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Rough riders at San Juan Hill
In order to ensure victory in the Spanish American war, U.S. forces needed to take control of Santiago, Cuba's second largest city. Two hills stood near the city: San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill. Against heavily fortified Spanish forces, the Rough Riders charged up Kettle Hill, taking the strategic position. Shortly after, the U.S. forces were also able to take the equally fortified San Juan Hill. The Rough Riders took the highest casualties in the battle. -
First named president
Roosevelt was originally Vice President but later became President due to the assassination of President McKinley. Roosevelt brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy. -
National Reclamation Act
On June 17, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act into law. Federal support for western water projects had not been an easy task because of Republican opposition and some politicians' fears that federally controlled water projects would threaten state water laws. -
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. -
The Elkins Act
The Elkins Act of 1903 was named for Senator Stephen B. Elkins of West Virginia. This piece of legislation was championed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a way to end the practice of rebates. Rebates were refunds to businesses which shipped large quantities on the railroads, and many railroad companies disliked it. Shippers could demand rebates and threaten to take their business elsewhere in the overbuilt and highly competitive American railroad network of the late nineteenth century. -
Northern Security Case
The Northern Securities Case established President Theodore Roosevelt’s reputation as a “trust buster,” reached 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. -
Yosemite under Federal Control
Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove remained under state administration until 1906, when they were returned to federal control and incorporated in Yosemite National Park. In the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, Congress authorized presidents to proclaim permanent forest reserves on the public domain. -
Meat Inspection Act
The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was a piece of U.S. legislation, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured sanitary slaughtering and processing of livestock. The law is noteworthy for reforming the meatpacking industry in the United States. -
The Pure Food and Drug Act
Pure Food and Drug Act, in U.S. history, legislation passed in 1906 to ensure the sanitary preparation of consumable goods. The Pure Food and Drug Act required accurate ingredient labeling and prohibited the sale of adulterated and misbranded food and drugs in interstate commerce. -
Africa (1909-1911)
What Theodore Roosevelt wanted was to have what he never wanted before in his life: to be left alone. That was the decent thing, he thought: to get out of town, and the country, so that the new president, Taft, might occupy the presidential stage by himself. He would go then, as far away as he could - into the interior of Africa, on safari. -
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.