CONTENTSI. ORIGINS AND YOUTHII. BREAKING INTO POLITICSIII. AT THE FIRST CROSSROADSIV. NATURE THE HEALERV. BACK TO THE EAST AND LITERATUREVI. APPLYING MORALS TO POLITICSVII. THE ROUGH RIDERVIII. GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK--VICE-PRESIDENTIX. PRESIDENTX. THE WORLD WHICH ROOSEVELT CONFRONTEDXI. ROOSEVELT'S FOREIGN POLICYXII. THE GREAT CRUSADE AT HOMEXIII. THE TWO ROOSEVELTSXIV. THE PRESIDENT AND THE KAISERXV. ROOSEVELT AND CONGRESSXVI. THE SQUARE DEAL IN ACTIONXVII. ROOSEVELT AT HOMEXVIII. HITS AND MISSESXIX. CHOOSING HIS SUCCESSORXX. WORLD HONORSXXI. WHICH WAS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?XXII. THE TWO CONVENTIONSXXIII. THE BRAZILIAN ORDEALXXIV. PROMETHEUS BOUNDXXV. PROMETHEUS UNBOUNDTHEODORE ROOSEVELTCHAPTER I. ORIGINS AND YOUTHNothing better illustrates the elasticity of American democraticlife than the fact that within a span of forty years AbrahamLincoln and Theodore Roosevelt were Presidents of the UnitedStates. Two men more unlike in origin, in training, and inopportunity, could hardly be found.Lincoln came from an incompetent Kentuckian father, a pioneerwithout the pioneer's spirit of enterprise and push; he lackedschooling; he had barely the necessaries of life measured even bythe standards of the Border; his companions were rough frontierwastrels, many of whom had either been, or might easily become,ruffians. The books on which he fed his young mind were very few,not more than five or six, but they were the best. And yet inspite of these handicaps, Abraham Lincoln rose to be the leaderand example of the American Nation during its most perilouscrisis, and the ideal Democrat of the nineteenth century.Theodore Roosevelt, on the contrary, was born in New York City,enjoyed every advantage in education and training; his family hadbeen for many generations respected in the city; his father wascultivated and had distinction as a citizen, who devoted hiswealth and his energies to serving his fellow men. But, just asincredible adversity could not crush Abraham Lincoln, so lavishprosperity could not keep down or spoil Theodore Roosevelt.In his "Autobiography" he tells us that "about 1644 his ancestor,Claes Martensen van Roosevelt, came to New Amsterdam as a'settler'--the euphemistic name for an immigrant who came over inthe steerage of a sailing ship in the seventeenth century. Fromthat time for the next seven generations from father to son everyone of us was born on Manhattan Island." * For over a hundredyears the Roosevelts continued to be typical Dutch burghers in ahard-working, God-fearing, stolid Dutch way, each leaving to hisson a little more than he had inherited. During the Revolution,some of the family were in the Continental Army, but they won nohigh honors, and some of them sat in the Congresses of thatgeneration--sat, and were honest, but did not shine. Theodore'sgreat-grandfather seems to have amassed what was regarded inthose days as a large fortune.