Why teddy roosevelt was a badass

He earned a reputation for leading daring horseback charges into enemy positions, and he returned to the U. At 42 years old, he was sworn in as the youngest serving U. Roosevelt was a visionary and sought to expand the U.

Navy to command a global presence. As an avid hunter, fisherman, and all-around outdoorsman, Roosevelt was responsible for creating five national parks and 18 national monuments including the Grand Canyon , as well as setting aside 51 federal bird sanctuaries, four national game refuges, and more than million acres of national forest.

Washington had an impeccable immune system; while lesser men were dropping dead from influenza, Washington was breezing through diphtheria, tuberculosis, smallpox, dysentery, malaria, tonsillitis, carbuncle, pneumonia, and epiglottis — a laundry list of the worst diseases of the 18th century.

At 21 years old, Washington personally trekked miles through the Appalachian territory during two and a half brutal winter months to deliver a handwritten message from the governor of Virginia to the French, telling them to piss off and stop harassing English traders. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me there is something charming in the sound.

Everything Washington did required thought, challenge, and merit, which he continued until his final breath. Matt Fratus is a history staff writer for Coffee or Die. He prides himself on uncovering the most fascinating tales of history by sharing them through any means of engaging storytelling. He writes for his micro-blog LateNightHistory on Instagram, where he shares the story behind the image. He is also the host of the Late Night History podcast. When not writing about history, Matt enjoys volunteering for One More Wave and rooting for Boston sports teams.

Follow Matt Fratus: Twitter Instagram. Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Skip to footer Search. George H. Bush — 41st President George H. Photo courtesy of www. Bush as a pilot in World War II. Bush visiting troops deployed to the Middle East. Roosevelt with Winston Churchill. Photo courtesy of FDR. Portrait courtesy of www. Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Jackson portrayed leading troops in the War of Painting courtesy of www.

Roosevelt is considered by many to be the father of conservation. Roosevelt holds his hat over his heart while the band on a Norwegian battleship plays The Star Spangled Banner in Immediately after issuing the declaration of War and giving the Spanish Armada a one-way all-expenses-paid trip to the bottom of the fucking ocean, Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary and formed his own volunteer cavalry regiment called the "Rough Riders". He took anybody who wanted to join, regardless of race or creed, and headed out to Cuba to whomp asses.

At the Battle of San Juan Hill, the decisive battle that sealed the American victory in Cuba, Roosevelt won the Congressional Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" and was promoted to Colonel. When he returned as a war hero, Roosevelt decided to run for Governor of New York. Since the New Yorkers knew that TR was going to clean out all the corruption in town, George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman decided to instead nominate him as a candidate for Vice President, a post where he presumably wouldn't have any power to do anything.

As President, Roosevelt settled strikes, broke up powerful trusts, built the Panama Canal, desegregated Japanese schoolchildren in California, fought to preserve the independence of South American countries from Europe and worked to conserve the American outdoors by commissioning numerous state parks. He also invited Booker T. Washington to chill at the White House, marking the first time a black man had ever eaten dinner as an official guest at the White House.

How many people in history can claim that they won both the Nobel Peace Prize for making peaceful and harmonious shit happen as well as the Congressional Medal of Honor for kicking asses and possibly even taking names? Just to prove how awesome he was TR built a huge fleet of white battleships and sailed it around the world, making sure to stop at the ports of any nation that thought it could possibly kick the US's ass just to prove to them that they couldn't.

His personal philosophy was "walk softly and carry a big stick to kick asses with ", which goes up there with "live for revenge" and "cheat to win" as one of the three best personal philosophies ever devised. He stood outside and gave a two-hour speech in Milwaukee immediately after being shot in the chest in an assassination attempt. It was only after the speech ended that he went to the hospital to get the bullet removed. TR went on an African Safari in and put an expedition together to explore the Amazon in One of his conservation rescues was that of Mount Olympic National Park aptly named after the hangout of the gods in Greek mythology.

Because of his role in this conservation effort, and having been credited by many with the very survival-ship of the Olympic elk species, they are known currently to most as Roosevelt elk instead. The Roosevelt Elk Cervus canadensis roosevelti were named after the man himself! Due in part to his conservation efforts to keep the wildest places appropriately wild, these majestic creatures were forever tied with the conversationalist who took steps to save them and their habitat from extinction.

In , C. Roosevelt took a black bear hunting trip to Mississippi in All of the other hunters in his party spotted bears except Roosevelt. Roosevelt refused to shoot the helpless bear, claiming it was not sportsmanlike, seeing as the bear had not been bested by means of a fair chase hunt. However, he ordered that the guide put the bear down because of its condition after the hounds had done their work on the bear.

Reportedly the men on the hunting trip began mocking him for being a softy, and calling him Teddy Bear. She named her Angelina. A cartoonist by the name of Clifford Barryman who was known for his political satire caught wind of the story, and drew a series of cartoons depicting the presidents refusal to shoot a small, cowering black bear. The cartoon was picked up by the Washington Post, as well as other news outlets of the day. The bears caught on, and they began selling like hot cakes. Teddy Bears have maintained their popularity through to this day.

While on a hunting trip in March of , in Billings County at the Elkhorn Ranch, Roosevelt had his plans of taking a small clinker-built boat across the Little Missouri River during the bitter cold to track mountain lions steeped in badass-ness. He was unable to chase the wild cats because thieves had stolen the boat and taken it down the river. As a result of the spring thaw the Little Missouri River was covered with the jagged shards of jammed up ice.

So if you were in the middle of the Bad Lands of Montana, and had your boat stolen by three local men who knew the area like the back of their hand, what would you do?

If you were a Roosevelt styled badass, then you would pursue the band of redneck pirates down the icy, winding river out of a flat bottomed boat that you and your two cowboy buddies constructed out of old boards in two days time pure badassery. So, Roosevelt, and two of his ranch hands, Bill Sewall, and Wilmot Dow, left in pursuit of the buck toothed, mouth breathing hill hoppers who stole their boat.

They pursued the men for three days with only limited provisions for the journey. On the third day they spotted the camp fire of the three man band, and quickly stowed their boat and moved in with their rifles to overtake them. When they returned the men had the bandits drop their weapons, and they were promptly apprehended.