Theodore Roosevelt: Writer, Solider and President of the United States of America | Mini Bio | BIO

Teddy Roosevelt was a perpetual motion machine. He never stopped. Teddy Roosevelt was not well when he was young. He was sickly. And one of the results of that was he overcompensated in some ways to prove how strong he was. He believes that leading the strenuous life brought him sort of personal health, personal achievement, and he extrapolates that into a philosophy that's good not only for him personally, but for the nation. Teddy Roosevelt is a very energetic person, a very active person. He comes into the White House with this active presence. Teddy Roosevelt is the person who changes the American presidency. And he does so by bringing into the Oval Office powers, which no one who'd occupied that office before thought they had. He believed that the presidency and the government had a role to play in the economy. He set out after the corporations that he believed were too big to do good for the American people. He was the great trust buster. He uses executive orders to secure probably one of his most important legacies, which is conservation. All of the work in securing the land for the national parks and creating this beautiful environmental legacy is all done through executive power. So that kind of amassing of executive power is one of the ways I think that Teddy Roosevelt really changes the presidency. Teddy Roosevelt is not only the most active president since Lincoln domestically, but also in foreign policy. He understands, like no one had before him, that America was now grown up. We were a power. He was the first imperialist president, I think it's fair to say. I think the second way that he changes the presidency is by connecting the president to the American people in a way they probably had never been connected before. He believed that it was his task to use the presidency as what he called the bully pulpit, to say what was right, what was wrong, where we were going as a nation. And he did it brilliantly. He uses really personal charisma and energy to get things done. That's really the key to Teddy Roosevelt's leadership. It's that force of personality that allows him to bust trusts, to settle strikes. Theodore Roosevelt was his own man. And he redefined the presidency. He was the first strong, active, vibrant president after a number of nondescript presidents. We don't remember much about Chester A. Arthur or Garfield, but we can all remember Teddy Roosevelt and what he did.