Theodore Roosevelt

For other people named Theodore Roosevelt, see Theodore Roosevelt

(disambiguation).

Theodore Roosevelt

President Roosevelt - Pach Bros.tif

26th President of the United States

In office

September 14, 1901 March 4, 1909

Vice President None (19011905)

Charles W. Fairbanks

(19051909)

Preceded by William McKinley

Succeeded by William Howard Taft

25th Vice President of the United States

In office

March 4, 1901 September 14, 1901

President William McKinley

Preceded by Garret Hobart

Succeeded by Charles W. Fairbanks

33rd Governor of New York

In office

January 1, 1899 December 31, 1900

Lieutenant Timothy L. Woodruf

Preceded by Frank S. Black

Succeeded by Benjamin Barker Odell Jr.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy

In office

April 19, 1897 May 10, 1898

President William McKinley

Preceded by William McAdoo

Succeeded by Charles Herbert Allen

Police Commissioner of New York City

In office

18951897

New York State Assembly Minority Leader

In office

January 1, 1883 December 31, 1883

Preceded by Thomas G. Alvord

Succeeded by Frank Rice

Member of the New York State Assembly

from the Manhattan 21st district

In office

January 1, 1882 December 31, 1884

Preceded by William J. Trimble

Succeeded by Henry A. Barnum

Personal details

Born Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

October 27, 1858

New York City, New York, U.S.

Died January 6, 1919 (aged 60)

Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.

Resting place Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.

Political party

Republican (18801911; 19161919) Progressive "Bull Moose" (19121916)

Spouse(s)

Alice Lee

(m. 1880; her death 1884)

Edith Carow

(m. 1886; his death 1919)

Relations See Roosevelt family

Children Alice, Theodore III, Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin

Parents

Theodore Roosevelt Sr. Martha Bulloch Roosevelt

Education Harvard University (A.B.)

Columbia Law School (J.D.)

Profession

Author Conservationist Explorer Historian Naturalist Politician Soldier

Awards Nobel Prize.png Nobel Peace Prize (1906)

Medal of Honor ribbon.svg Medal of Honor

(Posthumously; 2001)

Signature Cursive signature in ink

Military service

Allegiance United States of America

Service/branch

United States Army

New York National Guard

Years of service 18821886, 1898

Rank US-O6 insignia.svg Colonel

Commands 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry

Battles/wars SpanishAmerican War

Battle of Las Guasimas

Battle of San Juan Hill

TheodoreRoosevelt(cropped).jpg This article is part of

a series about
Theodore Roosevelt

Political positions Electoral history

Early life Family The Naval War of 1812

Rough Riders Battle of San Juan Hill

Governor of New York

Governorship "The Strenuous Life"

Vice President of the United States

1900 McKinley-Roosevelt campaign

"Speak softly and carry a big stick"

President of the United States

Presidency

First term

McKinley assassination 1st inauguration

Square Deal West Wing Coal strike

Booker T. Washington dinner

Venezuela crisis Roosevelt Corollary

Second term

1904 campaign Election

2nd inauguration Conservation

Antiquities Act Forest Service

Pure Food and Drug Act

FDA Swift & Co. v. United States

Meat Inspection Act

Treaty of Portsmouth Nobel Prize FBI

Panama Canal Great White Fleet

1912 election

Republican Convention

Progressive Party Convention New Nationalism Assassination attempt

Post Presidency

African Expedition River of Doubt Expedition

"Citizenship in a Republic" WWI volunteers

Legacy Memorials

President of the United States

Coat of Arms of Theodore Roosevelt.svg

vte

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (/rozvlt/ roh-z-velt;[a] October 27, 1858 January 6,

1919) was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and
reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to
1909. He also served as the 25th Vice President of the United States and as the
33rd Governor of New York. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time,
he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early
20th century. Alongside George Washington, Thomas Jeferson, and Abraham
Lincoln, his image stands on Mount Rushmore.

