Theodore Roosevelt: The Action Hero President

The time had come for America to take its place among the great nations of the world. There was no better man to lead this charge than Theodore Roosevelt. Wilfred McClay, professor of history at Hillsdale College, chronicles the complex career of America’s 26th president.

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Even the Democrats knew that beating Theodore Roosevelt in the presidential election of 1904 was a long shot.

They were right.

TR was still the hero of the Spanish-American war; still the personification of energetic, forward-looking America.

He had just had a very successful three and a half years. He fulfilled much of his late predecessor’s agenda – advancing the Panama Canal project, for example – while realizing his own ambitions in his own unique way: like going after the big corporate monopolies.

Indeed, the election was a total wipeout. TR won with a bigger margin of victory than anyone since James Monroe — who ran unopposed — and that was in 1820.

With four more years ahead of him, it seemed like there was nothing Roosevelt couldn’t accomplish. He hit the ground running, pushing through new railroad regulations and consumer protections, such as the Pure Food and Drug Act.

Conservation of natural resources was of special interest. Roosevelt was an outdoorsman, and his experiences in the Dakotas gave him a keen appreciation of the open spaces of the American West. He wanted them preserved.

He established the Forest Service, signed into law the creation of five National Parks, and proclaimed 18 new national monuments. The total area he placed under public protection was approximately 230 million acres.

And he didn’t confine himself to domestic concerns. America had become the number one economy in the world. Now, Teddy believed, it had to become the greatest military power in the world. To make h..