It ’s early on on a outflow day in 1866 , and Theodore Roosevelt , age 7 , is heading down Broadway in New York City to beak up strawberries from the marketplace when he sees something that rocks . his . world .
It ’s a stagnant seal lay out on a slab of Sir Henry Joseph Wood , and as soon as he lays center on it , Little Teedie is never the same .
He needs to knoweverythingabout the sealskin . He ask where it was killed and is told , “ the harbor . ” He returns to the market place , and the seal , day after twenty-four hour period , tarry , getting a closer flavor whenever he can .
He wants to evaluate the girth of the animal but he does n’t have a tape measuring , so he must make do with a “ pocket metrical foot - formula , ” which he later come back is “ a hard labor ” that yields “ utterly useless measurements . ” Nevertheless , Teedie scribble his findings in a notebook and begin what he calls a “ altogether unpremeditated and unscientific ” born account of the cachet . He dream of take the cachet menage and maintain it ; it fills him , he pronounce , “ with every possible flavor of romance and dangerous undertaking . ” He isobsessed .
It ’s not exaggeration to say that the seal changes everything : The 24-hour interval he saw it , TR will later write , is the day he start his life history as a zoologist . And while he does n’t follow in procure the whole stamp carcase , Teedie is able to get his hands on the skull . It ’s the first specimen in his “ Roosevelt Museum of Natural History , ” and from that point on , he ca n’t resist bringing home every animation , or formerly live , thing he can get his helping hand on .
Bugs and lichen occupy his bedroom ; untried squirrels he raises by hand scramble across the floors . He befriends mice and attempt to domesticize a woodchuck . Once , when he ’s ride a trolley car , he sees an adult he experience and abstractedly lifts his chapeau in salutation — rent looseseveral frogshe’d been hiding underneath .
TR ’s reverence for the natural creation beat back many of his policy decisions in the White House . But he wasalsoan avid big game hunter who relished hanging a taxidermied putting to death on his bulwark . So how did his desire to save mintage hearty with his desire to shoot down poppycock ? We ’re about to find out .
From Mental Floss and iHeartRadio , this isHistory Vs . , a podcast about how your favourite diachronic figure faced off against their greatest foe . I ’m your legion , Erin McCarthy , and this instalment is TR vs. Nature .
Theodore Roosevelt , who start by the cognomen Teedie as a boy , was born in Manhattan in 1858 . New York City might not be the first position you ’d think to find a budding natural scientist — even in the 1860s , it was a bustling metropolis withfactories , busy streets , and dumbly - packedtenement buildings .
But Teedie still found opportunities to foster an compulsion with the open air from an early age , starting with the books he read . He suffered from life-threatening bronchial asthma as a child , and while sick-abed , he spend the fourth dimension by devouring book . He was especially draw to tomes that dealt with nature . Illustrated Natural HistoryandHomes Without Handsby John George Wood , Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africaby David Livingstone — which was so big that Teedie could barely carry it — and Mayne Reid ’s adventure novel , which had a scientific panache , were some of his favorites .
Charles Darwinalso had a huge influence on TR : In his bookWilderness Warrior , historiographer Douglas Brinkley writes that , “ By the time Theodore was 10 or 11 [ Darwin ] was his touchstone , a Noah - like hero . ”On the Origin of Speciescame out the year after Theodore was brook , and the book shaped not just his view of the natural world , but his aspect ofeverything . Brinkey write that , " Roosevelt take back raw extract draw , line , and doughnut . For the rest of his life , in fact , he used evolutionary hypothesis as his guiding light ; it illuminated his thought on everything from political sympathies to geography to paternity . "
Darwin ’s account of accumulate specimen in exotic locations compelled TR to have adventure of his own , and afterward , Theodore would carryOn the Origin of Specieswith him on those dangerous undertaking .
When he was well enough to go outdoors , Teedie find the nature he read about in book of account all around him . bug were some of his first research subject . At years 7 or 8 , he wrote an essay titled “ The Foregoing Ant . ”
As his sister Corinne laterrecalledof the essay ’s creation , he was reading about ants , and , “ sour the Sir Frederick Handley Page of his huge volume , at the point of the following Thomas Nelson Page , the narrative continued , ‘ The foregoing ant also has such strange characteristics . ’ The young natural scientist not realize that the word ‘ foregoing ’ consult to the ants of whose habits he had already understand , decided that the adjective in question was lend oneself to a new specie , and after perfervid investigation of the habits of this purportedly unexampled species of emmet , he determine to write an clause … entitled , ‘ The Foregoing Ant , ’ and having accomplished this exploit in a large , painstaking , babyish hand , he then call in the members of the household together to hear to this essay on this hitherto unknown interpreter of the ant family . ”
For a paper he pen atage 9called “ instinctive account on Insects , ” he extend his scope to cover up more specie like ladybird beetle andfireflies . Teedie explain his research process , writing : “ All the insect that I indite about in this Scripture inhabbit North America . Now and then a booster has told me something about them but mostly I have earn thier habbits from ofserv - a - tion . ”
His superpower of observation — or , should we say , “ ofserv - a - tion”—were singular for a 9 - twelvemonth - old . When writing about abark spider , hedescribedits nest in detail , note : “ It look incisively like some cotton on top but if you take that off you will see several small fiddling webs … each have several little occupants . ”
These observations are made even more impressive by the fact that Teedie grew up hard near - sighted .
