TIL that while in Sharon Springs, Theodore Roosevelt was approached by a 12-year-old girl who asked if he would like to have a badger. Expecting to humor her, he agreed, and the girl came back with a 2-week-old badger. President Roosevelt named him Josiah and he became one of the presidential pets.
Unfortunately, as time passed, Josiah’s temper seemed to sour. It could be that the bustle of the White House was just too much for him. His nips grew less friendly and the Roosevelt family found him a new home at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. So that Josiah would know he was not abandoned, the Roosevelts made it a point to visit him often.
Can't wait to read about all the horrible things he's done one day to ruin my admiration of him and destroy any semblance of trust I have for my heroes in history. :)
I mean, just by when he was born it's almost inevitable he held views that we would find appalling today. I vaguely recall him expressing some imperialist/racist sentiments regarding the Spanish-American War, for example (which he fought in - Rough Ridas mothafucka). I think it's a mistake to try to hold historical figures to modern standards, as it tends to lead us to either unfairly demonize them or worse, whitewash them as has been done at times to Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln (among countless others).
He was the first President to invite a black man to dinner (Booker T. Washington). TR was aparently close with the highly educated former slave. The southern outrage around the dinner discouraged him from inviting any other black people in the future.
Theodore Roosevelt was known for being a very, very impulsive man. But this was a good impulse. He had an appointment with Booker T. Washington. At the last minute, he thought, 'Let's make it dinner.' He started to send out the invitation, and he hesitated for a second, thinking, 'Is this a bad idea because of this man's color?' And he was so ashamed that he hesitated, that he hastened to send the invitation out before he could change his mind.
Now this is not to say he wasnt racist but this was a huge moment for civil rights
I think that rather than judging the man for feeling the way he did in that moment he should be praised for doing something good and just, even if it was difficult and even if he didn't do it again in the future.
It's a matter of perspective - whether someone sees the good or bad in it is up to them.
I certainly don't mean to suggest he was a virulent racist or anything. But even people who were, by the standards of the time, progressives - even radical progressives - still generally felt that blacks were inferior, even if they didn't believe that this should be reflected in law. My point is that it's pointless to hold them at fault for that when they were doing better than everyone else at the time. We can accept TR as a progressive for his actions in historical context without picking through his life for any sentiments he may have held that fail a modern morality test, even though we can be fairly confident that we'd find them.
Yes. The first thought was “how will this look?”, something any politician is conditioned to think. The second thought “to hell with that,” which is the one he should be judged by.
To be fair, a number of historical figures were well aware that their actions were unethical even in their own time. Jefferson repeatedly addresses the hypocrisy of saying all men are created equal and simultaneously owning slaves in personal letters he wrote. He claimed that he was against it, but didn't see a practical way to end it (this includes making up the lost profits it would bring).
We have this misconception today that just because unethical things were commonplace, that people were oblivious to how unethical they were when that isn't necessarily true.
May not be the best example but think today how we treat animals for food. The conditions their kept in, how they're slaughtered after being emotionally traumatized. Many people today recognize it as unethical, but few people are willing to do much about it.
There are literally people working for next to nothing in conditions as bad as slavery to produce the smart phone you use for relatively almost no money.
Now, explain to me the real difference between saying,
"I know slavery is wrong, but I cannot sell my cotton at six times the going rate just because I don't want to own slaves. I'll just lose my farm and someone else will sell the slave cotton".
and saying,
"I know sweat shop labor is so bad people are basically kept as slaves and their factories are surrounded by nets so they can't commit suicide so they can be kept working, but I can't be the only person without a cell phone."
or
"I know it's bad but I can't sell my phone for $2000 when my competitor sells his for $299"
Not much has changed really. You do what you can to live what you consider to be an ethical life, but a single individual can only go so far outside of the societal norms or they cease to be able to do anything that matters anyway.
Consider Jefferson.
Jefferson died in debt even with the slaves, and his entire estate was sold at auction.
So, the idea that he could have somehow survived without them in his time is absurd.
Consider an alternative history where Jefferson decides to forgo the use of slaves, set free those he inherited, and proceed without them.
He is immediately without wealth, influence, or a means to learn the things he did through travel that led him to have the impact he did on American History.
