The Knickerbocker Press, New York
TO
HENRY CABOT LODGE
October 1897
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Few names are more widely known at the present moment than that of Theodore Roosevelt, so that in one sense any introduction is superfluous. But in this sense he is known chiefly as the “Rough Rider” of the Santiago campaign; whereas those who read these books will see that his experience as a volunteer officer in the war with Spain is only one incident in a life which has been singularly varied in thought and accomplishment and useful in many fields.
Roosevelt was born in New York City, October 27, 1858. On his father’s side he is descended from a Dutch emigrant of the seventeenth century and the intermediate generations have been prudent, hard-working, successful merchants, prominent at all times in the commercial and social life of New York. His father’s mother was from Pennsylvania, of Irish stock. His own mother was from Georgia, a daughter of James Dunwoodie Bullock, whose family was of Scotch and Huguenot origin, and had been prominent in public life in the South.
During his childhood, Roosevelt was in such bad health that it was doubtful if he would ever grow to manhood, and his robust strength and extraordinary capacity for physical endurance were not acquired until after his outdoor life in the West. He was educated at private schools in New York City, whence he went to Harvard University in 1876, graduating in the usual course in 1880. His tastes were for literary work, but the very year after leaving college he was elected to the Legislature as a representative of one of the City Assembly districts; and in the same fashion that has since characterized him, he plunged at once into the thick of the fight as an ardent reformer, particularly with reference to legislation affecting New York City. His youth and lack of experience were more than counterbalanced by his earnestness and aggressive energy, so that he speedily became a power which had to be recognized. He was the leader of his party while it was in the minority, and when it was in the majority he was Chairman of the Committee on Cities. He served three terms in the Legislature, and during that time introduced and carried through more important city legislation than was ever brought about by any one assemblyman. It was all directed by one central purpose, namely, to put an end to boards and commissions with their opportunities for “trades” and “deals,” to restrict the powers of the Board of Aldermen, who were notoriously corrupt, and to concentrate responsibility in the Mayor and single heads of departments, who could be held accountable; in other words, to effect the transformation from what was suitable for town-meeting government in New England or New Holland one or two centuries ago to what was required for the complicated cosmopolitan metropolis of the nineteenth century.
While in the Legislature he still found time for literary work, and in 1882 wrote The Naval War of 1812, which told the story of our glorious successes on the sea; it was written at a period when our merchant marine was in decadence, our navy at its lowest ebb, and public interest in the subject almost wholly lost. It was not without its effect on the rebuilding of the navy which began two years later, which fortunately for us had already reached such a splendid development before 1898, and which is still in progress.