Research Guides: U.S. Presidents &amp; Presidency: Roosevelt

Resources

Theodore Roosevelt: Miller Center
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. Roosevelt seized on this trend, believing that the President had the right to use all powers except those that were specifically denied him to accomplish his goals. As a result, the President, rather than Congress or the political parties, became the center of the American political arena. As President, Roosevelt challenged the ideas of limited government and individualism. In their stead, he advocated government regulation to achieve social and economic justice. He used executive orders to accomplish his goals, especially in conservation, and waged an aggressive foreign policy. He was also an extremely popular President and the first to use the media to appeal directly to the people, bypassing the political parties and career politicians.
Theodore Roosevelt: White House
With the assassination of President William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the 26th and youngest President in the Nation’s history (1901-1909). He brought new excitement and power to the office, vigorously leading Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.

Archives, Research & Reference

Digital Library: Theodore Roosevelt Center
Unlike modern presidents, Theodore Roosevelt does not have a presidential library. Instead, his personal and presidential papers are scattered in libraries and other sites across the United States. The mission of the Theodore Roosevelt Center is to gather together and digitize copies of all Roosevelt-related items, to make his legacy more readily accessible to scholars and schoolchildren, enthusiasts and interested citizens. Items in the digital library include correspondence to and from Roosevelt, diary entries, notes, political cartoons, scrapbooks, newspaper columns and magazine articles by and about Roosevelt, speeches, and photographs. Users can also view film clips and listen to audio recordings.
Theodore Roosevelt: Credo Reference
A Credo Reference landing page on Theodore Roosevelt. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
Theodore Roosevelt: The American Presidency Project
Information and speeches from Theodore Roosevelt from The American Presidency Project.
Theodore Roosevelt in the U.S. Census Records
Information from the National Archives.

Theodore Roosevelt

This episode of Perspectives tells the story of one of history’s most vital, energetic, and flamboyant personalities. Theodore Roosevelt became the chief executive of the United States, but he was also an explorer, scientist, statesman, historian, and a great patriot. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. (23 minutes) Distributed by A&E Television Networks.

Source: Films on Demand

Theodore Roosevelt and Progressivism

Progressive reformers in the early 1900s tried to increase honesty and efficiency in business and government. Theodore Roosevelt, the first president to embrace the Progressive outlook, established the principle of presidential initiative in progressive legislative programs and created a template for his successors to increase federal government power over the states.

Source: Kanopy

Perspectives

Theodore Roosevelt

An intimate portrait of the first president of the 20th century The American century opened with the election of that quintessentially American adventurer, Theodore Roosevelt. Louis Auchincloss's warm and knowing biography introduces us to the man behind the many myths of Theodore Roosevelt. From his early involvement in the politics of New York City and then New York State, we trace his celebrated military career and finally his ascent to the national political stage. Caricatured through history as the "bull moose," Roosevelt was in fact a man of extraordinary discipline whose refined and literate tastes actually helped spawn his fascination with the rough-and-ready worlds of war and wilderness. Bringing all his novelist's skills to the task, Auchincloss briskly recounts the significant contributions of Roosevelt's career and administration. This biography is as thorough as it is readable, as clear-eyed as it is touching and personal.

The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt's letters are now accessible in this single-volume compendium of the most revealing of the former president's correspondence.

Theodore Roosevelt: the Rough Riders, an Autobiography

Reformer, rancher, conservationist, hunter, historian, police commissioner, soldier, the youngest man ever to serve as President of the United States--no other American public figure has led as vigorous and varied a life as Theodore Roosevelt. This Library of America volume brings together two of his most memorable autobiographical works. The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment Roosevelt led to enduring fame during the Spanish-American War. With his characteristic élan he recounts how the regiment was raised from an unusual mixture of privileged Northeastern college men and hardened Southwestern frontiersmen--"these grim hunters of the mountains, these wild rough riders of the plains"--and how it trained in Texas and then "sailed southward through the tropic seas toward the unknown." Writing at the time when war could still be seen as a romantic adventure, Roosevelt vividly describes the confusion of fighting in the jung≤ the heat, hunger, rain, mud, and malaria of the Cuban campaign; and his "crowded hour" of triumph on the San Juan Heights during the Battle of Santiago. In An Autobiography (1913), Roosevelt recalls his lifelong fascination with natural history, his love of hunting and the outdoors, and his adventures as a cattleman in the Dakota Badlands, as well as his career in politics as a state legislator, civil service reformer, New York police commissioner, assistant secretary of the navy, governor of New York, and president. Roosevelt writes of his battles against corruption, his efforts to establish America as a world power, his passionate commitment to conservation, and his growing conviction that only a strong national government and an energetic presidency could protect the public against the rapacious greed of modern corporations. Combining vivid and amusing anecdotes with clear and eloquent statements of progressive principles, An Autobiography is a classic American memoir. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

The Wilderness Warrior

"Douglas Brinkley brings to this magnificent story of Theodore Roosevelt's crusade on behalf of America's national parks the same qualities that made TR so fascinating a figure--an astonishing range of knowledge, a superb narrative skill, a wonderfully vivid writing style and an inexhaustible energy." --Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals A vast, inspiring, and enormously entertaining book." -- New York Times Book Review From New York Times bestselling historian Douglas Brinkley comes a sweeping historical narrative and eye-opening look at the pioneering environmental policies of President Theodore Roosevelt, avid bird-watcher, naturalist, and the founding father of America's conservation movement--now approaching its 100th anniversary.

The River of Doubt

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait--the bestselling author of Destiny of the Republic brings us the true story of Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. The River of Doubt--it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever. Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived. From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt's life, here is Candice Millard's dazzling debut.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt: Hunter-Conservationist reflects the zest for life that was so powerfully characteristic of TR. For decades, Roosevelt's big game hunting books have been among the most often quoted and reprinted of works in that genre. But no illustrated biography of Roosevelt as the consummate hunter, outdoorsman, and arms enthusiast existed until this pioneering work. With insights from acclaimed producer, director, and screenwriter John Milius (Rough Riders, The Wind and the Lion, Red Dawn, Dillinger, Apocalypse Now, et al.), this monumental book captures the adventurous outdoor life of the hunter, rancher, explorer, soldier, statesman, author, conservationist, and wholly visionary 26th President of the United States. As a dedicated conservationist, Roosevelt will forever be a heroic figure to America's outdoorsmen. A combination of sportsman and naturalist, TR was as serious about his hunting as he was about conservation of the world's natural resources. This book's striking illustrations draw on historical images and original documents from various Roosevelt archives--Harvard University, the Library of Congress, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, and the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Historic Site. Lavish in every way, Theodore Roosevelt: Hunter-Conservationist presents a sweeping view of TR's unique legacy as an international hunter and adventurer, and his unrivaled achievements as history's foremost conservationist. TR's stewardship, sportsmanship, and leadership have set the standard of excellence and responsibility for humankind's wise use of wilderness resources, a matter of particular significance in modern times.

Theodore Roosevelt | 60-Second Presidents | PBS

Here's everything you need to know about Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, in just 60 seconds.

Theodore Roosevelt, Conservationist

Trace the origins of the conservation movement in the 19th century, and its early initiatives to establish federal protection of wilderness in the face of staunch opposition from commercial interests. Grasp the astonishing conservation record of President Theodore Roosevelt, whose efforts created a wide spectrum of national parks, wildlife preserves, and national forests.

Source: Kanopy