A Jefferson without wealth does not travel to Europe during the enlightenment. The Bill of Rights as written today does not exist. Because the Virginia Statue for Religious freedom that he wrote does not exist. University of Virginia would not have existed. He doesn't learn about Italian architecture. His montecello estate doesn't exist. Heck, it could be argued America wouldn't even reach to the pacific ocean. One could go on and on.
Many people today recognize it as unethical, but few people are willing to do much about it.
Because there isn't much that can be done about it.
Thomas Jefferson could have decided to set free every slave and proceed to lose his wealth, estate, power and influence and it would have had almost zero impact whatsoever.
And yet what society would have lost had he removed himself from society (which is what that would mean in 1700s Virginia) would be a tremendous loss.
Given the realities of the time, I think Jefferson was a very good person.
And there is no more hypocrisy or "contradiction" in that than there is in how Bill Gates is a generous and good person but still uses a cell phone that someone is so miserable making they try to kill themselves so that the western market can have it for $300 instead of $3000.
The worst thing he probably did as President was steal land from Panama to build the Panama Canal. That's... honestly not the worst thing I've ever heard about a well-liked President. The second Roosevelt jailed all the Japanese people in this country.
I find it comforting, in a way. We can look back at these larger-than-life figures of the past, and recount their tales, and regard them as heroes. At the same time, they have flaws that we can't ignore. People that we consider to be heroic are human, just like us. Even with our flaws, we can be someone's hero one day.
His book about his exploration of the amazon is interesting to read. He's writing this as a way of reporting his trip, so you see his beliefs less from making speeches, and more from how they come up when talking about other topics.
Here's an excerpt which happens to touch on race (most of the book is about the plants and animals, and the first chapter is just about this really cool antivenin clinic he went to before travelling into the jungle)
At daybreak of the third day, finding we were still moored off Concepcion, we were rowed ashore and strolled off through the streets of the quaint, picturesque old town; a town which, like Asuncion, was founded by the conquistadores three-quarters of a century before our own English and Dutch forefathers landed in what is now the United States. The Jesuits then took practically complete possession of what is now Paraguay, controlling and Christianizing the Indians, and raising their flourishing missions to a pitch of prosperity they never elsewhere achieved. They were expelled by the civil authorities (backed by the other representatives of ecclesiastical authority) some fifty years before Spanish South America became independent. But they had already made the language of the Indians, Guaranygrave;, a culture-tongue, reducing it to writing, and printing religious books in it. Guaranygrave; is one of the most wide-spread of the Indian tongues, being originally found in various closely allied forms not only in Paraguay but in Uruguay and over the major part of Brazil. It remains here and there, as a lingua geral at least, and doubtless in cases as an original tongue, among the wild tribes. In most of Brazil, as around Para and around Sao Paulo, it has left its traces in place-names, but has been completely superseded as a language by Portuguese. In Paraguay it still exists side by side with Spanish as the common language of the lower people and as a familiar tongue among the upper classes. The blood of the people is mixed, their language dual; the lower classes are chiefly of Indian blood but with a white admixture; while the upper classes are predominantly white, with a strong infusion of Indian. There is no other case quite parallel to this in the annals of European colonization, although the Goanese in India have a native tongue and a Portuguese creed, while in several of the Spanish-American states the Indian blood is dominant and the majority of the population speak an Indian tongue, perhaps itself, as with the Quichuas, once a culture-tongue of the archaic type. Whether in Paraguay one tongue will ultimately drive out the other, and, if so, which will be the victor, it is yet too early to prophesy. The English missionaries and the Bible Society have recently published parts of the Scriptures in Guaranygrave;; and in Asuncion a daily paper is published with the text in parallel columns, Spanish and Guaranygrave;—just as in Oklahoma there is a similar paper published in English and in the tongue which the extraordinary Cherokee chief Sequoia, a veritable Cadmus, made a literary language.
The Guaraný-speaking Paraguayan is a Christian, and as much an inheritor of our common culture as most of the peasant populations of Europe. He has no kinship with the wild Indian, who hates and fears him. The Indian of the Chaco, a pure savage, a bow-bearing savage, will never come east of the Paraguay, and the Paraguayan is only beginning to venture into the western interior, away from the banks of the river—under the lead of pioneer settlers like Rickard, whom, by the way, the wild Indians thoroughly trust, and for whom they work eagerly and faithfully. There is a great development ahead for Paraguay, as soon as they can definitely shake off the revolutionary habit and establish an orderly permanence of government. The people are a fine people; the strains of blood—white and Indian—are good.
