Platt conspired with national party boss Mark Hanna to get Roosevelt named as McKinley’s running mate, in order to keep him from running for a second term in the governor’s office. In 1900, the leading New York Republican Thomas C. Once elected, Roosevelt displayed his characteristic independence and unwillingness to buckle to the pressure of party bosses. The Republican political machine in New York threw their considerable support behind the returning war hero, helping Roosevelt defeat a popular Democratic candidate to win the governorship. Teddy Roosevelt’s Unexpected Path to the White House Volunteer Cavalry, known as the “ Rough Riders.” Once in Cuba, Roosevelt led the Rough Riders in a brave, costly uphill charge in the Battle of San Juan he returned home as one of the war’s most visible heroes.

Upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Roosevelt left his post as naval secretary to become colonel of the First U.S. In 1895, Roosevelt became president of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners, and in 1897 William McKinley named him as assistant secretary of the U.S. Civil Service Commission he was reappointed by Harrison’s successor, Grover Cleveland. Two years later, President Benjamin Harrison rewarded Roosevelt’s service to the Republican Party with a job on the U.S. In 1886, Roosevelt ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City. Washington to dine with him and his family he was the first president ever to entertain a black man in the White House. Edith and Theodore’s other children were Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Kermit Roosevelt, Quentin Roosevelt, Ethel Roosevelt Derby and Archibald Roosevelt.ĭid you know? Early in his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt sparked a scandal when he invited the African-American educator Booker T. The couple would raise six children together, including Roosevelt’s daughter from his first marriage, Alice. Upon returning to New York, he married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. He was elected to the New York State Assembly at the age of 23 and served two terms (1882-84).īoth his wife and mother died on the same day in 1884, and the grieving Roosevelt spent the next two years on a ranch he owned in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory, where he hunted big game, drove cattle and worked as a frontier sheriff. Upon graduating from Harvard College in 1880, Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee and entered Columbia University Law School, though he dropped out after only one year to enter public service. Known as “Teedie”–later “Teddy”–he was frail and sickly as a boy, and as a teenager followed a program of gymnastics and weightlifting to build up his strength. and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, a wealthy family in New York City. Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, to Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. Theodore Roosevelt’s Early Life and Career

Theodore roosevelt history