Theodore
Roosevelt, while president of our country was, in addition to being a very
successful politician, a crusader for good government and social justice.
Roosevelt’s
second administration (1905-1909) was marked by many achievements in legislation
for railroad regulation, pure foods and drugs, employer liability and measures
providing for federal inspection of stock-yards and packing houses. His
programs supporting the conservation of land and natural resources made
it possible to double the number of national parks within that four year
period.
Mr. Roosevelt’s impact on world politics was never more dominate than
during those years of his second term. Through his manipulation of the powers
of the Presidency (Remember his comment concerning the presidency? He called
it a Bully Pulpit.) he brokered an end to the Russo-Japanese war, he intervened
decisively in the Algeciras Crisis (1905) and was a stabilizing influence
in conflicts that concerned Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.
Roosevelt’s political and legislative achievements, coupled with his
physical and intellectual vitality, made him a very popular president and
he could easily have won re-election in 1908 had he chosen to be nominated.
He left the oval office on March 4, 1909.
Only a month later,
Roosevelt and his son Kermit landed in Mombasa, the main Indian Ocean seaport
of Kenya. There, Roosevelt gathered a safari party of nearly 250 porters
and guides. For the next year, they trekked across British East Africa,
into the Congo and then back to the Nile ending in Khartoum, the capital
of Sudan.
The purpose of the trip was to gather nature specimens for the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC, and thus with their goal in mind, the Roosevelts
collected over 1,100 items, including more than 500 speciments that were
considered big game. In Roosevelt’s own words, he regarded his expedition
to be “the most noteworthy collection of big animals that has ever
come out of Africa.”
After his year long hunt, Mr. Roosevelt left Africa and proceeded in early
May of 1910 to England to represent the USA at the funeral of King Edward
VII and from there he went on to Norway to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace
which he won for his part in ending the Russo-Japanese War.
He returned home in June 1910.