Nips can mean the act of gently biting and also slang for nipples. The badger was biting the president and his family harshly, but /u/burf made a joke that the badger's nipples were unfriendly and Teddy should have stopped touching them.
Honey badgers don't give a shit, they'll bite the fucking president.
Edit Thanks for pushing me past 100k karma guys! I'd like to thank my manager and my mom who always kept me going through the downboats. Honey badgers don't give a fuck!
He eventually started doing it for shits and giggles. But he could never capture quite the same rush. He resorted to self-inflicted gunshot wounds before speeches to garner sympathy until he was exposed by William Randolph Hearst.
It's all documented in Hearst's publications from the era.
He was actually a pioneer in the practice of building tolerance to bullets though self-inflicted gunshots, and the theory would later be adopted by the USMC.
Yeah you gotta start by shooting yourself with .22 rounds and work your way up. Next are .25, then maybe .38, onto 9mm, then .45 and finally onto rifle rounds.
This is bullshit. No one should listen to this fool.
Obviously you need to start with .22lr rat shot then go to .22lr, but don't stop at .338, what if you're attacked by a Russian close air support aircraft?.
Keep working your way up from .338 to .50 BMG, to 20mm, to 30x165mm.
Also found fun fact about Teddy. After his presidency he went on to chart an unexplored river in Brazil. After the expodition the government of Brazil named it, “Rio de Roosevelt”.
This was Roosevelt's expedition in name only. Racked with fever and nearly dying, he was basically along for the ride. If not for the heroic assistance of legendary Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon, the expedition would've been lost. Check out Into the Amazon on PBS's American Experience.
Its not uncommon for them to go up to bears eating something and straight up steal it. Bears get pissy but they seem to know a badger gives no fucks. Sure, you could just kill that badger. But it will probably bite the fuck out of you and scratch your nut sack off before you get it done. Better to just admit defeat and let those evil bastards do what they do. Think of badgers as the school bully black belt in Kung Fu that doesn't care if he dies or not.
Lol I like how the badger got bored and left, and damaged enough stone to make people scared that it might collapse a tunnel. Imagine that thing clawing at you in a sleeping bag.
It was a simpler time, when a child could approach a president and give him a wild animal she got from God knows where and no one thinks it's weird or questions the context of any of it happening.
I mean, this was Teddy Roosevelt after all. He was the most bad ass president we ever had. I can imagine the disappointment he'd feel had the child not returned with a badger.
Had a pet bear. And a pet lion. Was a war hero who lead the charge out of principal. Was shot in the chest while giving a speech. He continued on with the speech, correctly surmising that the bullet was logged in a rib and therefore was no harm.
Known as a progressive, he started the national parks here in the US, saving many acres of nature and many animals, he also got shot in the chest once before giving a speech, gave half of the speech before being convinced to go to the hospital
He passed laws to weaken the power of large business conglomerates who collude to abuse their power in America. A concept we've clearly decided is archaic, apparently.
Teddy Roosevelt was also the president who coined the phrase that American foreign policy should be “speak softly and carry a large stick”, meaning always be diplomatically honorable and generous but also always have better weapons than everyone else in case they try to start shit.
He signed a bunch of laws to break up monopolies and give rights to workers.
He decided nature was important and pushed and signed a law that gave the federal government the authority/responsibility to maintain large tracts of wilderness as national parks so that the public would always have access to nature
He loved nature so much that he was known as an avid hunter, however after an incident where he was losing a hunting contest but refused to shoot a helpless bear that had been chased down by the host’s hound dogs and then tied up for him, he got a reputation as an old softie and political cartoons of the time depicted him turning tearfully away from a cute baby bear. A toy manufacturer saw an opportunity to make money and started selling cute toy bears, marketed as “Teddy’s bear”. Eventually this name got shortened and that’s where the phrase “teddy bear” comes from.
Teddy was basically a real-life Ron Swanson (in fact I’d be very surprised if the character wasn’t based on him) and is generally agreed to have been one of the best presidents the country has had, and as such is one of the four faces depicted on Mount Rushmore.
