Thus Theodore Roosevelt bade adieu to Washington after seven years of strenuous service through one of the most remarkable administrations the country has yet known.
At the time he laid down the sceptre of leadership, there was considerable agitation in the public press on the problem of how to employ ex-Presidents, brought to a focus by Mr. Roosevelt’s own dominant, vigorous physical and mental fitness for participation in almost any line of constructive activity in economic or political development. But Mr. Roosevelt solved this problem for himself, at least for the time, as he had already planned to devote a year or so to the exploration of Central Africa. Shortly, he was entirely out of touch with all political associations, returning to America about a year later with a large collection of specimens and valuable contributions to science. En route he visited Egypt, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, and England, receiving in all these places an ovation similar to that given to General Grant. On this part of the trip, he was accompanied by Mrs. Roosevelt, and together they repeated their honeymoon journey, with the exception that his honeymoon had not been interrupted with speeches, as was the case on this tour. When he was in Christiania, he received the Nobel Prize for his work in bringing about peace in the Russo-Japanese conflict. England showed her appreciation through the degree conferred upon him at Oxford. By the time he reached New York, his popularity had attained a degree where the welcome extended him seemed to be the universal expression of the nation.
In 1912, a Republican schism wrecked the party, with Taft and Roosevelt as the central figures of the most furiously waged row that ever split an American political party wide open. The underlying cause was the super-strong personality of Roosevelt with a countless host of ardent followers unalterably opposed to accept anyone else as a leader.
The contest during the election was spirited and bitter, and the split in the party resulted in its defeat, giving a victory to the Democrats. Following the exhausting efforts of this campaign, Colonel Roosevelt again made a trip of rest and exploration, going to South America. This was the first expedition in all his experience that proved disastrous, as he contracted a tropical fever which all but cost him his life, and from which he never entirely recovered. By this time, Colonel Roosevelt had lost the sight of one eye, but that in no wise retarded his activities. The great grief of his life came to him with the opening of the World War, which called him to active service with every fibre of his being, and in which participation was denied him through political partisanship. However, he had the great satisfaction of seeing all four of his sons enter the war, saying, as he bade them god-speed, “I would go with you if I could. I would go as a corporal if I could obtain the consent of the administration.” His enforced aloofness was particularly bitter when both France and England clamoured for his presence.
While he was addressing an audience in Milwaukee, an assassin’s bullet caused a painful wound, and though he recovered temporarily, its presence in his system, combined with the devastating effects of the tropical fever, hastened his death; but he lived to mourn the death of his youngest child while exulting in the pride of the boy’s heroic service in the defense of American ideals, and he lived to see the utter collapse of the despotism that plunged the world into the frightful World War. His death, suddenly, painlessly, came in the midst of his activities on January 6, 1919. He sleeps at Oyster Bay, and his grave is year by year becoming a shrine that draws throngs in increasing numbers to pay tribute to the man who most of all typified the spirit of America.
At the present writing, Mrs. Roosevelt is a world traveller. Her living boys have become noted explorers. Her baby sleeps in France. Her daughters are both married and all of her children have promising families, to which Paulina Longworth is the latest addition.
CHAPTER XIV
ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM
HOWARD TAFT
March 4, 1909, to March 4, 1913
BECAUSE of the blinding snowstorm, howling winds, and low temperature, Mr. Taft departed from the usual custom of an outdoor ceremony and took the oath of office in the Senate Chamber, with Chief Justice Fuller officiating, after James Schoolcraft Sherman had been installed as Vice President.