>> i am pleased to announce a special mini-series of six lectures entitled great presidential lives. this series is particularly attractive for two main reasons. the first being its timeliness. as we

up next on american history tv. the university of mary washington history professor william crowley discusses theodore roosevelt's life and legacy, with the particular focus on his presidency. university of mary washington hosted this event and provided the video. >> i am pleased to announce a special mini-series of six lectures entitled great presidential lives. this series is particularly attractive for two main reasons. the first being its timeliness. as we face a presidential election year and prepare for it it will be a insight that all of us can benefit from. the second is the speaker himself, our esteemed umw professor emeritus of history, william crowley, who has just completed 50 years on the faculty of the university of mary washington. during that half century, professor crawley has contributed in innumerable ways, significant ways, certainly not least of all the creation of our renowned historic preservation program and the creation of this amazing great lives series. but it's for his excellence in teaching that he is perhaps best known, and certainly to literally thousands of our students who have come though our halls. he has received our institutions highest honors in teaching, both from his colleagues and from his

students, many of whom, through the years, have voted him as the faculty member who has made the greatest impact upon their lives. doctor crawley, through these years, has become a true icon of this community. and so it's with great pleasure that i introduce professor william b. crawley, who, drawing upon his 50 years of teaching political history, has truly learned and shared so much of his knowledge and will be sharing it again with us today as he looks at the life of one of six highly interesting and sometimes controversial presidents. and like many modern-day presidents, none is so straightforward as the story may recall, or that history may have told us. doctor crawley, would you please share with us now?

>> thank you, lisa. welcome every one to today's lecture on theodore roosevelt. a pivotal figure in american presidency. certainly one of the most colorful and dynamic figures to ever occupy that office. to understand roosevelt's contribution as the first great presidential leader of reform, and to appreciate how transformative his actions were, we need first to examine briefly the social, economic and cultural environment in which he lived. born in new york in 1858, roosevelt grew up in an era of rapid and vast growth in america as the nation expanded dramatically in terms of population, and above all, wealth. the booming economy of that age was aided by the advent of inventions, it was after all the age of edison. and by the development of huge corporations, often growing to monopolistic proportions. all underwritten philosophically by

the prevailing popularity of social darwinism. adherence to that philosophy, that is applying darwin's tenets of biological natural selection, that is survival of the fittest, to the world of economics, business, and society in general, supported a government philosophy of laissez-faire, whereby businesses were allowed to develop unfettered by government regulations. one consequence was the accumulation of enormous wealth by some, with nmes like morgan, rockefeller, carnegie, vanderbilt, and others, so called robber barons. at the same time, that wealth was unevenly distributed creating vast inequalities. the situation moved mark twain to term the era the gilded age, actually implying that society was bright and shining on the surface but increasingly built on a substratum of poverty. it was within this situation that

in the late 19th century demands for reform began to arise, a he movement promoted by the revelations of a group of activists known, somewhat derisively at the time, as the muckrakers. and it included such prominent writers as ida tarbell and her exposé of the standard oil trust, and the more widely known novelist upton sinclair whose book, the jungle, focused on the unsavory, literally unsavory practices of the meat packing industry. the first significant reform movement involved the populists led by william james jennings bryan in the 1890's, but that mostly agrarian movement never gained sufficient support from middle and upper class, and urban voters. so it was superseded around the turn of the century by a broader based movement known as progressivism. the success of that movement bringing out reform, largely owing to the energetic efforts of theodore

roosevelt, often simply referred to as tr or teddy. roosevelt, it should be noted, was not a very likely candidate, originally, to become a reform leader. he was in fact born into one of the wealthiest and most aristocratic of old new york families. it did not seem likely that one born into such a status would emerge as a leader for reform. he might well have been expected to be a firm conservative. that was not the case. why was it? as a child, roosevelt had been weak, sickly, troubled by asthma, terribly troubled by asthma, and weak eyesight. so he set out to correct these shortcomings. worked hard to improve his health. he became a