Roosevelt was born a sickly child with debilitating asthma, but he successfully
overcame his physical health problems by embracing a strenuous lifestyle. He
integrated his exuberant personality, vast range of interests, and world-famous
achievements into a "cowboy" persona defined by robust masculinity. Home-
schooled, he began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard
College. His book, The Naval War of 1812 (1882), established his reputation as
both a learned historian and as a popular writer. Upon entering politics, he
became the leader of the reform faction of Republicans in New York's state
legislature. Following the near-simultaneous deaths of his wife and mother, he
escaped to a cattle ranch in the Dakotas. Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary
of the Navy under President William McKinley, but resigned from that post to lead
the Rough Riders during the SpanishAmerican War. Returning a war hero, he was
elected Governor of New York in 1898. After the death of Vice President Garret
Hobart, the New York state party leadership convinced McKinley to accept
Roosevelt as his running mate in the 1900 election, moving Roosevelt to the
prestigious but powerless role of vice president. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously
and the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket won a landslide victory based on a platform of
peace, prosperity, and conservatism.

Following McKinley's assassination in September 1901, Roosevelt became

president at age 42, and remains the youngest president. As a leader of the
Progressive movement, he championed his "Square Deal" domestic policies,
promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads,
and pure food and drugs. Making conservation a top priority, he established a
myriad of new national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the
nation's natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America,
where he began construction of the Panama Canal. He expanded the Navy and
sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States' naval
power around the globe. His successful eforts to broker the end of the Russo-
Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. He avoided the controversial
tarif and money issues. Elected in 1904 to a full term, Roosevelt continued to
promote progressive policies, but many of his eforts and much of his legislative
agenda were eventually blocked in Congress. Roosevelt successfully groomed his
close friend, William Howard Taft, and Taft won the 1908 presidential election to
succeed him. In polls of historians and political scientists, Roosevelt is generally
ranked as one of the five best presidents.[2]

Frustrated with Taft's conservatism, Roosevelt belatedly tried to win the 1912
Republican nomination. He failed, walked out, and founded a third party, the
Progressive, so-called "Bull Moose" Party, which called for wide-ranging
progressive reforms. The split allowed the Democrats to win the White House and
a majority in both houses of Congress. Following his election defeat, Roosevelt
led a two-year expedition to the Amazon basin, where he nearly died of tropical
disease. During World War I, he criticized President Woodrow Wilson for keeping
the country out of the war with Germany, and his ofer to lead volunteers to
France was rejected. Though he had considered running for president again in
1920, Roosevelt's health continued to deteriorate, and he died in 1919.

Contents [hide]

1 Early life and family

2 Education

3 Naval history and strategy

4 First marriage and widowerhood

5 Early political career

5.1 State Assemblyman

5.2 Presidential election of 1884

6 Cowboy in Dakota

7 Second marriage

8 Reentering public life

8.1 Civil Service Commission

8.2 New York City Police Commissioner

9 Emergence as a national figure

9.1 Assistant Secretary of the Navy

9.2 War in Cuba

9.2.1 Roosevelt as a veteran

9.3 Governor of New York

9.4 Vice President

10 Presidency (19011909)

10.1 Domestic policies

10.1.1Trust busting and regulation

10.1.2Coal strike

10.1.3Prosecuted misconduct

10.1.4Railroads

10.1.5Pure food and drugs

10.1.6Business

10.1.7Conservation

10.1.8Executive orders

10.2 Foreign policy

10.2.1Latin America and Panama Canal

10.3 Media

10.4 Election of 1904

10.5 Second-term troubles

11 Post-presidency
11.1 Election of 1908

11.2 Africa and Europe (19091910)

11.3 Republican Party schism

11.4 Election of 1912

11.4.1Republican primaries and convention

11.4.2The Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party

11.4.3Assassination attempt

11.4.4Election results

11.5 19131914 South American Expedition

12 Final years

13 Death

14 Writer

14.1 Character and beliefs

15 Political positions

16 Legacy

16.1 Persona and masculinity

17 Memorials

17.1 Theodore Roosevelt Association

17.1.1Another Attempt at a Presidential Library

17.2 In popular culture

18 Media

19 See also

20 Notes

21 References

22 Bibliography

22.1 Full biographies

22.2 Personality and activities

22.3 Domestic policies

22.4 Politics

22.5 Foreign and military policies

22.6 Historiography

22.7 Primary sources

23 External links

23.1 Official

23.2 Organizations

23.3 Libraries and collections

23.4 Media

23.5 Other

Early life and family

Theodore Roosevelt at age 11

Roosevelt's coat of arms, featuring a rose bush in reference to the name:

