breakfast meats. According to Morris, his daughter Ethel "was amazed at the amount of lunch he could put away," noting on one occasion that "he had 2 plates of tomatoes, 2 plates of applesauce, 1 plate of potato, grouped around ... spare ribs of pork." She counted "18 which he ate and then he refused to let me count further!!"
Roosevelt was as big in death as in life. The New York Evening Post obituary referred to him as "a superman in the political sphere." A friend wrote, "The strongest character in the world has died." The sculptor Gutzon Borglum memorialized him best by including him in his Mount Rushmore bas-relief alongside the three other U.S. presidential "greats": Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.
And, of course, the teddy bear is a poignant reminder of his humanity. On a 1902 hunting expedition in Mississippi, he refused to shoot a black bear that had been hunted by hounds, clubbed, and tied to a willow tree with the expectation that Roosevelt would shoot and "bag" the animal. A disgusted Roosevelt refused, deeming it unsportsman-like -- and inspiring a toy manufacturer to invent and market the cute cuddly "Teddy" bears we know and love today.
Daniel Demers is a semiretired businessman whose hobby is researching and writing about 19th and 20th century historical events and personalities. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from George Washington University and a master's degree in business from Chapman University.
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(Courtesy of: DrBicuspid.com)
E-MAIL ME ddemers901@sonic.net