boxer. he became an ardent outdoorsmen. once spent a period of time working on a ranch in the west, and his zest for physical activity, particularly the belligerent kind became legendary. it has become customary to explain roosevelt's personality as being the result of overcompensation for his early physical inferiority. but whatever case that maybe, teddy roosevelt certainly took great pleasure in the physical, the adventurous and the dangerous. surely, few men have ever been able to gratify their desire to such an extent. his life was indeed a full one, so let's just hit the highlights of it. at the beginning, he graduated from harvard in 1880, studied law at columbia afterwards though did not receive his degree. he served one term in the new york legislature. he served six years at the new

york civil service commission. he served two years as new york commissioner. one year as assistant navy secretary. that might not seem a great job but he made exciting. it admiral duey to the philippines, in the spanish american war, cataclysmic andd, well, most important about it, the battle at manila bay, took place as a result of the marines being ordered to the philippines. he also served one term as governor of new york. now in addition to all of this, he was a well-known author. he wrote a

four volume study of the war of 1812, winning the west. he wrote a couple of popular biographies. he also worked out in the dakota territories as a rancher. and as pretty well known, he served in the spanish war, where he gloried in his role as the colonel who was the head of the rough riders. much is known about that, those exports, because he wrote about it. so many people were affected by roosevelt activities. one wit at the time said that the book was so self centered he should've titled it alone in cuba. he was a genuine scholar, he was an ornithologist, he was a genuine intellectual. it was -- there he is. colonel roosevelt. rough rider. his life was certainly not without sorrow. he suffered one of the most grievous

tragedies, i think, of any public figure i'm aware of, and that is his wife, to whom he was absolutely devoted died shortly after giving birth to their first child, alice, and within 24 hours of that his mother died. so, both his wife and mother were buried on the same day. theodore roosevelt was far from dull. people called him a lot of names, they attacked him. but nobody ever confused him with being dull. that he was not. and, fact it was his robust lifestyle, his enthusiastic approach to life that makes it surprising that he ever became president because to get there, he took the office of vice president. he was not all that excited about it. the reason that he got the nomination to run with mckinley as his vice presidential running mate is

that his previous running mate died in office. the reason that he got the job was because there were people within the republican party who wanted to get him out of new york, he was making a nuisance of himself in the eyes of conservatives, and so, how can we get rid of him in new york? someone had the great idea of kicking him upstairs, so to speak. and after all, the vice presidency was harmless. most people in the republican party were not bothered by. that one who was bothered was mark hannah, the man behind mckinley, a strong, firm conservative. discussing roosevelt's nomination, he said, don't you realize that there will only be one life between this mad man and the white house? well, apparently nobody cared. as i, said he was not enthusiastic about. it for a young man, he was young, there's not much to do. anyway, the vice president, mckinley was elected. so he became vice president of the united states. soon there was very much for the young man to do because and

december 6th, 1901, william mckinley was assassinated and teddy roosevelt at the age of 42 became the youngest president in american history, and still is. i know some will say, what about jack kennedy? well, this could be a trick question. you're taking a test. i never try to trick students but it could be a jeopardy question i guess. who was the youngest person ever be president? it's still theodore roosevelt. -- youngest elected, that is jack kennedy. so i thought that you might want to keep that distinction mind. in

any case, the aforementioned mark hannah was furious. he said that i told him to nominate that law. man asked what would happen. look, that cowboy is the president of the united states. as one historian wrote, historians in the early 1900s did not easily overlook an agitator, one of the world's most aristocratic names, churning out historical essays, who in addition happened to be president of the united states. americans probably expecting some incitement and they were not disappointed. teddy roosevelt was in his words, the

tom sawyer of his political world, always hunting for a chance to show off. one of his cabinet member put it this way. he sent a message to roosevelt. roosevelt's 46th birthday. the message read as follows. you have made a very good start in life. your friends have great hopes for you. surely he sought attention. he always wanted to be the center of attention. it's said that roosevelt always wanted to be the bride at every riding, the corpse at every funeral. here's the story anyway. the story is on one occasion, roosevelt came up to the front and said i had the most wonderful dream last week. i dreamed that i died and went to heaven. on the first night, a celestial choir sang -- it was magnificent. there were thousands sopranos, a thousand basses. and the friend said,

