Roosevelt: Alone in Cuba?
1898 AD
1898 1898
75.50W20.00N
MISC

SAN JUAN HILL, CUBA
	When Theodore Roosevelt was having trouble getting on a wild horse at his ranch, one of his men offered to help. "Cowboy," Roosevelt replied, "I know you can ride him. What I want to find out is if I can ride him."
	That determination made "Teddy" Roosevelt the man he was. Though he could barely see without thick glasses, he became an excellent marksman; though he was sickly, he became a fine athlete; though as a boy he was timid, he became a strong leader, and eventually, president of the United States.
	But sometimes his courage led Roosevelt to extremes. In the New York Assembly, he often considered opponents absolutely wrong and himself absolutely right. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy he recklessly advocated war with Mexico, Germany, England, Spain, Chile and Canada.
	But it was this same courage that made him so effective as police commissioner in cleaning up the New York Police Department, and as a commander in the Spanish-American War, and later as president.
	During the 1898 war with Spain, Roosevelt raised a regiment of cavalry called the "Rough Riders," which participated in the United States capture of Santiago, Cuba. With Roosevelt recklessly leading (with the men on foot since there was no room for horses on the boats), the regiment captured Kettle Hill in the San Juan highlands, but suffered heavily.
	In his book, "The Rough Riders," Roosevelt talked so much about himself that humorist Finley Dunne suggested the book be called, "Alone in Cuba." Amused, Roosevelt wrote to Dunnne to say that -- to his regret -- his family and friends were delighted by the title Dunne had suggested.
	After the war Roosevelt became governor of New York, where his reforms antagonized the Republican party leadership, so they pushed him to run for vice-president, hoping to get him elected to a position of little power.
	He and running-mate William McKinley won the election, but President McKinley was shot and killed. So, in 1901, at 42 years old, Roosevelt became president.
	As president he was called the "Trust Buster" for his efforts to break up businesses he felt were monopolistic. He also set up the nation's park system, helped negotiate a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, and helped establish the Panama Canal.
	But the canal also hurt Roosevelt's reputation. At the time, Panama was part of Colombia, but after the Colombian senate refused to ratify a treaty with the United States that would allow the canal to be built, Panama rebelled against Colombia. United States warships prevented the Colombian military from suppressing the rebellion, allowing the United States to make a treaty with the new nation of Panama.
	After his presidency, Roosevelt went hunting in Africa (J.P. Morgan, a businessman Roosevelt had offended, reportedly said the first lion Roosevelt met should "do his duty"). The lion didn't and Roosevelt ended his trip by accepting the Nobel Peace prize for his part in ending the Russo-Japanese War.
	Disappointed in William Taft's presidency, Roosevelt tried for the Republican nomination for president in 1912, but lost. He then ran as president for the Progressive Party, but just divided the Republican Party, helping Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win.