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Rough Rider at San Juan Hill
It was during the Battle of San Juan Hill, on July 1, that the Rough Riders, under the command of Lt. Col. Roosevelt, made their mark in American military history. Ordered to seize Kettle Hill in support of the main attack, the Rough Riders fought their way to the top despite heavy enemy fire. -
First Named President
The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt started on September 14, 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States upon the assassination of President William McKinley, and ended on March 4, 1909. -
Coal Strike
On Friday, October 3, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt called a precedent-shattering meeting at the temporary White House at 22 Lafayette Place, Washington, D.C. A great strike in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania threatened a coal famine. The President feared "untold misery . . . with the certainty of riots which might develop into social war." Although he had no legal right to intervene, he sent telegrams to both sides summoning them to Washington to discuss the problem. -
National Reclamation Act
When Congress passed the National Reclamation Act in 1902, the measure set in motion the dramatic transformation of arid sections of the American West to "reclaim" land for productive agricultural use. President Theodore Roosevelt, who signed the bill into law, believed that reclaiming arid lands would promote the agrarian ideals of Thomas Jefferson. -
Elkins Act Passed
The Elkins Act of 1903 was signed into law on February 19th by Theodore Roosevelt. The act expanded the power of the federal government. After the act was passed, the US became a more regulatory state, regulating trade. -
Northern Securities Case
The Northern Securities Case established President Theodore Roosevelt’s reputation as a “trust buster,” reaching the Supreme Court in 1904. It was the first example of Roosevelt’s use of anti-trust legislation to dismantle a monopoly, in this case a holding company controlling the principal railroad lines from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. -
Wins First Full Term
Roosevelt was elected to a full term in 1904 and promoted policies more to the left, despite growing opposition from Republican leaders. During his presidency, he groomed his close ally William Howard Taft to succeed him in the 1908 presidential election. -
Passage of Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation's first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This act was signed into law in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. -
Yosemite Under Federal Control
After visiting Yosemite and spending time with famed naturalist John Muir, President Theodore Roosevelt pledged to make Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove a part of Yosemite National Park. The State of California receded Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to the federal government June 11, 1906. -
Meat Inspection Act
Meat Inspection Act of 1906, U.S. legislation, signed by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. -
Left Presidency for Africa
Leaving the Presidency in 1909, Roosevelt went on an African safari. Landing in Mombasa in 1909, Roosevelt spent months in the wilds of East Africa, hunting big game in parts of what are now Kenya and Uganda.
It was an expedition sponsored in part by the Smithsonian Institution; Roosevelt was there to hunt big game which would in turn be stuffed and turned over to the Smithsonian for its exhibit halls. -
Bull-Moose Party
The Progressive Party was popularly nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party" when Roosevelt boasted that he felt "strong as a bull moose" after losing the Republican nomination in June 1912 at the Chicago convention. On the evening of June 22, 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the floor of the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Republican progressives reconvened in Chicago's Orchestra Hall and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party.