Theodore Roosevelt never seemed comfortable standing still. Born on October 27, 1858, in New York City to a wealthy family, he fought childhood asthma by boxing, hiking, and rowing. This discipline became his principle for living a strenuous life.

He graduated from Harvard in 1880 and entered the New York Assembly at 23, making a name for himself by attacking corruption. In February 1884, his wife Alice and his mother died on the same day. Grieving, he went to the Dakota Territory to ranch, hunt, and serve as deputy sheriff. The West gave him a lasting cowboy image. He married his childhood friend Edith Carow in 1886 and later raised six children at Sagamore Hill on Long Island.

After returning east, he served as U.S. Civil Service Commissioner and New York City Police Commissioner, famously walking night beats to check on his officers. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy under William McKinley, he prepared for war with Spain. In 1898, he resigned, raised the 1st Volunteer Cavalry, called the Rough Riders, and led them up Kettle Hill near Santiago. Newspapers turned him into a hero.

That fame earned him the New York governorship in 1898 and the vice presidency in 1900. On September 6, 1901, Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley in Buffalo. McKinley died on September 14, and Roosevelt took the oath that day at 42, becoming the youngest president in American history.

He called his program the Square Deal, insisting that the government must balance business and labor. In 1902, he sued the Northern Securities railroad trust, starting over 40 antitrust actions. He won the Elkins Act in 1903 and the Hepburn Act in 1906 to regulate railroads. After Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was published, he signed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

Conservation was his greatest legacy. With Gifford Pinchot, he protected about 230 million acres, created five national parks, and established 18 national monuments, including Devils Tower, and 150 national forests. He treated public lands as a trust for future generations.

Abroad, he combined negotiation with strength. He mediated the Russo-Japanese War at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1905, earning the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, making him the first American honored with this award. He supported Panama's break from Colombia in 1903 and promoted the Panama Canal. He summarized his diplomacy with the phrase, speak softly and carry a big stick.

He left office in 1909 for William Howard Taft and then had a falling out with him. Running as the Progressive Bull Moose nominee in 1912, he was shot in Milwaukee on October 14 by John Schrank. He delivered an 84-minute speech with the bullet still in his chest before going to a hospital. The split in the Republican Party helped elect Woodrow Wilson.

An expedition down Brazil's River of Doubt in 1913-1914 ruined his health. He spent his final years writing and urging American entry into World War I. He died at Sagamore Hill on January 6, 1919.

Roosevelt was a complex figure: an aristocrat who admired the frontier, a warrior who won a peace prize, and a reformer who sought power. This restless mix still shapes how he is remembered in America.