Theodore Roosevelt: Icon of the 20th Century

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States of America. He succeeded McKinley as President, on his assassination in 1901. Roosevelt became very popular and became famous for tackling business monopolies, initiating the conservation of natural resources, his role in the development of the Panama Canal and his part in the Russo- Japanese War, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. He is without a doubt one of the most influential presidents of the 20th Century.
He was born in New York on October 27, 1858 to a wealthy, upper class merchant. He was well educated and attended Harvard where he developed political interests. He married his first wife; Alice Lee in 1880 and in 1881 was elected to the state legislature. Then in 1884 tragedy struck and his wife died giving birth to their only child, a baby girl, even more unfortunate was the fact that eleven hours previously his mother had died. With this he left politics briefly, leaving to live on his ranch where he led the life of a cowboy but continuing to write a range of literature. …