Just finished Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris this morning. It is the last of a three-part biography on Teddy Roosevelt. Jason gave it to me for Christmas, so it only took me five months to read. It was a bit slow at the beginning, but still fascinating, and of course I had to finish the series.
The first book, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, is on my top ten list. Morris won the Pulitzer Prize for it. It reads like a novel; I couldn't put it down when I read it several years ago. It covers TR's life from birth until he gains the presidency. If you like biographies at all, this is a must read.
The second book, Theodore Rex, covers his presidential years.
This last one ends with his death. I cried when I got to that part; I felt I had gotten to know one of the most brilliant, charismatic, and capable men that has ever lived.Some of the most interesting points of his life that I remember from all three books:
-He was very sickly as a child and spent all his time studying natural history. He wrote books and gave lectures about this subject all his life. He went on a one-year African safari immediately after his presidency, sponsored by the Smithsonian; he brought home thousands of specimens from bugs to elephants. He was later a principal of a South American expedition to explore and chart a large river that was before unknown to the world.
-He was police commissioner of NYC in the 1890s. He was tireless in cleaning up crime and corruption. He would go out in the middle of the night and walk his officers' beats to make sure they were doing their job.
-He was an avid reader. He read an average of several books a day, even during his presidency, and in multiple languages.
-He received a bullet to the chest during a campaign speech in 1912 (he was campaigning again for the presidency after his safari). It went through his steel glasses case, 50 pages of folded speech, his chest muscle, but stopped right before his lungs. He continued speaking for 90 minutes after being shot, even though his shirt was drenched with blood and he began to sway.
-He was nutty about war, obsessed with it towards the end of his life. However, it was his foresight in predicting WWI and stressing preparation (although President Wilson and most Americans didn't listen to him at first) that made sure the United States entered the war before it was too late.
-He had a magnetic personality; people were mesmerized by him. He read and quoted poetry often. He loved to bird watch. He wrote thousands of hand written letters each year.
You know the question, "If you could have dinner with one person, who would it be?" I think my answer would be Teddy Roosevelt.