"Roosevelt", which is Dutch for "rose field"[3]

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was born on October 27, 1858, at East 20th Street in New
York City.[4] He was the second of four children born to socialite Martha Stewart
"Mittie" Bulloch and businessman and philanthropist Theodore Roosevelt Sr. He
had an older sister, Anna (nicknamed "Bamie"), a younger brother, Elliott, and a
younger sister, Corinne. Elliott was later the father of First Lady Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt, the wife of Theodore's distant cousin, President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. His paternal grandfather was of Dutch descent;[5] his other ancestry
included primarily Scottish and Scots-Irish, English[6] and smaller amounts of
German, Welsh, and French.[7] Theodore Sr. was the fifth son of businessman
Cornelius Van Schaack "C.V.S." Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill. Theodore's
fourth cousin, James Roosevelt I, who was also a businessman, was the father of
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Mittie was the younger daughter of Major
James Stephens Bulloch and Martha P. "Patsy" Stewart.[8] Through the Van
Schaacks, Roosevelt was a descendant of the Schuyler family.[9]

Roosevelt's youth was largely shaped by his poor health and debilitating asthma.
He repeatedly experienced sudden nighttime asthma attacks that caused the
experience of being smothered to death, which terrified both Theodore and his
parents. Doctors had no cure.[10] Nevertheless, he was energetic and
mischievously inquisitive.[11] His lifelong interest in zoology began at age seven
when he saw a dead seal at a local market; after obtaining the seal's head,
Roosevelt and two cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of
Natural History". Having learned the rudiments of taxidermy, he filled his
makeshift museum with animals that he killed or caught; he then studied the
animals and prepared them for display. At age nine, he recorded his observation
of insects in a paper entitled "The Natural History of Insects".[12]

Roosevelt's father significantly influenced him. His father was a prominent leader
in New York's cultural afairs; he helped to found the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
and had been especially active in mobilizing support for the Union during the Civil
War, even though his inlaws included Confederate leaders. Roosevelt said, "My
father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength
and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. He would not
tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, or
untruthfulness." Family trips abroad, including tours of Europe in 1869 and 1870,
and Egypt in 1872, shaped his cosmopolitan perspective.[13] Hiking with his
family in the Alps in 1869, Roosevelt found that he could keep pace with his
father. He had discovered the significant benefits of physical exertion to minimize
his asthma and bolster his spirits.[14] Roosevelt began a heavy regime of
exercise. After being manhandled by two older boys on a camping trip, he found
a boxing coach to teach him to fight and strengthen his weakened body.[15][16]

Roosevelt was minimally religious. He grew up in the Dutch Reformed Church,

and gradually switched to attending his wife's Episcopalian church. Biographer
Edmund Morris states:

When consoling bereaved people, he would awkwardly invoke 'unseen and

unknown powers.' Aside from a few clichs of Protestant rhetoric, the gospel he
preached had always been political and pragmatic. He was inspired less by the
Passion of Christ than by the Golden Rule that appeal to reason amounting, in
his mind, to a worldly rather than heavenly law.[17]

Education

Roosevelt's taxidermy kit[18]