That ’s David Hurst Thomas , a curator of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History .
When he was n’t taking notes in the playing area , TR brought his work home with him . The “ Roosevelt Museum of Natural History ” that started with his beloved seal skull soon grew too big for his bedroom — it containedseveral hundredspecimens . According tohistorian Edmund Morris , when Teedie asked the James Cook to churn a woodchuck for 24 hours — which makes the core fall off the ivory , and is one wayscientific specimensare ready — it make a great mephitis in both senses of the set phrase , so she set out an ultimatum : “ Either I pull up stakes or the woodchuck does . ” The housekeeper reportedly complained as well , say : “ How can I do the laundry with a snapping turtleneck tie to the legs of the sinkhole ? ”
His parents may have been the only adult in the firm who did n’t take care his hobby — in fact , they supported it . Theodorelater wrote :
His father , Theodore Roosevelt Sr . , even went so far as to put him up with his own taxidermy private instructor when TR was 14.John Graham Bellwas a colleague of John James Audubon , and in his musty Manhattan store , he taught Theodore how to stuff and mount alien birds and how toclean skeletonswith dermestid beetles , which eat muscle and flesh to forget behind bone — a method still used by museums today . It was an unconventional education for a teenager , to say the least . Per Morris , TR “ very likely had no peer as a teenage ornithologist . ”
It serve that his dada apportion his passion for nature . A man of affairs and altruist , Theodore Sr . helped found the American Museum of Natural chronicle in New York City in 1869 .
TR also owe part of his naturalist streak to his Uncle Rob , who hold out next door to Teedie and his family on East 20th Street . Robert Barnwell Roosevelt was a well - live environmentalist who rallied to bring through New York ’s fish , founded clubs devoted to wildlife , and wrote an important oeuvre on ornithology . He also keep a crib in the household and get his German Shepherd eat at the tabular array . He teach his nephew the value of the area of science known as ecology today . According to Brinkley , RBR wrench his nephew into a conservationist as a stripling and mention that TR was " a loanblend — half his father , the other one-half Uncle Rob . "
In 1872 , TR receive two things that change his family relationship with nature in very different direction : spectacles and a gun .
When flash his gun with friend , he bring in they were able to see targets that were n’t seeable to him at all . He knew something was wrong when the other male child translate a billboard ad that he did n’t even remark had letter . Theodore told his dad about the problem , and it became clear that he postulate glasses .
Through his first pair of spectacles , he reacquainted himself with the world . The blurry unripe chassis above him sharpened into clusters of thousands of trenchant leaves . The static ground was now animated with scuttling insect and blades of grass ruffling in the wind . But the biggest revelation come when he realise birds . He had a hypersenstive sense of hearing , which according to Morris , “ is surely the bequest of the myopic years that came before . ” Long enchant by their songs , he was now able-bodied to see a cardinal sitting on a branch or a goldfinch fly through the air travel in detail for the first sentence .
His glasses also permit him to use his gun the right way . When he vacationed inEgyptwith his family later that class , he shot 1 gray Hero , 2 partridge , 2 squirrels , 3 quail , 8 hoopoos , 8 cow heron , 18 big plover , 36 little shore birds , and 81 pigeon in two months . He recorded his haul in his “ Zoological Record , ” but his motives were n’t rigorously scientific — he also like shoot things .
Biographers have dissimilar theories on where this desire came from . Kathleen Dalton wrote that TR " turned to nature as an outlet for his most aggressive impulses and liked wild stories intimately when man ’s aggression and wildlife ’s death die unchecked . ” accord to Brinkley , Roosevelt shot , shove , and study animals as a style to honor them , writing , " Most other man would simply sprout birds . Roosevelt , by contrast , scoot and collected them for scientific examination . Only by learning everything about a metal money could you finally save it from the maw of industrial man . "
But finally , Roosevelt himself acknowledged that with bird , anyway , he ’d been too quick with a heavy weapon . In 1901 , he write to a friend ,
Regardless of his motive at the clip , search became part of Roosevelt ’s novel persona . Theodore had transformed from the clumsy , shortsighted male child of his younker into a bud outdoorsman .
But TR held onto some of his boyhood habits , including collecting animals . He enroll in Harvard when he was well-nigh 18 to study raw history , and he keep his specimen — both the surviving and thedead one — in his room at the embarkment household . Preserved beast remains , formaldehyde bottle , and arsenic jounce were strew around his workspace . A tortoise of his even fly the coop its coop one daytime and wandered into thehallway . He was n’t able-bodied to catch it before it surprise thelandlady , who , fit in to Morris , “ was frighten into hysterics . ” She did n’t kick him out , though — TR lived there for the residuum of his time at Harvard .
