On October 27, 1858, in New York, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt gave birth to Theodore Roosevelt, her second child and first son. He was named after his father, Theodore Sr., and was sometimes called Thee or Teedie by his mother. He was a seventh generation Roosevelt. As a child and throughout his lifetime, Theodore suffered from severe asthma, becoming so bad that they would nearly suffocate him. His father, who refused to have a sickly child, would constantly carry him around, hoping that Theodore’s lungs would become stronger. Because of this, Theodore always admired his father and that he would protect him. He would follow the strenuous exercise regiments that his father set on him to become stronger. He would do weightlifting, gymnastics, and any other activity that would give him endurance. Slowly, his asthma decreased to lesser degrees. Theodore hardly ever went to school because of his sickly nature, and was instructed by his Aunt Annie that lived with the family. He spent much time reading, and is this is where he became obsessed with natural history, a passion that stayed with him throughout his lifetime.

Theodore wanted to attend Harvard in the fall of 1876, but did not h

ave all the preparation necessary. Nevertheless, he completed three years of college preparation in less than two years. He also passed all of his preliminary exams. He entered Harvard in late September 1876. During the summer of 1877 Theodore published his first work entitled ‘The Summer Bird of the Adirondacks’ in Franklin County, NY. While he was away at college, his father died at the young age of 46 from stomach cancer. Theodore made it home only hours after his father had died. The loss of his father would have a profound effect on Theodore as seen later in his life. Yet, he returned to Harvard the following year, and it was during this time that he met Alice Lee. He fell madly in love with her, and they married on October 27, 1880.

Throughout this book, Cooper tries to give the reader a sense of who the person was. My lasting impression of Theodore Roosevelt is one of sadness. It seems that because of his illness as a child, though many believed later on that they were psychosomatic, Teddy never really had a childhood of running around and being crazy like most boys. This showed greatly for the rest of his life. It seemed he was always torn between being a little boy and wanting to have fun, like being a cowboy, or playing soldier, and being a man. Being a man became an obsession with him. A man should always be able to prove himself, both mentally and physically. There was always a great disparity with the American people whether Roosevelt was pompous and arrogant, or was truly brave and heroic. The ride up San Juan Hill, for instance, was a great battle in which Roosevelt, did, indeed, lead the charge. But on the other side of that was the fact Roosevelt had actually had it choreographed and had asked several of his journalistic friends to ride along and actually film the whole event for publicity. He, of course, stated this publicity was for the American people, who were, in his ideals destined to become the greatest society in world history. He wanted to show them the greatness of brave men who stood by their speeches and actually ‘walked the walk’. I think this is one of the biggest gambles in the history of American Politics. Imagine, in a blink of an eye, Roosevelt could have been killed riding up that hill, and the world never have known him as president. The effects on history would have been unimaginable. At that time, there still was strong resistance to becoming involved in world politics in this country, with many leaders of this Isolationalistic policy very popular with the American people. This had to take either genius or insanity to pull it off the way it was.

After the outbreak of the European war in August 1914, Wilson struggled with considerable success to fulfill the obligations of neutrality, to keep trade channels open, and to prevent any abridgement of U.S. rights, all in the face of the British blockade of Germany and the latter's introduction of submarine warfare. He warned Germany in February 1915 that it would be held to "strict accountability" for the loss of American lives in the sinking of neutral or passenger ships. After the Lusitania was sunk in May 1915 (with the loss of 128 Americans), he negotiated with such firmness that Secretary Bryan, fearing a declaration of war, resigned in protest. In September 1915, Wilson won pledges from Germany to provide for the safety of passengers caught in submarine attacks, and in May 1916 the Germans agreed to abandon unrestricted submarine warfare.

Obviously, Roosevelt had a much greater advantage over Wilson in the wealth department. Wilson’s parents did not have the inheritance that the Roosevelt’s had. So Woodrow had to usually work to get through, and envied Roosevelt for his fortune. But, nevertheless, respected and admired Teddy. He wished he could have the money to be able to sit back and write, which was also his love, and not worry about how the bills were paid. Roosevelt, on the other hand, considered intellectual poli

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