Roosevelt was mostly home schooled by tutors and his parents. Biographer H. W.
Brands argued that "The most obvious drawback to his home schooling was
uneven coverage of the various areas of human knowledge".[19] He was solid in
geography and bright in history, biology, French, and German; however, he
struggled in mathematics and the classical languages. He entered Harvard
College on September 27, 1876; his father advised: "Take care of your morals
first, your health next, and finally your studies."[20] After recovering from
devastation over his father's sudden death on February 9, 1878, Roosevelt
doubled his activities.[21] He did well in science, philosophy, and rhetoric courses
but continued to struggle in Latin and Greek. He studied biology intently and was
already an accomplished naturalist and a published ornithologist; he read
prodigiously with an almost photographic memory.[22] While at Harvard,
Roosevelt participated in rowing and boxing; he was once runner-up in a Harvard
boxing tournament. While at Harvard, Roosevelt studied under famous professors
William James and Nathaniel Shaler.[23] Roosevelt was a member of the Alpha
Delta Phi literary society, the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and the prestigious
Porcellian Club; he was also an editor of The Harvard Advocate. in 1880,
Roosevelt graduated Phi Beta Kappa (22nd of 177) from Harvard with an A.B.
magna cum laude. Biographer Henry Pringle states:

Roosevelt, attempting to analyze his college career and weigh the benefits he
had received, felt that he had obtained little from Harvard. He had been
depressed by the formalistic treatment of many subjects, by the rigidity, the
attention to minutiae that were important in themselves, but which somehow
were never linked up with the whole.[24]

Roosevelt gave up his earlier plan of studying natural science, He had inherited
$125,000 (enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life) from his father's will.
He decided to attend Columbia Law School after graduating from Harvard, and he
moved back into his family's home in New York City. Roosevelt was an able law
student, but he often found law to be irrational; he spent much of his time writing
a book on the War of 1812. Determined to enter politics, Roosevelt began
attending meetings at Morton Hall, the 59th Street headquarters of New York's
21st District Republican Association. Though Roosevelt's father had been a
prominent Republican, the younger Roosevelt made an unorthodox career choice
for someone of his class, as most of Roosevelt's peers refrained from becoming
too closely involved in politics. Nonetheless, Roosevelt found allies in the local
Republican Party, and he defeated an incumbent Republican state assemblyman
closely tied to the political machine of Senator Roscoe Conkling. Roosevelt
decided to drop out of law school, later saying, "I intended to be one of the
governing class."[25]

Naval history and strategy

While at Harvard, Roosevelt began a systematic study of the role played by the
young US Navy in the War of 1812.[26][27] Assisted by two uncles, he scrutinized
original source materials and official US Navy records. Roosevelt's carefully
researched book, published in 1882, remains one of the most important scholarly
studies of the war, complete with drawings of individual and combined ship
maneuvers, charts depicting the diferences in iron throw weights of cannon shot
between rival forces, and analyses of the diferences between British and
American leadership down to the ship-to-ship level. Published after Roosevelt's
graduation from Harvard, The Naval War of 1812 was praised for its scholarship
and style, and it showed Roosevelt to be a scholar of history. It remains a
standard study of the war. Roosevelt waved the Stars and Stripes:

It must be but a poor spirited American whose veins do not tingle with pride
when he reads of the cruises and fights of the sea-captains, and their grim
prowess, which kept the old Yankee flag floating over the waters of the Atlantic
for three years, in the teeth of the mightiest naval power the world has ever
seen.[28]

With the publication of The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 16601783 in
1890, Navy Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan was immediately hailed as the
outstanding naval theorist by the leaders of Europe. Roosevelt paid very close
attention to Mahan's emphasis that only a nation with the world's most powerful
fleet could dominate the world's oceans, exert its diplomacy to the fullest, and
defend its own borders.[29][30] He incorporated Mahan's ideas into American
naval strategy when he served as assistant secretary of the Navy in 189798. As
president, 19011909, Roosevelt made building up a world-class fighting fleet of
high priority, sending his "white fleet" around the globe in 19081909 to make
sure all the naval powers understood the United States was now a major player.
Roosevelt's fleet still did not challenge the superior British fleet, but it did
become dominant in the Western Hemisphere. Building the Panama Canal was
designed not just to open Pacific trade to East Coast cities, but also to enable the
new Navy to move back and forth across the globe.[31][32]

First marriage and widowerhood

On his 22nd birthday in 1880, Roosevelt married socialite Alice Hathaway Lee. For
their honeymoon, they went on a European tour, which was particularly energetic
for Theodore who often walked alongside his wife's carriage or horse. Guides led
Theodore when he climbed the Jungfrau, the Matterhorn, and a small string of
minor peaks.[33][34]