what then was this progressive movement about under roosevelt? so let's look what about the tenors? to first its was domestic. the which roosevelt replied, i sang tenor, you get the idea. thing to remember as i talk about these different elements of his domestic program, the important thing to bear in mind is that they were path breaking. they constituted such a dramatic break with the american past. particularly in terms of government regulation. i really used to ask my students, at this point, how big a role that the united states government play in the daily lives of americans at that time? what did the federal government do? the most

frequent answer was and this is true, the federal government was responsible for national security military. that is true. but that did not affect people on an everyday basis. how did the american government come into contact with the average americans? for this era, before roosevelt? the good answers, gotta deliver the mail. postal service. but aside from that there was not much interference from the federal government and the daily lives. but this began to change and that is why roosevelt and his presidency marked such an interesting and pivotal break in terms of increased government regulation. an increased role in the federal government so we will talk about specifics but that's the overarching point of all this. and several areas in which roosevelt was, and one was business regulation. you know,

the dictates of social darwinism and government didn't get involved or had any company -- but there were calls for change to try to correct some of the inequality is and a bunch of it helped with railroads. again i asked my students why ask about railroad? think about it. if you had to ship something how are you going to send it? one had to use railroads. so there was no focus on trying to -- first major thing that did that was the elkins act, passed in 1903. no need to get in the specifics with this one but suffice it to say that this particular act prohibits from getting refunds to large shippers, which made large shippers have kicked

bats. some people had to pay large amounts for freight. so it was a different concept to try to have the government step in say that business could be regulated that way. and that sort of thing. in the realm of conservation, here too this is one of tr's main interests, -- it provided the proceeds from the sale of government land should be used for federal irrigation projects. but overall pictures that the government was involved for the first time in conservation. most people up to that time had believed the country was so big and wealthy there was no need

to have conservation on anybody's mind. this was one thing that he supported and again the path breaking -- also there was a problem of regulating trusts, these giant monopolies. that you don't need to think too much to figure out why the existence of monopolies could be detrimental to the consumer. allowing prices to rise and so forth. that was one of the big progressive movements which was kind of restrictions of the trusts. indeed one of the pictures i remember from a high school textbook, are a cartoon showing roosevelt carrying a big stick. that was one of his models speaking softly and carrying a big stick. showing roosevelt carrying a big stick. his idea was not so much to break up the

trust, but his idea was to regulate them. to do something to restrict some of the more damaging, monopolistic practices. and so, what could he do? it was unlikely that he could get the kind of law passed that he wanted. so what he did was use what was available at the time which was the sherman antitrust act. that had been passed in 1890, but had rarely been used, because big business generally controlled the government during those years. the republican era of big business and so on, and so the act had not really been used very effectively if at all during that time. but by and large it had not been used very much in the 1890s. well, roosevelt instructed his attorney general

to bring suit against one of the biggest railroad trusts, the northern securities company. the northern securities corporation which controlled all the rail traffic in the west, particularly the northwest. and so they brought a suit against the northern securities, calling for its breakup on account of its monopolistic practices. and sure enough, the courts agreed and northern security was indeed broken up. setting, as i said, that precedent. and subsequently other monopolies were broken up as well. standard oil trust, american tobacco company and others. well, as a result of these activities, this vigorous

pursuit of trusts and as conservation work and so on, roosevelt was acquiring a very large following, great popularity. so that is not to say that everybody, the capitalists and monopolies them selves were not on his side, but the american public really was entranced by roosevelt. so in 1904 he was ready to seek the presidency in his own right. which he did, but he did one thing he probably wished he had not done. probably. that is, he promised that if elected he would not seek another term, which he could have done then as there was no prohibition against it. franklin d. roosevelt did approve it. he was elected four times. but roosevelt promised he would not seek another term if he was elected and he was elected. he was elected by a landslide.

