Free Essays on Theodore Roosevelt

The first president to push for conservation was Theodore Roosevelt. With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.(pg1) He took the view that the President as a "steward of the people" should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution." I did not usurp power," he wrote, "but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."(pg1) Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most effective achievements were in conservation. He added enormously to the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects.(pg1) From the Teddy Roosevelt Autobiography While I had lived in the West I had come to realize the vital need of irrigation to the country, and I had been both amused and irritated by the attitude of Eastern men who obtained from Congress grants of National money to develop harbors and yet fought the use of the Nation's power to develop the irrigation work of the West. Major John Wesley Powell, the explorer of the Grand Caà ±on, and Director of the Geological Survey, was the first man who fought for irrigation, and he lived to see the Reclamation Act passed and construction actually begun. Mr. F. H. Newell, the present Director of the Reclamation Service, began his work as an assistant hydraulic engineer under Major Powell; and, unlike Powell, he appreciated the need of saving the forests and the soil as well as the need of irrigation. Between Powell and Newell came, as Director of the Geological Survey, Charles D. Walcott, who, after the Reclamation Act was passed, by his force, per tinacity, and tact, succeeded in putting the act into effect in the best possible manner. Senator Francis G.... Free Essays on Theodore Roosevelt Free Essays on Theodore Roosevelt The next essay, by Gail Bederman, is an astonishing account of Theodore Roosevelt’s rise to fame in the 1890’s. In this account, she tells of Roosevelt’s political beginnings as a State assemblyman of New York. Her account starts with his presence in the assembly seen as an effeminate man. He was mocked by his peers incessantly. They called him names such as ‘Jane-Dandy’ and ‘Punkin-Lily’, and even comparing him with the likes of a known homosexual, Oscar Wilde. Roosevelt knew his Political career was in great jeopardy of being diffused before it even began. Knowing something about his history, he quit the senate and traveled west after his mother and wife both passed away on the same day. Bederman seems to paint a slightly different tale of TR needing to make this change for his political life. Spending five years in the western wilderness not only gave him the ‘manliness’ he was looking for but the basis for his political ideology. That of a strong but civilized white man. Using an 1899 speech to coin his phrase ‘The Strenuous Life’, Roosevelt laid down his plan as he saw it for the American man. Using the philosophy of human evolution as his argument that the dominant species will overcome. His ideals of American virilty and manhood were mandatory if America the nation was to hold its own in the world. As he saw it, our fight against the savage Indians of the west was our calling to world dominance. To be over civilized, peaceful, and lenient was now something to be ashamed of. It was effeminate and a way to lose control of our destiny. If we became luxury-loving or lost our virile zest, someone else, a manlier race, would then step in and become the power of the world. He explained his imperialism this way. A man working for his family and country were not enough. This virile manhood required us to do work outside our nation, just like a man goes outside the home to work everyday. The opportunities of the time,... Free Essays on Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt At the time of Roosevelt’s presidency the U.S. was a country rapidly coming into its own with Roosevelt as a president whom not only kept up, but pushed it even faster. Both on the domestic and international front Roosevelt aggressively expanded the power of presidency, the federal government and our nation. It was in the business area in which Roosevelt most aggressively expanded the power of federal government. The government passed few business regulations and in general left business to do as they saw fit. Roosevelt was the first who thought it was the duty of the federal government to make sure that they were responding to public’s needs. Because of this he actively regulated business by enforcing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and pushing new regulatory legislation through congress. Roosevelt also worked to pass two events that marked the turning point of legislation, the Pure Food and Drug act and Meat Inspection bill. These laws were intended to protect consumers against those in the food industry, especially meat packing. Meat packers used rotten and diseased meat processed in unsanitary conditions and put labels on cans that had little or no relationship to its actual content. This problem Roosevelt personally experienced. Roosevelt’s greatest ally in this struggle against the meat packers was the novel â€Å"The Jungle† by Upton Sinclair. International affairs were marked by the same aggression as domestic affairs. The U.S. was already under the Monroe Doctrine, but it was Roosevelt who added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. This confirmed the restriction on European activities in the Western Hemisphere, but added the idea that when a country in the Western Hemisphere did not behave, such as paying off their debts to European countries the U.S. Had a responsibility to discipline them. Roosevelt’s extensive control over the Western Hemisphere especially the Caribbean was direc... Free Essays on Theodore Roosevelt The first president to push for conservation was Theodore Roosevelt. With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.(pg1) He took the view that the President as a "steward of the people" should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution." I did not usurp power," he wrote, "but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."(pg1) Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most effective achievements were in conservation. He added enormously to the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects.(pg1) From the Teddy Roosevelt Autobiography While I had lived in the West I had come to realize the vital need of irrigation to the country, and I had been both amused and irritated by the attitude of Eastern men who obtained from Congress grants of National money to develop harbors and yet fought the use of the Nation's power to develop the irrigation work of the West. Major John Wesley Powell, the explorer of the Grand Caà ±on, and Director of the Geological Survey, was the first man who fought for irrigation, and he lived to see the Reclamation Act passed and construction actually begun. Mr. F. H. Newell, the present Director of the Reclamation Service, began his work as an assistant hydraulic engineer under Major Powell; and, unlike Powell, he appreciated the need of saving the forests and the soil as well as the need of irrigation. Between Powell and Newell came, as Director of the Geological Survey, Charles D. Walcott, who, after the Reclamation Act was passed, by his force, per tinacity, and tact, succeeded in putting the act into effect in the best possible manner. Senator Francis G....