Their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born on February 12, 1884. Two days
after giving birth, Roosevelt's wife died due to an undiagnosed case of kidney
failure (called Bright's disease at the time), which had been masked by the
pregnancy. In his diary, Roosevelt wrote a large 'X' on the page and then, "The
light has gone out of my life." His mother, Mittie, had died of typhoid fever eleven
hours earlier at 3:00 a.m., in the same house. Distraught, Roosevelt left baby
Alice in the care of his sister Bamie in New York City while he grieved. He
assumed custody of his daughter when she was three.[35]

Roosevelt also reacted by focusing on work, specifically by re-energizing a

legislative investigation into corruption of the New York City government, which
arose from a concurrent bill proposing that power be centralized in the mayor's
office.[36] For the rest of his life, he rarely spoke about his wife Alice and did not
write about her in his autobiography. While working with Joseph Bucklin Bishop on
a biography that included a collection of his letters, Roosevelt did not mention his
marriage to Alice nor his second marriage to Edith Kermit Carow.[37]

Early political career

Roosevelt as NY State Assemblyman, 1883

State Assemblyman

Roosevelt was soon put forth as the Republican party's candidate for the District's
House seat in Albany.[38] He was a member of the New York State Assembly
(New York Co., 21st D.) in 1882, 1883 and 1884. He immediately began making
his mark, specifically in corporate corruption issues.[39] He blocked a corrupt
efort by financier Jay Gould to lower his taxes. Roosevelt exposed suspected
collusion in the matter by Judge Theodore Westbrook, and argued for and
received approval for an investigation to proceed, aiming for the impeachment of
the judge. The investigation committee rejected impeachment, but Roosevelt had
exposed the potential corruption in Albany, and thus assumed a high and positive
political profile in multiple New York publications.[40] Roosevelt's anti-corruption
eforts helped him win re-election in 1882 by a margin greater than two-to-one,
an achievement made even more impressive by the fact that Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Grover Cleveland won Roosevelt's district.[41] With
Conkling's Stalwart faction of the Republican Party in disarray following the
assassination of President James Garfield, Roosevelt won election as the
Republican party leader in the state assembly. Following his first re-election,
Roosevelt allied with Governor Cleveland to win passage of a civil service reform
bill.[42] Roosevelt won re-election a second time, and sought the office of
Speaker of the New York State Assembly, but he was defeated by Titus Sheard in
a 41 to 29 vote of the GOP caucus.[43][44] In his final term, Roosevelt served as
Chairman of the Committee on Afairs of Cities; he wrote more bills than any
other legislator.[45]

Presidential election of 1884

With numerous presidential hopefuls to choose from, Roosevelt supported
Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont, a colorless reformer. The state GOP
preferred the incumbent president, New York City's Chester Arthur, who was
known for passing the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Arthur, at the time,
was sufering from Bright's disease, unknown to the public, and out of duty he did
not contest his own nomination. Roosevelt fought hard and succeeded in
influencing the Manhattan delegates at the state convention in Utica. He then
took control of the state convention, bargaining through the night and
outmaneuvering the supporters of Arthur and James G. Blaine; he gained a
national reputation as a key person in New York State.[46]

Roosevelt attended the 1884 GOP National Convention in Chicago and gave a
speech convincing delegates to nominate African American John R. Lynch, an
Edmunds supporter, to be temporary chair. Roosevelt fought alongside the
Mugwump reformers; however, Blaine, having gained support from Arthur's and
Edmunds' delegates, won the nomination by 541 votes on the fourth ballot. In a
crucial moment of his budding political career, Roosevelt resisted the demand of
the Mugwumps that he bolt from Blaine. He bragged about his one small success:
"We achieved a victory in getting up a combination to beat the Blaine nominee
for temporary chairman... To do this needed a mixture of skill, boldness and
energy... to get the diferent factions to come in... to defeat the common foe."[47]
He was also impressed by an invitation to speak before an audience of ten
thousand, the largest crowd he had addressed up to that date. Having gotten a
taste of national politics, Roosevelt felt less aspiration for advocacy on the state
level; he then retired to his new "Chimney Butte Ranch" on the Little Missouri.
[48] Roosevelt refused to join other Mugwumps in supporting Grover Cleveland,
the governor of New York and the Democratic nominee in the general election. He
debated the pros and cons of staying loyal with his political friend, Henry Cabot
Lodge. After Blaine won the nomination, Roosevelt had carelessly said that he
would give "hearty support to any decent Democrat". He distanced himself from
the promise, saying that it had not been meant "for publication".[49] When a
reporter asked if he would support Blaine, Roosevelt replied, "That question I
decline to answer. It is a subject I do not care to talk about."[50] In the end, he
realized that he had to support Blaine to maintain his role in the GOP, and he did
so in a press release on July 19.[51] Having lost the support of many reformers,
Roosevelt decided to retire from politics and move to North Dakota.[52]

