October 27, 1858 Born at 28 East 20th Street, New York City, child of Theodore ("Thee" or "Greatheart") and Martha ("Mittie") Bulloch Roosevelt. There were four children in all - Anna ("Bamie" or "Bye"), Theodore ("Teedie" to his family and very close friends. He hated to be called "Teddy"), Elliott ("Ellie") and Corinne ("Coney").
1865 Watches Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession from an upstairs window of his grandfather's house on Union Square, New York City. With him are his younger brother Elliott and a friend named Edith Kermit Carow.
1876-1880 Attended Harvard College
Feb. 9, 1878 Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. dies from stomach cancer at the family's new home, 6 West 57th Street, NYC.
June 30, 1880 Graduates from Harvard, magna cum laude, member Phi Beta Kappa.
1880-1882 Enters Columbia Law School in October 1880; discontinued study of law in 1882 without taking a degree or becoming a lawyer.
October 27, 1880 Marries Alice Hathaway Lee of Chestnut Hill, MA on his 22nd birthday. (Alice born July 29, 1861)
1880 Joins the Republican Party
November 8, 1881 Elected to New York State Assembly from New York City (the youngest man ever elected to the Assembly) by a margin of 3,490 votes to 1,989. Serves three one-year terms, 1882, 1883 and 1884. Minority Leader 1883.
1882 Publishes first book, The Naval War of 1812, written partly while TR was in college. It set the standard for studies on naval strategy and was required reading at the Naval Academy in Annapolis for many years.
1882-1884 Served in New York State Assembly.
"I put myself in the way of things happening; and they happened."..."During the three years' service in the Legislature I worked on a very simple philosophy of government. It was that personal character and initiative are the prime requisites in political and social life."August 1,1882 Joins the National Guard. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant in B Company of New York's Eighth Regiment. Would be promoted to Captain the following year.
1883 Reelected by the widest margin of any legislator in New York (by a two-to-one majority). Becomes Minority Leader.
Is taken on a tour of New York City tenements by Samuel Gompers and is horrified by the conditions he witnesses. Works to pass legislation to ease conditions.
1883-1884 Establishes two cattle ranches, Maltese Cross and Elkhorn, near Medora, Dakota Territory (in region now part of North Dakota).
February 12, 1884 Birth of 1st child, daughter Alice Lee Roosevelt at his home on 57th Street in NYC.
February 14, 1884 Double tragedy:
TR's mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt dies of typhoid fever; hours later, in the same house on 57th Street, TR's wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt also dies from Bright's disease - a chronic kidney infection which had been masked by her pregnancy.
March, 1884 Signs a contract with the firm of Joseph Wood & Sons of Lawrence, Long Island, to build a home in Oyster Bay at the insistence of his sister Bamie, who convinced him his daughter would need a home. He had originally planned the home with his wife Alice, and was planning to name it Leeholm in honor of her family name.
The house, completed in 1885, would later be named Sagamore Hill in honor of Sagamore Mohannis, the Indian chief who used the hill as a meeting place and signed his people's rights to the land over to the settlers in the 1660s.
April, 1884 As Chairman of the Committee on Cities, presented report which resulted in vital changes in the Charter of New York City.
June, 1884 Delegate to the Republican National Convention.
1884-1886 Ranchman in the badlands of the Dakota Territory.
1885 Sagamore Hill, TR's Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York home, completed.
1885 Publishes Hunting Trips of a Ranchman
November 2, 1886 Abram S. Hewitt, the son-in-law of Peter Cooper defeats TR as Republican candidate for mayor of New York City. Hewitt's New York City home would later become the Cooper-Hewitt Museum.
December 2, 1886 Marries to Edith Kermit Carow in London. [Edith born August 6, 1861, Norwich, CT]
1887 Publishes Life of Thomas Hart Benton.
1887 TR and Edith Roosevelt took up residence at Sagamore Hill. They eventually have five children: Theodore (1887), Kermit (1889), Ethel Carow (1891), Archibald Bulloch (1894), Quentin (1897).
Sept.13,1887 Theodore's first son (second child), Theodore Roosevelt, Junior is born at Sagamore Hill.
