'Toothsome Rex': The president with the winning smile PG3

authority on large American mammals.

Youngest president ever

The multifaceted Roosevelt was also a war hero, leading cavalry charges in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Besides serving in the New York Legislature, he also served as New York City police commissioner, civil service commissioner, assistant secretary of the U. S. Navy, governor of New York, vice president of the U.S., and, upon the assassination of President William McKinley, ascended to the presidency at the age of 42 -- the youngest president ever.

His effervescent personality and energy were broadcast across U.S. newspapers, magazines, and early cinematic newsreels. As president, he brokered a peace treaty in the war between Russia and Japan in 1904, winning him the Nobel Peace Prize -- the first ever awarded to an American (the Nobel Prizes were established in 1901). He was the first president to entertain a black American (Booker T. Washington) in the White House. He acquired the Panama Canal Zone, enabling the U.S. to construct the canal the linked the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Preaching his "Square Deal" for Americans, he busted the large commercial trusts that had economically enslaved the average U.S. worker. Additionally, he secured laws that regulated the railroads and forced inspection of the meat industry, as well as signed the Pure Food and Drug Act for consumer protection.

Roosevelt led two major scientific expeditions, one on behalf of the Smithsonian Institute to equatorial Africa, where he collected animal and flora specimens. Shortly after his presidency, he led another expedition that explored and mapped a mysterious Brazilian River (Rio Dúvida, now known as the Rio Roosevelt) on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History and the Brazilian National Geographic Society. He was also the first president to fly in an airplane.

Lifetime of ailments

During his lifetime, Roosevelt was portrayed as a rugged individual, constantly on the go, a man of gusto, tireless energy, enthusiasm, and zeal. In reality, besides his childhood asthmatic health problems, he experienced significant health problems throughout his life. During the Spanish-American War, he contracted malaria, which frequently reoccurred until he died. During his Brazilian expedition, he nearly died from the disease and infection, losing more than 50 pounds. He had to be carried by porters, "weak and ravaged by sickness."

Roosevelt died in January of 1919 at the age of 60. An article by A.M. Jungmann in Ladies Home Journal published in April of that year alleged that his death was caused by an infected tooth. Jungmann wrote, "Those flashing white teeth won him millions of friends -- yet one of those teeth killed him." Jungmann speculated that a root canal 20 years earlier had remained septic, which was the root cause of many of his illnesses and ultimately his death. Jungmann's speculation, before the advent of antibiotics, may well have been correct. Christen, in his article about Roosevelt's dental health, validates this early 20th century notion, writing, "there was a widespread belief that 'a bad tooth' that had previously been edodontically treated was the probable cause of death."

However, modern medical diagnostics pretty much discounts this belief. Morris, in his book, notes that Roosevelt's body was indeed rampant with "Cuban and Amazonian pathogens," but that the real cause of his death was a heart attack caused by hardened arteries and probably a blood vessel blockage (myocardial infarction, secondary to chronic arthrosclerosis and with possible acute coronary occlusion). His death was likely brought on by a lifelong compulsive eating disorder.

In fact, Roosevelt referred to himself as an "abnormal eater." It was not unusual for him to consume 12 eggs for breakfast along with potatoes, toast, and large quantities of