Dakota Datebook: Remembering Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt’s adherence to honesty was a golden strength of the 26 th president. He held the attribute in his heart, actions, and his speeches. For “Old Four Eyes,” truth was a virtue for a cowpuncher, businessman and most certainly a politician.

President Roosevelt was nominated for re-election this week in 1904. In his autobiography, TR included some amusing stump stories about that campaign.

Theodore Roosevelt was a natural storyteller. His summers spent with cowboys and cavalry men provided a wealth of opportunities to add to his repertoire.

On June 25, 1918, 20-year-old Quentin Roosevelt wrote to his mother from his station in France, saying: “I am now a member of the 95 th Aero Squadron. I’m on the front! Cheers, oh cheers, and am very happy.” He had dropped his Harvard studies to become a fighter pilot in the Great War, in the US expeditionary force in France, where his three older brothers also served.

Theodore Roosevelt’s first opportunity to personally express much of his passion for our nation, as well as Dakota Territory’s gift of healing grace, was in 1886. TR was the featured speaker at Dickinson’s first full-on Independence Day celebration.

Theodore Roosevelt’s bold and bountiful reputation as an American icon had its genesis with the Rough Riders in the short, bloody but significant Spanish American War to free the Cubans from the tyranny of Spain. This week in 1898 launched TR into history.

The dawn of the burgeoning 20 th century America cast light on both poverty and progress. Health and public welfare conditions were limited at best – horrific and deadly at worst. Crusading reporters and newspapers began public exposés against questionable patent medicines, quack practitioners, exploitive businessmen, filthy food preparation and squalid working conditions. Theodore Roosevelt joined in the fight with the newspaper scribes he dubbed “muckrakers.”

Theodore Roosevelt’s initial concern for the staggering dryness of the Western landscape was fostered by his Badlands experience. Water is naturally essential for a rancher, a meadowlark, or a tree. President Roosevelt’s first message to congress included his persistent emphasis on a nation’s co-dependence with the natural world. His passion never faltered.

Theodore Roosevelt was the product of a loving and supportive family – influencing his entire life. TR’s record of social concern, the American people, ethical standards, honesty, scholarship and the safeguarding of our national resources are incomparable hallmarks of his life, passions and presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt’s residency in Dakota Territory began in June of 1884 when he saddled up for the life of a cowboy and rancher. In the wake of his wife and mother’s same-day deaths, the despondent 24-year old from New York found healing and solace in the Badlands and a lifetime connection with the people of the wild West.