very few people in this audience could tell me who he ran against. i have to scarcely remember it myself every time i talk about this. his name was alton b. parker. as i said to my students, not a household name, saving his own household. he was overwhelmingly defeated when roosevelt that the presidency 1904 and was elected by acclamation, an overwhelmingly victory. when he was president in his own right he promised a square deal for the american people. one of the things he did to get the square deal was to address, again, the railroad problem. this may seem to my students as kind of a petty sort of thing, but it certainly is not. not a terribly important thing, but

it was. it turned out that the elkin's act was not being effectively enforced, because what happened was that in order to get change and in order to address and redress some of these grievances of the elkins act, the courts were notoriously conservative and often decided in favor of businesses as opposed to the consumer. and so, what's roosevelt wanted was the ability, for the government have the ability to set the rates that the railroads could charge, which was a tremendous departure in practice from previous practices. that was what was embodied in the hepburn act. harry had the government with the right -- which had been established earlier. the right to actually fix the rates that railroads could charge without going

through the court system. by any occasion, president was there that the government might be able to control, control is maybe too strong a word, but to affect other businesses by setting regulations and so forth without going first through the court system. bringing us to another of roosevelts major contributions. did i say this? i don't know if i said this. i should have said it. that this was embodied in the hepburn bill. in any case, the hepburn bill. but the other -- another significant roosevelt achievement was the passage of today we would call consumer protection laws. i'm not sure you could call it that. but a couple of these in particular, one was the federal

meat inspection act. as you might assume, if you know with the jungle is about, you might assume correctly that this was probably influenced by the popularity of that novel. but what it did was provide for federal inspection of all meat products involved in interstate commerce. in a second similar act which was the drug food and drug act, which prohibited the selling of products particularly canned and bottled goods under false or misleading nibbles. this was important, because a lot of patent medicines that were widely used and very popular, and they did oftentimes, the bottled ones did relieve pain and it did help, but the problem was it did not say on the label that in regards to alcohol, i think sometimes almost 100 proof. so people who drank it did indeed feel better, but only briefly, and it was certainly not a curative or anything. so with this said, we have to bottle things and label things

truthfully as to what is in the product. these were very important consumer protection laws. now, with regard to the major social issues of the day, roosevelt's performance was, i think we have to say mixed. concerning women's suffrage, for example, he was an early advocate, going all the way back to 1880 and his senior thesis at harvard, he had written quote, i think there can be no question that women should have equal rights with men. and quote. that is a pretty direct statement, is it not? and while president he continued to support women's suffrage and even included it in his 1912 platform, we'll get to that briefly in one minute. but his public support was, shall we say, less and furtive. he once said quote, personally i believe that women's suffrage, but i'm not enthusiastic advocate of it, because i do not regard it as a very important matter. on another

occasion, he was even more condescending saying quote we hear much about women's rights. decent men should be thinking about women's rights all the time. while the men are doing that the women should be attending to the amenities. in any case he did not live to see the passage of the 19th amendment. the women's suffrage amendment, dying six months before it was passed by congress in june of 1919. now his views on racial matters were even more problematic. on the one hand, he earned the praise of progressives and the hatred of southern segregationists when inviting workers to washington to the white house for dinner. and this was regarded as a audacious act at the time. but on the other hand, his record was besmirch by his role in brownsville affair, in which he on very flimsy evidence issued

dishonourable discharges to an entire company black soldiers, segregated, course, who are alleged to have been involved in a disturbance in texas. they were exonerated decades later. not that it did those individual any good at the time. they were exonerated in the 1970s. his record was mixed. to a large extent, tr's domestic actions were overshadowed by more dramatic events. -- in the long run, the most noteworthy endeavor of the

