear to his heart – conserving nature. The National Reclamation Act of June 1902 sought to set up large-scale irrigation projects. He also set aside 200 million acres for the preservation of forests and wildlife.

It was in 1902 that the most famous story concerning Roosevelt gained fame. Roosevelt, on a hunting trip, refused to shoot a bear. A toymaker named a stuffed bear for Roosevelt – and thus was born the Teddy Bear.

When it came to foreign affairs, Roosevelt famously championed the policy of “speak softly and carry a big stick”. His intervention in Panama’s secession from Colombia and the beginning of the construction of the Panama Canal was seen as a classic example of this.

In 1904, Roosevelt would press his case for re-election and be voted back in. “I believe in a strong executive; I believe in power,” he later wrote. “While President, I have been President, emphatically; I have used every ounce of power there was in the office.… I do not believe that any President ever had as thoroughly good a time as I have had, or has ever enjoyed himself as much.”

Roosevelt also won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Russo-Japanese War, the first American to win the award.

Legacy

Today, Roosevelt is known mostly for his conservation efforts. However, Roosevelt also did much to pull America out of its isolation and prepare it to take the stage as a world power.