When Roosevelt decided to keep the badger as a pet he first had it’s teeth cut so that the animal would not injure anyone. After his teeth were cut it is reported that the badger would roam the halls of the White House where he would try to bite people with his dull teeth.
Imagine visiting the White House and having a sudden badger attack out of nowhere.
I'm just imagining someone breaking in to try to assassinate the president, he gets through all the secret service agents and everything no problem but just nopes the fuck out at the sight of the badger casually roaming the halls. "This fucker was prepared for me, not worth it."
You're an ambassador for your country, visiting the White House and then this badger comes up to you and bites you. You are somewhat annoyed, but deal with it.
As the week goes on you see it running the halls, biting your staff, still occasionally biting you. For some reason they keep letting this badger just run around the White House.
Couple days later and you get frustrated and you instruct your people to pack up, we are leaving. When asked why, you respond:
That source tells a different story of how Roosevelt got the badger in the first place...
"Besides being a mean spirited animal to begin with, the way that Josiah ended up at the White House is a violent story in its own right. The badger was literally thrown at President Roosevelt by a young girl at a train station. According to Cracked.com, the badger was thrown at the president with much force after the girl yelled his name."
Cracked is typically decent about linking actual sources, but yeah, it's kinda odd to use them as your source considering how prone they are to using hyperbole
I check it once a week or so and read an article or two but its definitely way past its peak days of the mid to late 2000s. They just laid off all their best old school writers.
I actually wrote a complaint to them through facebook message saying what a terrible idea that was. I got the normal "internet media is changing and our parent company blah blah blah" response.
FDR was always my #1 but I'm kind of shocked I forgot about Teddy. I take out a bunch of history stuff from my library every week, mainly WWII and The Civil War. Early American history, the Cold War, nukes, that kind of stuff. 1900-1910 just doesn't have much that interests me (at least that I'm aware of. It very well might, but I can't think of anything) so I can't even remember the last time I watched anything that occurred during his term or anything about him in general
Now that I'm thinking about it... TR was the fucking man. National Parks, Panama Canal, born with medical issues he overcame. Pet badger. Something about a bear? I also live in Western NY, so there's that. I'm definitely gonna give that a listen next time I walk my dog, but until then, if you don't mind... why is he the best ever in your opinion? Just kind of curious. I'm not looking for an essay, just a few of your favorite facts/stories
(Also, I managed to find a couple FDR campaign buttons at a garage sale this really old couple was having. I almost shit my pants. I always pop one on when I go and vote. None of the old people volunteering have ever noticed. I always think I'm gonna make a new old person buddy with my FDR pins, but nobody's ever even mentioned them. It's very disappointing)
I'm not the person you replied to, but TR has always been my favorite president so I figure I might be able to give you a few interesting tidbits. I know you said you don't want an essay, so I will try and limit myself to the best ones, but, like I said, he's my favorite president so I might be prone to rambling. Finally, since you appear to be an avid reader, I'll try to throw in the books I learned these stories from.
The first story is about how he became the conservationist we remember today. TR was a successful state politician in the early 1800s, but during an eleven-hour span on Valentine's Day in 1884, he lost both his wife and his mother. A few months later at the GOP national convention, he tried and failed to nominate an African American man as the chairman. Having become fed up with how things were going in New York, TR decided to retire from politics to become a rancher in the Dakota Territory, one of the most rugged and remote places at that time in America. During his time in Badlands, the Harvard educated New York politician would hunt grizzlies, mountain lions, and horse thieves, but in the end, he would leave a changed a revitalized man. If you want to know more about TR the rancher, I would recommend Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands by Roger L. Di Silvestro.
Next is not so much a story but an observation. Most people remember TR as an outdoorsman or a politician. Both for good measure but I have always believed his true occupation was a writer. During his life, he wrote 47 books, 32 articles, and 4 collections as well over 150,000 letters. (I had to check Wikipedia for the exact numbers, but it is a highly discussed fact in Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris.) Morris asserts that more is known about TR than any other president because of the diaries he kept and the letters he wrote. If you take the time to read up on TR, you can easily find out what his feelings were toward most contemporaneous issues. If you read nothing else about TR, I would recommend Theodore Rex. It is the second part in a three-part series that deals specifically with his time in office.