presidency. to examine the complex imaginations of the panama canal would take more time than we have in this lecture, so i must summarize this convoluted story of politics, diplomacy, and international intrigue. it included mainly the u.s. and columbia, of which panama was apart at that time. the gist of it is that after much negotiation a treaty was written by the u.s. and columbia, but terms which the u.s. would be permitted to build a canal across panama in exchange for 10 million dollars and the annual rental of 250,000 dollars. but before it could be finalized by respective governments, columbia walked and refused to ratify the agreement claiming it would be a rat violation of their sovereignty, which was true. even though the country had every right to reject the

treaty roosevelt was furious. appalled that they would turn down the greatest project in the history of civilization. the truth is, roosevelt was generally contemptuous of latin americans anyway. referring to the club he and the government wherein as quote the contents to bill a little creatures and bogota. and as foolish and corrupt. yesterday we may have to give a reason -- a lesson to these jackrabbit's. politically correct, he was not. if anyone dare to mention columbia had every legal right to do what their country would, roosevelt would be furious, and he declared i want that canal, to talk of columbia as a responsible power to be dealt with as we will deal with holland or belgium orswitzerlans switzerland or denmark is

absurd. the analogy is more with a group of sicilian bandits. you cannot make an agreement with columbia related more than you can nail jelly to the wall. with regard to them. what that turned out to be a devious involvement in arranging for panama to declare its independence from columbia. with what appears to have been roosevelts surreptitious support. details on this episode remain murky, but the consensus is roosevelt did have a hand in conniving for the achievement of panamanian independence. once panama declared its independence, the moved immediately to recognize the nation and signed a treaty that gave the u.s. the right to a ten mile wide canal zone

across the country. and work soon began on this enormous project and was completed in 1914, just on the eve of world war one. one residue of the whole affair was a lingering columbian resentment towards the u.s., understandable. not surprisingly, roosevelt defended his actions regarding panama confirming in every respect what he called the highest, fines and nicest standards and governmental ethics. on another occasion later on, he came perhaps more closer to the truth when he boldly declared, i took the canal zone, and let congress debate. and while the debate goes on, the canal does also. in any event, this was not roosevelt's finest hour, and certainly not his most admirable one. and then there was the matter, another problematic one, that the so

called roosevelt corollary to the monroe doctrine, a source of further contention with latin america. now, the original monroe doctrine proclaimed in 1834 the latin america was no longer open to european colonization, a unilateral proclamation that had largely gone unchallenged in the intervening decades. the end of the century, when england and germany the threatened to intervene and latin american countries to collect debts, roosevelt came to the point of issuing this corollary to the effect that despite latin american opposition to such actions the u. s. would intervene in several instances, notably in the dominican republic. cuba was especially resistant to american intervention, an attitude which sent the

volatile tr into a tirade, saying this. i am at this moment so upset with the infernal little cuban republic but i would like to wipe its people off the face of the earth. i would like that they behave themselves, be prosperous and happy, so that we would not have to intervene. now, lo and behold, started an utterly a justifiable and pointless revolution that has got things in such a snarl that we have no alternative except to intervene. latin americans tended to be skeptical or opposed to such intervention, regarding it as a infringement to their sovereignty, and

particularly fearful of the u.s. using it as an opportunity for annexation. i'm out of roosevelt vehemently denied. an actual operation, the corollary did not result in prolonged american [inaudible]. but it did lead to distrust and hatred which many south american republics had toward the united states for many years until the corollary was officially reversed by franklin d. roosevelt's good neighbor policy. a more positive example of roosevelt's expansive out look at foreign policy concern his efforts to bring an end to the long running russo-japanese war. he invited delegates to meet in portsmouth, new hampshire, which resulted in a treaty during the war to the. and it was for those of facts -- efforts that roosevelt was awarded the nobel peace prize. i can send you, it's

