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Birth of Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt was the second of four children born into a socially prominent family of Dutch and English ancestry. As a young boy, Roosevelt was tutored at home by private teachers. He traveled through Europe & the Middle East with his family during the 1860s & early 1870s, once living with a host family in Germany for five months. In 1876, he entered Harvard, where he studied several subjects, including natural history, zoology, & forensics. -
Yosemite under Federal control
Roosevelt & John Muir went on a three-day wilderness trip. The third night of camping, Roosevelt was Muir's audience to hear a plea for Yosemite wilderness & setting aside other areas in the U.S for park purposes. During the discussion, Muir's main focus of conversation was his concern that the California State Grant of Yosemite Valley & the Mariposa Grove be receded to the U.S for inclusion in the park. This discussion prompted the Presidential signature on the Yosemite Recession Bill in 1906. -
McKinley is shot and Teddy Roosevelt becomes president.
One bullet grazed McKinley; the other entered his abdomen and was never found. McKinley initially appeared to be recovering, but he took a turn for the worse on September 13 as his wounds became gangrenous, and he died early the next morning; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him. -
Roosevelt wins first full term as president
Roosevelt was serving as VP for McKinley before he became president. Until September 6, 1901, Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in New York. McKinley died eight days later, and Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th president. Only 42 years old when he took office, he was the youngest president in the nation’s history, and his youth and vigor immediately transformed the public image of the presidency. -
Elkins Act
It was named after Senator Stephen B. Elkins. This act was authorized with the purpose of ending rate discrimination. It was widely supported by large railroad companies because it upheld the rates published by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Act outlawed rebates and made the railroad company itself liable for punishment along with the entity receiving the refund. -
Pelican Island
President Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing
Pelican Island as a federal bird reservation - the forerunner to the national wildlife refuge system. This was the first time that the federal government set aside land for the sake of wildlife. Paul Kroegel was hired as the first national wildlife refuge manager. He was paid $1 a month by the Florida Audubon Society, as Congress had not set aside funds for this executively created refuge. -
Passage of food and drug act
During the Progressive Era the first federal regulations protecting consumers’ health & safety was approved. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle revealed unsanitary practices in meat production, public outrage urged Congress to establish federal responsibility for public health. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food & drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation’s first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration -
Devil's Tower
President Teddy Roosevelt brought national attention to Devil's Tower after passing the Antiquities Act, it gave the president the power to set aside national monuments. It became the first national monument and it established the same year. -
Teddy Roosevelt leaves presidency and visits Africa.
As the 1908 election approached, Roosevelt prepared to fulfill the campaign pledge he had made in 1904 not to seek another term & threw his support behind Secretary of War William Howard Taft. Immediately after, he leaves on a 10-month African safari but upon his return, President Taft failed to follow through with progressive reforms and sided with the Republican party. Roosevelt campaigned against Taft in 1912; when he failed, he & his supporters formed the Progressive Party. -
Teddy Roosevelt runs for presidency - unsuccessful Bull Moose Party
Theodore Roosevelt is nominated for presidency by the Progressive Party, after Republicans were dissatisfied with the renomination of William Howard Taft. Also known as the Bull Moose Party, the Progressive platform called for the direct election of U.S. senators, woman suffrage, reduction of the tariff, and many social reforms. On October 12, 1912, minutes before a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by John Schrank. Roosevelt survived but was later on defeated by Woodrow Wilson. -
Energy Crisis
It played a key role in the economic downturn of the 70s. Nixon & Ford made national pleas for energy independence after the OPEC crisis of the 1970s when a boycott from oil-producing countries produced long gas lines in the United States. Roosevelt campaigned against Rockefeller, who transformed Standard Oil into a monopoly through ruthless business practices. He wrote op-ed pieces & invited industry leaders to the White House to talk about the danger of an oil company gaining too much power.
