Theodore Roosevelt was one of most dynamic Presidents in White House history, and on the occasion of his birthday, here are 10 fascinating facts about the 26th President.
Roosevelt came from a wealthy New York family, but he didn’t take an easy path through life. Born on October 27, 1858 in Manhattan, Roosevelt survived the tragedy of losing his wife and his own mother to illness on the same day in 1884, an assassination attempt in 1912, and an extremely dangerous military charge in Cuba in 1898.
The former President passed away in 1919 at the age 60 from a blood clot that had lodged in his heart. He had been in declining health for several years.
Here are some interesting facts about the most dynamic of American Presidents.
1. As a child, Roosevelt witnessed the Abraham Lincoln funeral procession. There is a photo of the young Roosevelt perched in a window watching the procession in New York City in April 1865 that surfaced in the 1950s. Young TR and his brother were at his grandfather’s mansion.
2. Theodore Roosevelt had a really, really good memory. Roosevelt claimed he had a photographic memory, but it is a statement that can’t be easily proven today. But biographer and historian Edmund Morris cited several documented cases where Roosevelt was able to recite obscure poetry and other content well over a decade after he read the documents.