undoubtedly the most unlikely recipient ever to receive a peace prize. given his naturally aggressive tendencies, it was during a roosevelt presidency that the u.s. began to establish itself as a world power. roosevelt attempted to illustrate that emergence through a symbolic and somewhat controversial episode known as the voyage of the great white fleet. his idea was to send the entire u.s. naval fleet on a world tour. when congress indicated its refusal to fund such a venture, roosevelt came up with a particularly audacious strategy. he let it be known that he already had enough money in his current budget to send the fleet halfway around the world, which he fully intended to do, and if congress wished their return they would have to appropriate the necessary funds to do it. the play worked. off went the

ships, all painted white over their usual gun metal gray. the critics feared the worst. particularly when the fleet visited japan. the fleet that was considerable hostility at the time. the fleet was warmly welcomed its voyage in japan, while it was of no particular strategic importance it was significant in -- increasing world prominence which would need more evident in world war i. it was clear that roosevelt could have easily reelected to a third term in 1908 but, true to his word given in 1904, a mistake i think he realized, he did not run. instead he opted for an african safari, which prompted one of his opponents to said he hoped that every lion would do its duty. before he left, roosevelt was careful to hand pick his successor, a man who he thought would continue to carry on his progressive programs. the man he chose was his friend william

howard taft. it was a choice he would live to regret. she shortly before leaving office, tr provided insight into his future plans in a rather poignant letter to his daughter, in which he wrote, every now and then people come to me, tell me that our country must faced the problem of what it will do with its ex presidents. and i always answer them that there will be one ex president about whom they need not give themselves the slightest concern. for he will do for himself, without any outside assistance. and i add that they need waste no sympathy on me, tjat i've had the best time of any man of my age in all the world and i have enjoyed my stay at the white house. nor have i known any other to enjoy -- i will enjoy myself thoroughly when i leave the

white house, continue to do some work that will count. as it turned out, roosevelt did not accomplish any particularly great achievements after all, though not for lack of effort. it suddenly became apparent that tr was restless in retirement. after all, there were so many elephants to kill and he became increasingly disappointied in what he perceived as a lack of progressive commitment by his successor and soon to be former friend, president taft. his pent-up zeal was evident in what was probably the best known speech of his entire career -- the oft-quoted man in the arena speech that he delivered in paris in 1910 two

years after he left the white house. now, you've probably heard it before but let me quote, because i think it so eloquently reveals roosevelt basic character. and i think you will agree that it is a powerful speech and that it is eloquently expressed. it is not the critic who counts, he said, not the man who points out how the strongman stumbles or whether the doer of deeds could have done them better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errors, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great

enthusiasms, great devotions, who spends himself on a worthy cause, who at their best knows at the end the tribe of high a treatment and who had their worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls neither no victory nor defeat. fearing that progressivism was withering under taft, no doubt missing the excitement of the presidency and its opportunities for using its bully pulpit, roosevelt decided to run again as 1912 as a candidate of the progressive party which he established, popularly known as the bull moose party, after roosevelt himself declared himself to be quote, strong as a bull moose. in that election the split of republican votes between him and the incumbent taft -- the

election of the democrat woodrow wilson. it was during this campaign that tr was the victim of an attempted assassination, in which during, giving speech he was hit by and assassins bullet. it resulted in a superficial wound and typical of roosevelts bravado, he continued the speech. i think most people having been shot, however superficially, would probably call it a day. but not the inimitable tr. after 1914 as the great war in your waged, roosevelt was an ardent advocate of american intervention, no surprise there, and in fact petitioned then president wilson to let him raise a volunteer regiment or if, allow the rough riders to fight in europe. roosevelt's son wynton was killed in the

war, which some believed diminished roosevelts belligerent attitude. in any case, by the time he died in early 1919, not an old man. he was in his late fifties, i believe. in any case, roosevelt had already done enough by that time to secure his legacy as one of america's greatest presidents. and so, what was that legacy? theodore roosevelt made many contributions to the progressive movement. it is quite likely that it would never had flourish without his energetic leadership. the laws that passed illustrate his ability to bring about reform through the legislative process, but certainly, roosevelt's greatest service to the progressive relatively seen in the impetus movement was not to be seen in any one law or set of laws that he gave to reform -- he which were passed, but served most effectively -- a