Cowboy in Dakota

Theodore Roosevelt as Badlands hunter in 1885. New York studio photo.

Roosevelt moved West following the 1884 presidential election, and he built a
second ranch named Elkhorn, which was thirty-five miles (56 km) north of the
boomtown of Medora, North Dakota. Roosevelt learned to ride western style, rope
and hunt on the banks of the Little Missouri. Though he earned the respect of the
authentic cowboys, they were not overly impressed.[53] However, he identified
with the herdsman of history, a man he said possesses, "few of the emasculated,
milk-and-water moralities admired by the pseudo-philanthropists; but he does
possess, to a very high degree, the stern, manly qualities that are invaluable to a
nation".[54][55] He reoriented, and began writing about frontier life for national
magazines; he also published three books Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Ranch
Life and the Hunting-Trail, and The Wilderness Hunter.[56]

As a deputy sherif, Roosevelt pursued three outlaws who had stolen his boat and
escaped north down the Little Missouri. He captured them, but decided against a
vigilante hanging; instead, he sent his foreman back by boat, and conveyed the
thieves to Dickinson for trial. He assumed guard over them for forty hours
without sleep, while reading Leo Tolstoy to keep himself awake. When he ran out
of his own books, he read a dime store western that one of the thieves was
carrying.[57] On another occasion, while searching for a group of relentless horse
thieves, Roosevelt met Seth Bullock, the famous sherif of Deadwood, South
Dakota. The two would remain friends for life.[58]

Roosevelt brought his desire to address the common interests of citizens to the
west. He successfully led eforts to organize ranchers to address the problems of
overgrazing and other shared concerns; his work resulted in the formation of the
Little Missouri Stockmen's Association. He was also compelled to coordinate
conservation eforts and was able to form the Boone and Crockett Club, whose
primary goal was the conservation of large game animals and their habitats.[59]
After the uniquely severe US winter of 188687 wiped out his herd of cattle and
those of his competitors, and with it over half of his $80,000 investment,
Roosevelt returned to the East.[60][61] Though his finances sufered from the
experience, Roosevelt's time in the West helped remove the stigma of an
inefectual intellectual that could have hampered his political career.[62]

Second marriage

On December 2, 1886, Roosevelt married his childhood and family friend, Edith
Kermit Carow.[63] Roosevelt was deeply troubled that his second marriage had
taken place so soon after the death of his first wife, and he faced resistance from
his sisters.[64] Nonetheless, the couple married at St George's, Hanover Square
in London, England.[65] The couple had five children: Theodore "Ted" III in 1887,
Kermit in 1889, Ethel in 1891, Archibald in 1894, and Quentin in 1897. The couple
also raised Roosevelt's daughter from his first marriage, Alice, who often clashed
with her stepmother.[66] At the time of Ted's birth, Roosevelt was both eager and
worried for Edith after losing his first wife shortly after she gave birth.[35]
Reentering public life

When his ranch was failing, Roosevelt returned to New York in 1886. Republican
leaders quickly approached him about running for mayor of New York City, and
Roosevelt accepted the nomination despite having little hope of winning the race
against United Labor Party candidate Henry George and Democratic candidate
Abram Hewitt.[67] Roosevelt campaigned hard for the position, but Hewitt won
with 41% (90,552 votes), taking the votes of many Republicans who feared
George's radical policies.[68][67] George was held to 31% (68,110 votes), and
Roosevelt took third place with 27% (60,435 votes).[68] Fearing that his political
career might never recover, Roosevelt turned his attention to writing The Winning
of the West, a historical work tracking the westward movement of Americans; the
book was a great success for Roosevelt, earning favorable reviews and selling
numerous copies.[69]

