FightingSteel1
Apr-07-2017, 04:34
I was inspired to write this article after reading about a man I came across while researching other topics, and realized I knew nothing about him. This man was Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Oldest son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, I decided his story was well worth retelling in an article.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (“Ted”) was born in September 1887 to Theodore Roosevelt and his second wife Edith (his first wife, mother of his first child, died a few years before from undiagnosed kidney failure). Theodore Roosevelt, at the time of his first son's birth, was just beginning his political career. As his father began rising up the ranks of national prominence (first as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy, next as a famed “Rough Rider” in the Spanish-American war), Roosevelt Jr. studied at Northeastern private schools. Now as the oldest of five siblings, much was expected of him by his parents, which he would remember later as being particularly difficult for him at times. His father became U.S. President in 1901, serving two terms.
https://i.ibb.co/XZxYhMn/family.jpg
--The Roosevelt family (from left: Theodore Roosevelt, sons Archie & Ted Jr., daughter Alice, son Kermit, wife Edith and daughter Ethel. Son Quentin born later)
Roosevelt Jr. would attend Harvard in 1909, though he considered one of the military academies as well. In 1910, he would marry Eleanor Butler Alexander. Upon graduating from college, Theodore would go into business (specifically investment banking), an unassuming career choice that failed to match the unique life that lay ahead. Even so, he was very talented at this work, and amassed a small fortune leading up to WWI.
In an interesting program of the times, businessmen, and others in professional careers, were given the opportunity (at their expense) in the mid-nineteens to attend “military camps” for officer style training. The United States government was worried about current world events, and these camps provided a way to prepare qualified men for future possible conflict.
https://i.ibb.co/mBk9tkV/ted74.jpg
--Ted, pictured on the left
WWI
Roosevelt Jr., along with his brothers, would attend one of these camps. When war for the United States finally was declared in 1917, former President Theodore Roosevelt would inquire with General John Pershing about his son's joining the American Expeditionary Force. Due to their prior training and preparations, Roosevelt Jr. was offered the rank of major, while his brother Archie became a second lieutenant. Another brother, Kermit, volunteered to join the British forces around Iraq, while youngest brother Quentin joined the Army Air Service.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. would volunteer to be among the first group to go to France. There, he distinguished himself as a battalion commander. He was well-liked, and thought of very highly by commanders in leading his men in combat. In an example of his character (and a recurring theme), at one point he personally purchased new, heavy duty combat boots for his entire battalion. Theodore Jr. would see several major battles, and survive being gassed at Soissons and wounded by machine gun fire. At the end of the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Chevalier Legion d'honneur. His brother Quentin was killed in air combat over France in the summer of 1918.
Upon returning to the U.S., Theodore Roosevelt Jr. would be a founder of the American Legion, a highly regarded and critical veterans association. Ted's own fourth child would be born in 1919, but his father would pass that same year at the age of 60. Roosevelt Sr. had been weakened over the years due to sporadic malaria symptoms (originally contracted years ago in Cuba) and an assassination attempt. In the end, the loss of Quentin in the war greatly diminished his characteristic fighting spirit.
https://i.ibb.co/XJJC1Bb/ted27.jpg
Interwar
Ted would continue in the reserve, taking officer and staff training. He also followed his father's path, beginning a political career. Throughout the 1920's, he would hold the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy (runs in the family), spend a year on a zoological expedition with his brother Kermit, and get into a protracted feud with his relative Franklin Delano Roosevelt when Ted ran for Governor of New York (losing by 105,000 votes). After a brief hiatus from politics, he spent the early 1930's as the appointed Governor of Puerto Rico, then the Philippines. After resigning his post on the Philippine islands, Ted returned home to continue working as an executive and board member of several non-profit organizations. He also considered running against his cousin FDR in the 1936 election, but declined to begin a campaign.
See next post for part 2....
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (“Ted”) was born in September 1887 to Theodore Roosevelt and his second wife Edith (his first wife, mother of his first child, died a few years before from undiagnosed kidney failure). Theodore Roosevelt, at the time of his first son's birth, was just beginning his political career. As his father began rising up the ranks of national prominence (first as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy, next as a famed “Rough Rider” in the Spanish-American war), Roosevelt Jr. studied at Northeastern private schools. Now as the oldest of five siblings, much was expected of him by his parents, which he would remember later as being particularly difficult for him at times. His father became U.S. President in 1901, serving two terms.
https://i.ibb.co/XZxYhMn/family.jpg
--The Roosevelt family (from left: Theodore Roosevelt, sons Archie & Ted Jr., daughter Alice, son Kermit, wife Edith and daughter Ethel. Son Quentin born later)
Roosevelt Jr. would attend Harvard in 1909, though he considered one of the military academies as well. In 1910, he would marry Eleanor Butler Alexander. Upon graduating from college, Theodore would go into business (specifically investment banking), an unassuming career choice that failed to match the unique life that lay ahead. Even so, he was very talented at this work, and amassed a small fortune leading up to WWI.
In an interesting program of the times, businessmen, and others in professional careers, were given the opportunity (at their expense) in the mid-nineteens to attend “military camps” for officer style training. The United States government was worried about current world events, and these camps provided a way to prepare qualified men for future possible conflict.
https://i.ibb.co/mBk9tkV/ted74.jpg
--Ted, pictured on the left
WWI
Roosevelt Jr., along with his brothers, would attend one of these camps. When war for the United States finally was declared in 1917, former President Theodore Roosevelt would inquire with General John Pershing about his son's joining the American Expeditionary Force. Due to their prior training and preparations, Roosevelt Jr. was offered the rank of major, while his brother Archie became a second lieutenant. Another brother, Kermit, volunteered to join the British forces around Iraq, while youngest brother Quentin joined the Army Air Service.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. would volunteer to be among the first group to go to France. There, he distinguished himself as a battalion commander. He was well-liked, and thought of very highly by commanders in leading his men in combat. In an example of his character (and a recurring theme), at one point he personally purchased new, heavy duty combat boots for his entire battalion. Theodore Jr. would see several major battles, and survive being gassed at Soissons and wounded by machine gun fire. At the end of the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Chevalier Legion d'honneur. His brother Quentin was killed in air combat over France in the summer of 1918.
Upon returning to the U.S., Theodore Roosevelt Jr. would be a founder of the American Legion, a highly regarded and critical veterans association. Ted's own fourth child would be born in 1919, but his father would pass that same year at the age of 60. Roosevelt Sr. had been weakened over the years due to sporadic malaria symptoms (originally contracted years ago in Cuba) and an assassination attempt. In the end, the loss of Quentin in the war greatly diminished his characteristic fighting spirit.
https://i.ibb.co/XJJC1Bb/ted27.jpg
Interwar
Ted would continue in the reserve, taking officer and staff training. He also followed his father's path, beginning a political career. Throughout the 1920's, he would hold the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy (runs in the family), spend a year on a zoological expedition with his brother Kermit, and get into a protracted feud with his relative Franklin Delano Roosevelt when Ted ran for Governor of New York (losing by 105,000 votes). After a brief hiatus from politics, he spent the early 1930's as the appointed Governor of Puerto Rico, then the Philippines. After resigning his post on the Philippine islands, Ted returned home to continue working as an executive and board member of several non-profit organizations. He also considered running against his cousin FDR in the 1936 election, but declined to begin a campaign.
See next post for part 2....