1888 Publishes Life of Gouverneur Morris. Publishes Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail. Publishes Essays in Practical Politics.
Oct. 10, 1889 Kermit Roosevelt (third child) is born at Sagamore Hill.
1889 First two volumes of The Winning of the West published. Two more volumes of his four-volume history of the frontier would follow in 1894 and 1896.
May 7, 1889- May 5, 1895 U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Washington.
1891 Publishes History of New York, a history of New York City.
August 13,1891 Birth of his daughter, Ethel Carow Roosevelt, at Sagamore Hill.
1893 Published The Wilderness Hunter.
April 10, 1894 Son Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, born in Washington, DC.
August 14, 1894 Brother Elliott Roosevelt (father of Eleanor Roosevelt) dies.
1895 Publishes Hero Tales from American History, in collaboration with Henry Cabot Lodge.
May 5, 1895 Resigns US Civil Service Commission to become Police Commissioner of NYC.
May 6, 1895- April 19, 1897 President of the Board of Police Commissioners, New York City.
Received national press attention for his reforms, including "midnight rambles" in search of policemen not at their posts. Ordered that all police officers must report for target practice, thus establishing the foundation of the Police Academy, one of the first in the country.
1897 Publishes American Ideals.
April 19, 1897 Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President William McKinley.
November 19, 1897 Son Quentin Roosevelt, born in Washington, DC.
May 6, 1898 A little more than one year later TR resigns as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to become Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (the "Rough Riders").
May 15-Sept. 16, 1898 Serves with First US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the "Rough Riders," during Spanish-American War. TR commissioned Lieutenant Colonel, but later promoted to Colonel of the regiment before the Battle of San Juan Heights.
June 24, 1898 Baptism of fire at Las Guasimas.
July 1, 1898 Battle of San Juan Heights. Is later nominated for, but denied, the Congressional Medal of Honor. One hundred years later TR is awarded the Medal of Honor.
August 14, 1898 The Rough Riders land at Montauk, Long Island, to begin a six-week quarantine.
[TR returned from Cuba, in 6 week quarantine at Camp Wikoff, Montauk, Long Island, New York, Aug-Sept 1898]
September 27, 1898 Nominated by the Republican Party for Governor of New York State.
October 5, 1898 Opening of campaign at Carnegie Music Hall. Speech on The Duties of a Great Nation.
November 8, 1898 Elected Governor of New York State (661,715 votes) with a plurality of 17,786 votes. His opponent was Democrat Augustus Van Wyck of Brooklyn (643,921 votes).
December 31, 1898 Takes oath of office as Governor of New York before Secretary of State John Palmer. January 2. Inauguration in Assembly Chamber. The day was so cold that the brass instruments of the band escorting him to the State Capitol building froze into silence. Annual message to legislature, dealing with taxation, the Erie Canal, commerce, labor, the National Guard, roads, civil service, state forests and the economy.
1899 Publishes The Rough Riders. First installment appears in Scribner's in January.
January 2, 1899 Inauguration as Governor in Assembly Chamber. The day was so cold that the brass instruments of the band escorting him to the State Capitol building froze into silence. Annual message to legislature, dealing with taxation, the Erie Canal, commerce, labor, the National Guard, roads, civil service, state forests and the economy.
January 16, 1899 First weekly State cabinet meeting.
Dec. 31, 1898 - Dec. 31, 1900 Governor of New York.
November 6, 1900 Oyster Bay. Elected Vice President. The McKinley-Roosevelt ticket received 7,219,530 votes to 6,358,071 for Democrats William Jennings Bryan and Adlai E. Stevenson.
December 31, 1900 Oyster Bay. Evening in Albany for farewell dinner given by Timothy L. Woodruff.
March 4- Sept. 14, 1901 Vice President of the United States.
Sept. 6, 1901 President William McKinley shot while attending the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.
TR, on a hiking trip with his family, is summoned from Mount Tahawus in the Adirondacks to Buffalo.
September 14, 1901 At age 42, Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States and is sworn into office at about 3:15 p.m. at the Ansley Wilcox Mansion, 641 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, the youngest man ever to become President (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of 43).
