Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City to a wealthy family of Dutch descent. From childhood, he battled severe asthma that left him frail and often confined indoors. His father urged him to overcome his weakness through constant physical activity, and the boy took the advice to heart. He exercised relentlessly, hiked, boxed, and read voraciously about nature and adventure. By the time he entered Harvard in 1876, Roosevelt had transformed himself into a vigorous young man who embraced what he later called the strenuous life.
He graduated from Harvard in 1880 and soon entered politics. Elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23, he quickly earned a reputation for independence. In 1880 he married Alice Hathaway Lee, and the couple had a daughter. Then, on February 14, 1884, tragedy struck when both his mother and his wife died on the same day. Overwhelmed, Roosevelt left politics behind and headed west to the Dakota Territory. He bought two ranches and spent the next couple of years rounding up cattle, hunting, and working alongside local cowboys. The experience humbled him and taught him to respect ordinary working people. He later said those years in the Badlands helped shape the leader he would become.
Roosevelt returned east and married his childhood friend Edith Kermit Carow in 1886. They settled at Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York, and raised five more children. Over the next decade he held several posts, including civil service commissioner, New York City police commissioner, and assistant secretary of the navy. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, he resigned to organize the First Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the Rough Riders. He led them in Cuba and gained national fame for his actions during the Battle of San Juan Heights.
Voters rewarded the war hero by electing him governor of New York in 1898. Two years later he became vice president under William McKinley. When an assassin killed McKinley in September 1901, Roosevelt took the oath of office at age 42, becoming the youngest president in American history. He quickly put his energy to work. He called his domestic program the Square Deal and used it to fight powerful business trusts, mediate the 1902 coal strike, strengthen railroad regulation through the Hepburn Act, and push through the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act. At the same time he made conservation a priority. He created the U.S. Forest Service, set aside 150 national forests, added five national parks, established 18 national monuments, and protected roughly 230 million acres of public land.
In foreign affairs Roosevelt believed the United States should play an active role. He supported the construction of the Panama Canal and helped Panama gain independence from Colombia. He mediated the end of the Russo-Japanese War and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. After winning election in his own right in 1904, he left office in 1909 and embarked on a long African safari followed by a tour of Europe.
Roosevelt could not stay out of politics for long. In 1912 he ran again as the candidate of the Progressive Party, known as the Bull Moose ticket. A would-be assassin shot him in Milwaukee, yet he delivered his speech before seeking medical help. He recovered but lost the election. Three years later he explored the River of Doubt in Brazil, a grueling trip that damaged his health. When World War I began, he criticized American neutrality and offered to raise a regiment once the United States entered the fight. All four of his sons served; the youngest, Quentin, was killed in combat in 1918. The loss hit Roosevelt hard. He died at Sagamore Hill on January 6, 1919, at age 60.
Throughout his life Roosevelt wrote nearly thirty books, championed fair play, and expanded the power of the presidency. His blend of energy, reform, and love of the outdoors left a lasting mark on the nation he served.