- There is a photograph of President Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession passing in front of an apartment building on Broadway at 14th Street (Union Square) in Manhattan, New York City. In it, two young boys can be seen looking out the window. One is Theodore Roosevelt himself and the other is his brother, Elliot.
- Once delivered a one-hour speech in spite of being shot moments before by a would-be assassin.
- Had photographic memory. He could recite pages from a newspaper he had just read as if he were reading from it. He was also a speed reader and would read two to three books a day.
- Had Christmas trees banned from the White House because of concern about the overcutting of forests.
- Once kept a hyena as a pet.
- Had 6 children. His eldest child (a girl) died last, at age 96 of emphysema and pneumonia, and his youngest child (a boy) died first, fighting in World War I, age 20.
- Youngest President of the United States, being sworn in at age 42 years, 322 days. Second youngest was John F. Kennedy, who was sworn in at age 43 years, 236 days.
- Responsible for the Maxwell House coffee slogan "Good to the Last Drop."
- His association with the "teddy bear" toy dates back to a hunting trip. After no game could be found, someone captured a stray bear cub and offered Roosevelt the opportunity to shoot it. He refused, saying it was "unsportsmanlike". News of the incident spread, including a cartoon drawing of Roosevelt refusing to shoot the cub, tied with a rope. A few weeks later, a state function was held at the White House, and someone, reportedly Roosevelt's wife, had small dolls in the likeness of bears made as card holders for the place settings. The bears were taken home as souvenirs, and the "teddy bear" phenomenon had begun.
- While a child, he was known as Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., but never used the "Jr." when he was an adult, mostly due to the early death of his father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. in 1878, age 46, when TR was 19 years old. His second child, and first son, was named Theodore Roosevelt, III, but was generally known as Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and who also served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, like his father, and his fifth cousin (once removed), Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- Had a black belt in Jujitsu.
- His first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, and his mother, Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch Roosevelt, both died on the same day, February 14, 1884, eleven hours apart. Alice died two days after giving birth to their first child, Alice Lee Roosevelt, of a combination of child birth and kidney disease, and Mittie died due to Typhoid Fever. In his personal diary, on that day, he wrote a large X, and one sentence, "The light has gone out of my life".
- Called the Father of the Teddy Bear.
- His second wife, Edith, was his childhood sweetheart
- He disliked the nickname "Teddy". None of his friends and family dared to address him by it.
- Only person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and a (USA) Medal of Honor. He received the Nobel Prize during his lifetime, while the Medal of Honor was not awarded until 2001, approximately 82 years after his death.
- He suffered from depression for all of his adult life.
- Once on a hunting trip, he lost his spectacles when a tree branch brushed the side of his face. He never found that pair again, and to be prepared, he developed a habit of always keeping a spare set of steel-framed glasses in his breast pocket. He was carrying just such a set during his attempted assassination. The glasses were destroyed, but also probably saved his life.
- Until Donald Trump, he was the only US President to be born in New York City. Roosevelt is still the only President to have been born in the city's main borough (Manhattan).
- There is a picture of a young Teddy watching Abraham Lincoln's funeral cortège passing by from an upstairs window of his grandfather's house on Union Square, New York City.
- Fifth cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Both were U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy (TR April 19, 1897 - May 10, 1898, and FDR March 17, 1913 - August 26, 1920), both were Governor of New York (TR January 1, 1899 - December 31, 1900, and FDR January 1, 1929 - December 31, 1932), and both were President of the United States (TR was 26th, and FDR was 32nd). Even though they admired each other greatly, they were of different political parties, TR was a Republican, and FDR was a Democrat.
- Roosevelt always said that his only regret, as President, was that he did not have a war to fight. But during his term he built up the largest Navy the country had ever seen, the Great White Fleet, which he sent on an around the world voyage, making the United States the modern world's first true superpower.
- He was known to have a relatively high pitched voice, sometimes even squeaky. A few recordings of his voice still exist.
- Pictured on a 3¢ US postage stamp with General George W. Goethals, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, issued 15 August 1939.
- Pictured on the 30¢ US postage stamp in the Presidential Series, issued 8 December 1938.
- Honored on one of fifteen 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in the "Celebrate the Century" series, issued 3 February 1998, celebrating the 1900s.
- Six children: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980); Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1887-1944); Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (1889-1943); Ethel Roosevelt Derby (1891-1977); Archibald Roosevelt (1894-1979); Quentin Roosevelt (1897-1918).
- Uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt
- After the assassination of President William McKinley, he was sworn in as the 26th President of the United States on September 14, 1901, in Buffalo, New York, USA.
- Known as the "Trust Buster" for his efforts to break up the intricate webs of monopolies and trusts set up by wealthy industrialists, which Roosevelt believed were strangling the economy, hurting workers and had no place in a free-market economy.
- In 1906 became the first American to win a Nobel prize. He was awarded the Peace Prize for his efforts in concluding the peace treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese war. The medal he received is on permanent display in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House.
- In 2001 he became the first US president to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He received it posthumously for his actions at San Juan Hill in Cuba, where he led the charge of the Rough Riders.
- When he was first nominated for Vice-President in 1900 at the Republican National Convention, he was nominated unanimously, except for one vote, his own.
- Was a voracious reader and often tried to read a book every day before breakfast and could often fit in another two or three before bed.
- Inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame in 2015 (inaugural class) in the category Politics & Leadership.
- Twenty-sixth president of the United States of America.
- Ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City.
- Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897-1898).
- Charter member of the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1955.
- Governor of New York (1899-1900).
- Severe asthma made him a sickly infant and virtually homebound child. His parents tried all available remedies and traveled worldwide to find him a salutary climate. But it was vigorous exercise that helped turn him into a healthy, productive adult.
- He was both granduncle and fifth cousin (once removed) of Congressman James Roosevelt and Congressman Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr..
- Championed the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act (which led to the founding of the Food and Drug Administration) after reading Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle".
- Although a Republican, he was a closet supporter of Grover Cleveland, a Democrat (the 22nd and 24th President of the United States), in the Presidential Election of 1888.
- Although, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he was second-in-command to his friend, Colonel Leonard Wood, for his army unit in the invasion of Cuba in 1898, the unit was known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders.
- After his wife Alice's death and funeral in 1884, he returned to work in the New York State legislature, in grief, and never spoke his deceased wife's name, or talked about her, for the rest of his life.
- During his childhood, he was mostly home schooled by his parents and private tutors, before gaining entrance into Harvard College. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (then referred to as "A.B." rather than the modern "B.A.") degree, graduating Phi Beta Kappa (22nd in a class of 177) and magna cum laude from Harvard College on June 30, 1880.
- The voice of Theodore Roosevelt was portrayed by Paul Giamatti in The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014).
- Both Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were victims of assassination attempts, in the case of TR, the assassin's bullet found its target, striking TR in he chest, but not killing him (TR continued his one hour speech before seeking medical care). In the case of FDR, the assassin missed his target of FDR, striking the Mayor of Chicago, Anton J. Cermak instead, killing him.
- Was blind in one eye from an injury sustained in a boxing match.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content