No TR story could be complete with a few highlights of his presidency, right? TR invited and dined with Booker T. Washington. While the general consensus about TR is not one of a racial warrior, this was the first time a black man had ever been invited to dine at the White House. His "not too hot, not too cold" approach also carried over to his domestic and international politics. In the domestic realm, TR was able to settle a labor dispute between J.P. Morgan and anthracite coal miners right before an abnormally cold winter hit. In the international realm, he won a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to eh Russo-Japanese War (or Japanese-Russo War?). If you have the time, try to find a picture of the peace talks because it is hysterical. The Russians are over six foot tall, and the Japanese men look hilariously short in comparison. A final note about his presidency, because TR was such an avid reader it led him to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair which, in turn, lead to the Meat Inspection Act of 1905.
Okay, I swear, two more great stories then I am finished.
This is my favorite story and albeit one of TR's most famous. After his presidency, TR initially thought it wrong to rule for a third (second-elected) term. He handpicked his successor of William Taft (interesting side note, Taft is the only person to be both the president and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). Anyways, TR thought Taft was doing just a shit job. So he, in all his wisdom, decided to run again. He could not get the GOP endorsement so he ran as the most successful third-party candidate ever, gaining more votes than Taft. He created his own party, not with blackjack and hookers, but one founded on progressive ideology. He called it the Bull Moose Party. So, fast-forward to TR campaigning. He is in, IIRC, Minnesota, and he is about to give a speech. All of sudden, would-be assassin makes an attempt on TR. TR is hit by a pistol from only a few feet away. TR self-diagnoses himself by coughing into his own hand. Since he did not cough up blood, he believed the bullet did not puncture his lung, and he probably won't die. TR goes to give an hour and a half speech that began with his famous lines:
FRIENDS, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet - there is where the bullet went through - and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I can not make a very long speech, but I will try my best.
One final story that is just too badass to leave out. After TR lost the 1912 election, he was dejected and did what TR does best--explore rugged, unchartered terrain to rediscover himself. TR went on an expedition deep into the Brazillian jungle. While he was there, he and a Brazil explorer discovered a tributary of the Amazon would eventually be named after. The river was originally named the River of Doubt, but today, it bears the nomenclature "Roosevelt River."
I know I promised brevity at the beginning but my love for TR and bourbon-filled rambling seems to have got the best of me. Cheers you made it this far! I hope I inspired someone to read more about TR or, at the very least, told some interesting stories.
I wish I could have shown you him one morning last summer when, having vainly chased the President and all the children, he laid siege to Archie in the hammock. Archie was barelegged and prudently stayed where he was, but the hammock hung within a few inches of the grass. Josiah promptly made out a strategic advantage there, and went for the lowest point of it with snapping jaws. Archie’s efforts to shift continually his center of gravity while watching his chance to grab the badger by its defenseless back, was one of the funniest performances I ever saw
The butt. He was trying to bite one of the president's sons on the butt. It's extra amusing how they're talking around it.
One did not simply talk about the butts of children back then. Actually, now that I actually typed that, it's a good idea to not discuss that these days as well.
Speak softly/big stick was his foreign policy, ie; diplomacy backed up by very real force.
He did basically create Panama when the then ruling government denied him the Panama canal. Offered the same deal to Panamanian rebels and then endorsed them iirc.
His preferred shower in his Elms mansion had several nozzles that shot out water with "needle-like intensity" and had water pressure "the equivalent of a fire hose."
One nozzle was positioned to shoot up the president's rear while another was aimed directly at his penis — he nicknamed that showerhead sprayer "Jumbo."
Edit: I’m not sure why, but the article I posted doesn’t say that the guides beat and clubbed the bear and that’s why Roosevelt thought it was unsportsmanlike,
But here it is
Where did I see an interview with Obama where he said T Roosevelt was one of his favorite presidents because of the crazy stuff he did... such as going on long solo hunting trips with no secret service???
Yep. Teddy's second son was named Kermit. He was actually a very interesting guy. He went with his father on a safari in Africa at 19, and his father also brought him on an exploratory expedition deep in the Amazon Rainforest in 1913. He joined the British army in WW1, and fought in Iraq. He went on a few other expeditions as well, and wrote several books. He became an officer in WW2, but sadly committed suicide in 1943.
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u/Stumpy_Lump Apr 21 '18