Theodore Roosevelt
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” – these are the words of one of the most outstanding personalities in the history of America, Theodore Roosevelt. He followed this idea and used all the possibilities that he had available to make his country a better place. Roosevelt was able to overcome personal problems, solve issues that his state faced using his knowledge and power. In fact, he lived and did everything he possible for the sake of his native land. All in all, Theodore Roosevelt was an important figure in American history because he led his country in the right way supported by his colleagues, world partners and American population.
Theodore Roosevelt’s Background
Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 in New York. His family had Dutch roots, and they had been living in America for a long time before his birth. Theodore had problems with his health and could not go to school. As a result, he got his education studying at home. He was a strong person from his early childhood as he realized that he had to do something with his health if he wanted to achieve results and started training. The exercise strengthened his body, and later, he was able to lead a normal life. Theodore Roosevelt graduated from Harvard University and Columbia University.
In 1882, he published his first book depicting the war events in the sea in 1812. This work put a start to his literature career and showed him as a prominent critique and researcher with “The Winning of the West” being one of his most famous creations. In general, he wrote more than forty books, articles, literature works; however, he is more famous for his political career.
Roosevelt was able to combine his professional life of the politician and writing for the whole life. He was an active representative of the Republican Party, a member of New York State Legislature and fought against the Democratic Party that was very popular in New York. Roosevelt had similar ideas to those of William McKinley, and after the latter had become the president of the United States, Theodore got the position of the Prime Minister of Navy Forces. Occupying it, he agitated for the active external politics of the USA, followed the idea of expanding geopolitically, especially in Latin America and Pacific Ocean territory. Moreover, he wanted his country to have impressive navy forces. At the same time, he became a reformatory person in the internal politics too. In 1900, he was a candidate representing the Republican Party, and after the death of the president McKinley, he was elected as a head of the country.
Roosevelt’s First Term as a President
Being the president, Roosevelt was famous for his active and aggressive politics in terms of both the external activities and the internal political actions. To start from, he wanted to reform the economic structure of the country. As a result, a list of laws that were aimed to control the monopolies was adopted. Roosevelt wanted to build a strong economic system inside the country with true competition between the producers and significant growth of production and its quality. Moreover, he developed a system of actions that were supposed to raise the social state of the population and took part in various conflicts between the factories and workers asking the first to agree to the employees’ demands. The reforms also touched the work of the state commission of trade between the states widening its possibilities. Additionally, his objective was also to improve the migration policy of the country.
As for the external policy, Roosevelt led an active political activity in Cuba and subdued the national liberation uprising. Furthermore, the politics of his administration became the reason of the crisis in Venezuela in 1902 – 1903. After Columbia and Panama had separated, the USA established the control over the Panama channel territory and, later, over Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. During World War I, Theodor Roosevelt directed all his activity towards the creation of Special Forces and planned to participate in War together with the other soldiers (Adler, 2014). Interestingly, all his sons took part in the mentioned armed conflict, and his youngest son died during the air force battle (Adler, 2014).
The Second Term as a President
In 1904, Roosevelt won a presidential election again, and this time, he dreamed to make the USA one of the leading countries in the world. With his support, the Congress adopted the decision on the regulation of railroad tariffs and Pure Food and Drug Act. Besides, they passed the Meat Inspection Act establishing the system of safety for the whole country. Moreover, Roosevelt worried about the future of his state and, that is why, enlarged the government-protected areas, created the system of reserves that conserved significant part of the national forests, minerals, oil, coal and water resources for the future generations. He also achieved the agreement with the national system of nature resources and made the areas of national parks and reserves five times bigger than they had been before.
In that period, Theodore Roosevelt considered the building of the channel between the two oceans in Panama one of his main external aims. He never believed that the interference of the European countries into the politics of western hemisphere and states of the Caribbean Ocean in particular was possible. Roosevelt was very strict political leader as his name is associated with the Big Stick policy towards the counties in Latin America. At the same time, the man is known as the “world policeman”. During the Russian – Japanese war, he supported the latter financially and politically. Later, Theodor Roosevelt won the Nobel Prize for his active participation in establishing peace between these two countries becoming the first American president to win this award. Furthermore, Roosevelt was the first American president to invite a representative of African American to the White House.
Roosevelt’s Life after the Presidency
He enjoyed the power to the full capacity and used all the opportunities offered to him by his political position. He ended his political career in 1909 and dedicated his life to travelling and his writing activities. It is interesting that he had a lifelong debate with the Russian writer Tolstoy on the questions of peace and war and considered the ideas of the latter completely wrong. After travelling in Africa and in several European countries, he returned to America and tried to come back to the political activity but due to the difference of views within his own party, the elections ended by the victory of the Democrats. Later, Theodore Roosevelt was voted to be a president of American Historical Association, and in 1913, he went to explore the South America. He discovered the unknown river that was named after him. Theodore Roosevelt was a very interesting personality, open to the world and to variety of activities. As a result, people of America liked him when he was a President and supported his politics.
Conclusion
Theodore Roosevelt had a significant influence on his country and managed to do everything possible using his power and abilities as the political leader and president. His actions inside America helped a number of smaller companies to withstand the growing powers of huge manufacturers and survive the conditions of severe monopoly. Social politics of the US changed, and people became more tolerant as they felt support of their leader. Political situation also transformed in a number of ways, and the European countries considered it impossible to participate in life of the states of western hemisphere, knowing that there is a strong political and military power named the USA. Theodore Roosevelt travelled a lot and thanks to his activities, there were a number of interesting researches conducted and significant openings made that put a start to further investigation of Africa and South America. Besides travelling and political activities, Theodore Roosevelt was a talented writer, and people now have an opportunity to read his works and see that he was a person of a strong willpower; he managed to control his steps and take the right decision even in the most difficult situations. He admired Japanese culture and their achievements that explains his support of this country during their War with the Soviet Union. At the same time, he advocated for a peaceful solution of issues and participated in numerous debates helping the leaders of the mentioned states to come to a final resolution.
President Theodore Roosevelt remains one of the most outstanding people of America as a political leader, writer and courageous person who considered the interests of his country as the leading ones. Besides, he managed to bring significant changes to the life of American people adopting acts that were directed to protect and support better life of people. Thanks to his prominent ideas, America now has an opportunity to enjoy the beauty of its reserved parks and lands protected by the government. Due to his lifelong desire to act and to perform his duties, he was able to perform a long list of actions that were significant for the life of his country and played a significant role in life of other states. He was a very energetic and powerful person who was able to cover his weaknesses for the sake of better decisions. Moreover, Roosevelt was a very charismatic individual and was able to see the future of his decisions that made it possible for him to make the right steps during his political career. Truly, he has deserved to be called one of the most popular presidents of the USA as his main aim was to make his country a better place, and he did what he could do using the available resources.