cheerleader for reform. roosevelt was the greatest publicity man progressivism has ever had. i would suggest that roosevelt service to the nation included a whole new concept to the office of the presidency should be. in tr's view, the president should be a true leader, not just a passive a follower of the american people. and that sense i think that roosevelt may be considered the first truly modern president. and carrying out his conception of the active presidency, roosevelt was uniquely well equipped by his personality. his flamboyant, robust and spirited attitude, one for him and admiration seldom granted any national political -- before or. since he was not sure the men knew the american public could identify. in a popular poem at that time describing the

national feeling following -- tr's chasing a bear. busting a trust and drying it from its layer. they called tr a lot of things. the men in the private -- the day coach likes tr. as one observer put it quote, he was just a great big boy. charmed by his personality. you cannot resist the man. historians have generally agreed that the popular feeling of his contemporaries, that teddy roosevelt was unique and modern make american history. as one would put it, if the rough rider was not the greatest of presidents, he was undoubtedly the noisiest. he carried a big stick all right. his soft stick resembled the writ the billowing of a bull moose during mating season. he became an iconic figure partly

as a result of the teddy bear. the eponymous teddy bear. that story began with an alabama bear hunt. a great hunter that he was, great outdoorsman that he was, he had for some reason expressed a desire to go on a bear hunt in alabama apparently in the mountains of alabama, there were barriers to be had and shot. so he went. to his disappointment, i guess he found no bears. so his host, not wanting him to be disappointed, believe it or not found a bear somehow. -- he tethered the bear to a tree. so when roosevelt came back he saw that he could shoot the beer. he did come back and saw that there. but as you can imagine in his sense of sportsmanship he did not shoot it. he ordered the bear to be released. it was hurt by, among others, that the

brooklyn candy store armor also sold toys was made by him and his wife. and so they were inspired to make a brown plush bear with button eyes. to put in his store window and he labeled it teddies bear. and now, to read you a description of the unfolding legend, from that modest start the most beloved and famous toy in the country was launched. none of us who could be without it. it became a security blanket for literally millions of children including of course the ones whose father had inspired it. the republicans took the symbol of taking over their hearts and it became the symbol for all of the rallies. at the dinner in

the white house were all of tr's -- as he prepared to leave the presidency. the teddy bears were arranged. that's how it a little poem appeared, called teddies weep. beneath the fading christmas tree there long vigil keeping, they heard the little teddy bears in the stillness softly weep. we joined them in their saw soft lament. in the traditions and. keeping they meant so much to. us their patron saint is sleeping. in his book, presidential greatness, noted historian, --, summed it up this way. he wrote roosevelt was a great personality, a great teacher of the duality,'s a great showman who dominated the around just as he dominated the centuries. sometimes people wondered if they had any

administration or circus. he was a great egoist. a great self glow of fire. a great exhibitionist. so much as some critics felt that he degraded the dignity of his high office. the masses loved. it he proved to be a great popular idol and vote getter. a politician whose also is great opportunist at the same time a great leader. so i would say in conclusion, that theodore roosevelt had been better balanced, the adolescence that some called him, he would have been perhaps a greater, man perhaps a greater president, then he would not have been president roosevelt. one of his friends summed up best the feeling of the american people when he said of roosevelt rather -- shortly after the rough riders death. you have to hate the colonel a lot not to lobby him. >> thank. you

herbert hoover, the 34th u.s. president was boehner's childhood home in iowa in 1964. using archival footage, audio visual archivist lynn smith looked at the events surrounding that day. the hoover presidential foundation is the host of this event, it is just over an hour. today's presentation is called hoover's last trip home. our speaker is linda smith, the audio visual archivist at the hoover presidential library museum, where she's worked since november, 2000. her previous work experience includes serving as the government documents departments supervisor at the university of denver and archivist for the forest service in montana. she is a certified archivist and holds a b. a. in history from the university of northern colorado, masters in archival management from colorado state university and an nfl i. s. from the university of denver. she is chaired the archivist