Sept. 14 1901-Mar. 4, 1909 Twenty-sixth President of the United States.
February 19, 1902 Orders antitrust suit under Sherman Act to dissolve Northern Securities Company in the first of 45 antitrust suits.
May 22, 1902 Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, established.
Other National Parks established by TR are:
Wind Cave National Park, SD (1903);Sullys Hill, ND (1904);Platt National Park, OK (1906);Mesa Verde National Park, CO (1906)June 17, 1902 Newlands Reclamation Act signed, leading to first 21 federal irrigation projects including Theodore Roosevelt Dam, Arizona.
June 28, 1902 Isthmian Canal Act.
October 15, 1902 Settles Anthracite Coal Strike.
December 31,1902 Roosevelt settles the Venezuelan Affair.
February 14, 1903 Department of Commerce and Labor established.
February 19, 1903 Elkins Anti-rebate Act for railroads signed.
March 14, 1903 Proclaimed Pelican Island, Florida as first federal bird reservation; total of 51 bird reservations established by Roosevelt administration.
March, 1903 Roosevelt settles the Alaskan Boundary dispute.
November 13, 1903 Recognition of the Republic of Panama after Panama's secession from Colombia.
November 18, 1903 Treaty signed with Panama for building of Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914.
December 17, 1903 Reciprocity Treaty with Cuba.
November 8, 1904 Reelected President over Democrat Alton B. Parker.
December 6, 1904 Issued "Roosevelt Corollary" to Monroe Doctrine in annual message to Congress.
June 2, 1905 Wichita Forest, Oklahoma made first federal game preserve. Other federal game preserves established by TR are Grand Canyon (1908); Fire Island, Alaska (1909); and National Bison Range, Montana (1909).
February 1, 1905 National Forest Service established.
March 4, 1905 Inaugurated for second term as President.
March 17, 1905 Acting as stand-in for his deceased brother Elliott, he gave away his niece Eleanor Roosevelt at her wedding to her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in New York City.
June 2, 1905 Wichita Forest, Oklahoma, made first federal game preserve. Other federal game preserves established by TR are the Grand Canyon (1908); Fire Island, Alaska (1909); and National Bison Range, Montana (1909).
September 5, 1905Portsmouth Treaty signed ending Russo-Japanese War after mediation by TR.
Portsmouth Treaty signed ending Russo-Japanese War after mediation by TR.1905 Published Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter.
January 1906 Algeciras Conference opened as TR mediated a dispute between France and Germany over Morocco, preserving Moroccan independence and the European balance of power, thus for a time saving the peace in North Africa and Europe.
Feb.17, 1906 Marriage of his daughter Alice to Ohio Congressman Nicholas Longworth in a magnificent White House ceremony.
June 8, 1906 Antiquities or National Monuments Act signed, by which TR established the first 18 "National Monuments," including:
Devils Tower (1906),Muir Woods (1908),Grand Canyon (1908), and Mount Olympus (1909)June 11, 1906 Forest Homestead Act.
June 29, 1906 Signs Hepburn Act giving Interstate Commerce Commission power to regulate railroad rates.
June 30, 1906 Signs Pure Food and Drug Act and federal meat inspection law.
Nov. 8-26, 1906 President and Mrs. Roosevelt go to Panama to inspect building of the canal, the first time a president leaves US while in office.
December 10, 1906 Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for ending Russo-Japanese War in 1905; first American to win Nobel Prize in any of the six categories. (TR received award while in Europe in 1910.)
Dec. 16. 1907- Voyage of the Great White Fleet around the world. It will be the first circumnavigation of the globe by a national naval force.
May 13-15, 1908 First conference of Governors met at the White House to consider problems of conservation.
June 8, 1908 Appointed a National Conservation Commission to prepare first inventory of natural resources.
February 18, 1909 North American Conservation Conference convened at White House.
February 22, 1909 Return of the American Great White Fleet
March 4, 1909 TR's administration ends with inauguration of successor William Howard Taft.
March 1909 - June 1910 Led hunting expedition to Africa to gather specimens for Smithsonian Institution with son Kermit, then toured Europe.
