Accompanied on the safari by his son Kermit, TR collected hundreds of specimens for the Smithsonian, and in 1910 published a book on his experiences titled African Game Trails. After his safari, TR embarked on a tour of Europe, delivering speeches at places such as Guild Hall, in London, England, and attending the funeral of England’s King Edward. TR returned to the United States to great fanfare. TR also promptly discovered that President Taft has “betrayed” the agenda of the Roosevelt Administration, and in 1911 set out to expound his political viewpoints around the country with speeches such as The New Nationalism.
After failing to gain the Republican presidential nomination at the 1912 National Convention in Chicago, TR defected to the Progressive Party. During a campaign stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, TR was shot in the chest by John Schrank, a madman bent on assassinating the ex-president. The bullet hit TR in the chest, but the thick speech manuscript TR was carrying in his breast pocket slowed its impact. Despite being shot, TR delivered his 90-minute speech before a capacity crowd, refusing to go to the hospital and insisting that it “takes more than a bullet to stop a Bull Moose.” Despite his popularity and tireless campaigning, he nevertheless lost the 1912 election; in the process splitting up the Republican vote in half and awarding a de facto victory to the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson. Despondent but resilient, TR accepted a position as an Editorialist at Large with The Outlook magazine in New York. TR used his pen to scrutinize and, when appropriate, criticize President Wilson and his administration’s policies; especially those regarding America’s unpreparedness for the brewing hostilities and balance of power shifts occurring in Europe. Later that same year, George S. Newett, the editor of the Michigan Iron Ore publication, who called the ex-president a drunk , attacked TR in print. TR sued the editor for libel, and won the case.
In 1913, TR embarked on an expedition to Brazil to map the course and find the source of a river deep in the Amazon jungles heretofore uncharted. The expedition was first proposed by Father John Augustine Zahm,
a clergyman from the Univeristy of Notre Dame and longtime friend of TR. The expedition, dubbed the Roosevelt-Rondon South American Expedition of 1913-1914, was sponsored by the National Museum of History of New York, the National Geographic Society, and the governments of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. The expedition members included: Kermit Roosevelt, Col. Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon (expedition leader sent by the Brazilian government), Leo Miller (mammologist), Anthony Fiala (logistics), Frank Harper (TR’s private secretary), George K. Cherrie (naturalist/ornithologist), Lt. Joao Salustiano Lyra (Brazilian astronomer), and approximately two dozen Brazilian camaradas, or portege carriers. To secure additional funding for the expedition, as well as to be compensated for his time, TR contracted with Scribner’s magazine to write a series of articles about the expedition, eventually publishing his account in the book titled
Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Facing dangers ranging from cataracts and rapids to aggressive Amazonians and the unfortunate murder of an expedition member by another expedition member, the party eventually completed their goal and mapped what came to be known as the Rio Teodoro. During the expedition, many members of the expedition contracted tropical diseases such as malaria. TR himself became so sick that he is reputed to have contemplated suicide. As a matter of fact, he carried with him a dose of hemlock for just such a purpose. TR’s sickness was due to a leg injury, which abscessed, causing TR to lose almost 50 pounds. This leg injury plagued him the rest of his life, and may have contributed to his death.
Returning to the United States in 1914, TR found that the world was being torn apart by the rising conflict in Europe which culminated in the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, thus precipitating World War I. TR volunteered to raise a regiment to fight in Europe, but his efforts were rebuffed by President Wilson. In response, TR returned to his editorial duties and engaged in tireless efforts to raise money and supplies for the war effort. His sons, Ted Jr., Kermit, Archie, and Quentin all served in the Army with distinction. Unfortunately, Quentin, an aviator, was killed over Chemery, France, after his plane was shot down. The airfield near Sagamore Hill where Quentin trained was renamed Roosevelt field in his honor, and it is the field from where Charles Lindbergh departed on his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.
Never recovering from the grief of losing his favorite child, TR continued to write books and editorials. Unfortunately, the strain from his leg injury accelerated his failing health. Theodore Roosevelt returned to his home and died in his sleep on January 6, 1919. His last words are reputed to have been directed at his manservant, James Amos, when TR said, “Please turn out the light.” The official cause of death was listed as a pulmonary embolism brought on by the combined effects of inflammatory rheumatism and recurrent malaria. Archie Roosevelt, on temporary leave to recuperate from a leg wound, cabled his siblings still overseas with the simple message, “The Old Lion is Dead.” When the news reached Washington, D.C., the Vice President, Thomas R. Marshall, was reputed to have said, “Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight.”
Despite his death at age sixty, Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy lives on. His moral integrity and strength of character are models, which should be emulated by everyone around the world. Theodore Roosevelt was not only one of the finest presidents the United States has ever elected; Theodore Roosevelt was also a faithful husband, a model parent, an enthusiastic citizen who sought to accomplish something great for his country and the world at large. TR was a prolific writer and tireless campaigner for the protection of basic human rights, a masterful politician who shaped the world around him, always basing his actions on the American concepts of freedom, equal justice under the law, and the pursuit of happiness. Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy shall continue, and it is to his memory that we faithfully dedicate this website.