“There was to be a misconception in later years that he conquered his childhood infirmities mainly through willpower and bodybuilding, that he rid himself of asthma by making himself a strong man. Strength had to come first one must be strong before everything else.” DM “It was no good wishing to appear like the heroes he worshipped if he made no effort to be like them. Teddy started doing daily workouts and built a gym on their own back piazza. To most others he remained likable but peculiar and much too intense for comfort.” DMĪround twelve years old, his father sat him down and said, “Theodore, you have the mind, but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should…You must make your body.” Woodbury, as he said later, figured Theodore might amount to something-as a professor of history perhaps-if only because he seemed to know what he wanted. Purposeful: “The ever-admiring John Woodbury seems to have been alone in his forecast of distinction. Joined the Rifle Club, Art Club, Glee Club, became president of the Natural History Society, started a Finance Club, was named to the editorial board of the Advocate, the undergrad magazine. He was always ready to join anything with no questions asked. “He was a figure of incessant activity, of constant talk, constant hurt, a bee in a bottle.” DMĪt Harvard, he busied himself with boxing lessons, dance classes, horseback riding, wrestling, and long hikes. “Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough.” Theodore Roosevelt Teddy Roosevelt lived his life with urgency, constantly moving and favoring action. It fueled his love for nature and the outdoors.
Went on expeditions with his father to the Adirondacks. Spent childhood summers in houses along the Hudson, riding, swimming, and running barefoot. He found joy in adventuring, watching birds and animals, anything to do with nature.įilled his notebooks with descriptions and observations of ants, spiders, beetles, and dragonflies.Ĭreated his own “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History” in the back hall of the fourth floor of his family home. Faced chronic stomach trouble, headaches, colds, fevers, and asthma. See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.Įxtremely frail, sickly, undersized, nervous, and timid as a child. He breathes life into Roosevelt’s coming-of-age, grief, and transformation. McCullough was one of the best biographers and historians we’ll likely ever see. These were the years that Roosevelt grew from a fragile child and naive New York assemblyman into a hardened cowboy in the Badlands of North Dakota. The best biography that I’ve read on Theodore Roosevelt-though it only covers his early years from age 10 to 27. Mornings on Horseback by David McCulloughĭate read: 2/14/23.
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