April 23, 1910 Delivers "Citizenship in a Republic" speech at the Sorbonne, Paris.
May 20, 1910 Serves as Special Ambassador to England at the funeral of King Edward VII.
May 31, 1910 Address at the Guildhall, London.
June 18, 1910 Returns to New York from African Safari and European tour.
1910 Publishes African Game Trails.
August 31, 1910 Delivers "New Nationalism" address, Osawatomie, Kansas.
1911 Becomes an editor for Outlook Magazine
February 21, 1912 Announces candidacy for Republican nomination against President Taft, declaring "my hat is in the ring."
1912 Publishes Realizable Ideals.
June 18-22, 1912 Republican National Convention meets in Chicago and renominates incumbent Taft even though TR has won all but one primary and caucus. Roosevelt supporters bolt, charging "theft" of nomination.
August 5-7, 1912 Convention of new National Progressive party (nicknamed "Bull Moose" party) held in Chicago, adopts reform platform, and nominates TR for President and Governor Hiram W. Johnson of California for Vice President.
October 14, 1912 Shot in the chest while entering an automobile outside the Hotel Gilpatrick in Milwaukee, WI by would-be assassin John Nepomuk Schrank at about 8:00 p.m. Campaigning on the "Bull Moose" ticket, TR delivers a 90-minute speech at the Auditorium in Milwaukee before seeking medical attention. The bullet would never be removed. [Schrank was declared insane on November 13, 1912 and committed to the Northern State Hospital for the Insane at Oshkosh, WI, and died at the Central State Hospital in Waupun, WI on September 15,1943.]
November 5, 1912 Democrat Woodrow Wilson elected president over TR, who came in second, and Republican Taft. Roosevelt received the largest percentage of votes of any third party candidate.
Wilson won the election:
6,293,454 popular votes, 435 Electoral votes/40 states.
Roosevelt came in second:
4,119,538 votes , 88 Electoral votes/6 states.
(27.4% of the popular vote)
Taft came in third:
3,484,980 votes, 8 Electoral votes/2 states.
1913 Publishes Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography and History as Literature and Other Essays.
May 26-31, 1913 Trial of Roosevelt vs. Newett, TR's successful libel suit against Michigan editor.
October 4, 1913 Sails for South America for lecture tour and jungle expedition.
February 27- April 27, 1914 Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition, sponsored by American Museum of Natural History and Brazilian government, explores Brazil's "River of Doubt," now named "Rio Roosevelt" or Rio Teodoro". Kermit again accompanied his father. Theodore Roosevelt nearly dies on the trip.
1914 Publishes Through the Brazilian Wilderness and, in collaboration with Edmund Heller, Life Histories of African Game Animals.
Jan. 1, 1915 Publishes America and the World War.
April 19- May 22, 1915 Trial of Barnes vs. Roosevelt: TR wins libel suit launched by Republican leader William Barnes, Jr.
1916 Publishes A Booklover's Holidays in the Open and Fear God and Take Your Own Part.
June 7-10, 1916 Republican and Progressive national conventions meet in Chicago, at same time in different halls, in an effort at a joint nomination.
June 10, 1916 Progressives nominate Theodore Roosevelt; Republicans nominate Charles Evans Hughs; TR declines Progressive nomination and eventually backs Hughes.
February, 1917 Roosevelt's requests permission of President Wilson to raise, equip and lead volunteer division for service in France in World War I.
May 19, 1917 President Wilson refuses Roosevelt's service request.
1917 TR's family supports the War effort. All four of his sons enlist. His daughter Ethel serves as a Red Cross nurse at the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris, accompanying her husband, surgeon Dr. Richard Derby.
1917 Published Foes of Our Own Household.
July 14, 1918 Quentin Roosevelt, TR's youngest son, killed while serving as a fighter pilot in France.
July, 1918 Roosevelt refuses Republican nomination for Governor of New York.
1918 Published The Great Adventure.
January 6, 1919 Died in his sleep at Sagamore Hill of coronary embolism (arterial blood clot) at age 60.
Funeral Procession for the burial of Theodore Roosevelt at Young's Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York on January 8, 1919.