Civil Service Commission

Roosevelt thought that Blaine would win the Republican nomination in the 1888
presidential election, and he did not expect to re-enter politics. However,
Benjamin Harrison defeated Blaine for the Republican nomination, and Roosevelt
gave stump speeches in the Midwest in support of Harrison.[70] On the insistence
of Henry Cabot Lodge,[71] President Harrison appointed Roosevelt to the United
States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895. While many of his
predecessors had approached the office as a sinecure,[72] Roosevelt vigorously
fought the spoilsmen and demanded enforcement of civil service laws.[73] The
New York Sun then described Roosevelt as "irrepressible, belligerent, and
enthusiastic".[74] Roosevelt frequently clashed with Postmaster General John
Wanamaker, who handed out numerous patronage positions to Harrison
supporters, and Roosevelt's attempt to force out several postal workers damaged
Harrison politically.[75] Despite Roosevelt's support for Harrison's reelection bid
in the presidential election of 1892, the eventual winner, Grover Cleveland (a
Bourbon Democrat), reappointed him to the same post.[76] Roosevelt's close
friend and biographer, Joseph Bucklin Bishop, described his assault on the spoils
system:

The very citadel of spoils politics, the hitherto impregnable fortress that had
existed unshaken since it was erected on the foundation laid by Andrew Jackson,
was tottering to its fall under the assaults of this audacious and irrepressible
young man... Whatever may have been the feelings of the (fellow Republican
party) President (Harrison)and there is little doubt that he had no idea when he
appointed Roosevelt that he would prove to be so veritable a bull in a china shop
he refused to remove him and stood by him firmly till the end of his term.[74]

New York City Police Commissioner

In 1894, a group of reform Republicans approached Roosevelt about running for
Mayor of New York again; he declined, mostly due to his wife's resistance to being
removed from the Washington social set. Soon after he declined, he realized that
he had missed an opportunity to reinvigorate a dormant political career. He
retreated to the Dakotas for a time; his wife Edith regretted her role in the
decision and vowed that there would be no repeat of it.[77]

NYC Police Commissioner Roosevelt walks the beat with journalist Jacob Riis in
1894Illustration from Riis' autobiography.

William Lafayette Strong, a reform-minded Republican, won the 1894 mayoral

election and ofered Roosevelt a position on the board of the New York City Police
Commissioners in 1895.[70] Roosevelt became president of the board of
commissioners and radically reformed the police force. The New York Police
Department (NYPD) was reputed as one of the most corrupt in America; the
NYPD's history division records that Roosevelt was "an iron-willed leader of
unimpeachable honesty, (who) brought a reforming zeal to the New York City
Police Commission in 1895".[78] Roosevelt implemented regular inspections of
firearms and annual physical exams; he appointed 1,600 recruits based on their
physical and mental qualifications, regardless of political affiliation, established
Meritorious Service Medals and closed corrupt police hostelries. During his
tenure, a Municipal Lodging House was established by the Board of Charities, and
Roosevelt required officers to register with the Board; he also had telephones
installed in station houses.[79]

In 1894, Roosevelt met Jacob Riis, the muckraking Evening Sun newspaper
journalist who was opening the eyes of New Yorkers to the terrible conditions of
the city's millions of poor immigrants with such books as How the Other Half
Lives. Riis described how his book afected Roosevelt:

When Roosevelt read [my] book, he came... No one ever helped as he did. For
two years we were brothers in (New York City's crime-ridden) Mulberry Street.
When he left I had seen its golden age... There is very little ease where Theodore
Roosevelt leads, as we all of us found out. The lawbreaker found it out who
predicted scornfully that he would "knuckle down to politics the way they all did",
and lived to respect him, though he swore at him, as the one of t