A career in science seemed like the perfect fit for Theodore ; he may have even dreamt of being a curator at the museum his father helped discover . In 1877 , TR get along back from Harvard to attend the lordly opening of the American Museum of Natural History ’s new building , and he donated some of his personal items to the collection , including 12 mouse , four hoot ’s eggs , and a ruddy squirrel skull .
But finally , a career in skill was n’t mean to be . After a few years at Harvard , Roosevelt learned the work was n’t quite what he had envisioned .
He had spend most of his living study nature up close , and being cooped up indoors in a lab left him dissatisfied . course of study bored him , and he interrupted his instructor , Nathaniel Shaler , so often the professor once had to say , " Now look here , Roosevelt , let me blab out . I ’m bleed this course . "
On Harvard , Theodore wrote in hisautobiography :
Alternate career paths were starting to take care more likeable .
He was in the end inspired to get into politics by the death of his father in 1878 . The greatest way to honor his beginner , Theodore felt , was to give his animation to public service . He shift majors tohistory and government , but he did n’t give up his interest in the outdoors . Nature substantiate him throughout his life .
When his first wife , Alice , and his female parent Mittie died within hours of one another , he retreated to the Dakota Badlands in search of solace . When his political career in New York mystify too hectic , he took breaks to go out his cowboy fantasies on a ranch out West . But after entering the White House , Theodore Roosevelt actualize that nature could no longer be just an escape for him . or else , it became part of his life ’s work .
We ’ll be right back after this quick break .
Since the early day of his presidentship , the American people have connect Theodore Roosevelt with the open . Just calendar month after President William McKinley was assassinate and he was sworn into the White House , Roosevelt blend in on a hunt trip that would saddle him with a nickname he could never shake .
It was 1902 , and TR was appear for a way to smooth sexual intercourse with the South . He had recently invited African American loss leader Booker T. Washington to the White House , angering segregationist voter . The invitation alone was n’t what caused a fuss — Washington and Roosevelt often share tardy - night conservations about politics whenever the militant came to town . But on this occasion , TR was doubly - reserve : He had plan to expend the night with his nestling to celebrate his two untried sons finally moving into the White House , but he also had an after - hours meeting with Washington .
He institute a way around the programing conflict by inviting Washington to bring together his family for dinner party . It was the first time in story a smutty guest had been invited to dine at the White House . harmonise to Deborah Davis in her bookGuest of Honor , " When Booker T. sing about the dinner party in years to come , it was the fact that TR ’s family was alongside him at the board , not his new role as political consultant , that seemed to imply the most to him . "
But not everyone applauded TR for the progressive move .
The invitation come from Mississippi GovernorAndrew Longino . Holt Collier , a formerly enslave Confederate cavalryman , would be their hunt guide . He was familiar with the dry land , and , consort to legend , had killed more than 3000 bears . With the program in place , TR guide South .
After the incident , the sobriquet Teddy fascinate on — much to the Chief Executive ’s mortification . As a stern normal - follower who revalue formality , he felt the name was too personal to be used by the public . It ’s also what his late married woman Alice bid him , and it was likely a painful reminder of her .
The populace ate up the image of gruff , manlike Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear ( though he did tell it put “ out of its miserableness , ” and a member of the party “ dispatched it with a tongue , ” in Morris ’s words ) . But his environmentalist principles were less popular when he try on putting them into jurisprudence . At the start of the 20th hundred , natural resources were visualise as something to be subdue and exploit — not to be economize for future generation .
Still , there were some policy in place to protect the environment at this time . TheRivers and Harbors Appropriation Actof 1899 made it illegal to ditch waste into bodies of water without a permit , and the Forest Reserve Act allowed U.S. presidents to preserve woodland on public ground . By the time TR took role , presidents Harrison , Cleveland , and McKinley had correct aside roughly 50,000,000 acres of public forest under the law . Benjamin Harrisonalso used his mightiness to protect wildlife , and even entered an international difference in an effort to save the pelt cachet .
But these laws were n’t enough to couple the rapid development taking place at the bend of the C . With hunting , mining , and deforestation left unchecked , the resources Americans took for allot were on track to disappear for good .
Thanks to his uncle , Roosevelt had long known that America ’s wilderness was precious — and vulnerable . He had hold his own steps to keep up wild , co - founding the Boone and Crockett club after proposing the idea at a dinner party in his New York City home in 1887 . The B&C Club advocated for ethical hunting pattern and established wildlife conserves for big game like bison , elk , and antelope .
As president , TR sleep together he had more power than ever to protect the wild lands he treasure , but with no precedent for the kind of comprehensive preservation law he had in mind , he was n’t certain how to move forward . So he turned to a friend from the Museum of Natural History for steering .
The American Ornithologists Union had made several attempts to purchase a little island off the coast of Florida from the government . The island was called Pelican Island , because it was the last rookery of dark-brown pelican on the east coast of the state . The AOU ’s goal was to wrench it into a bird conserve , but for buy the commonwealth , they demand to survey it … which would open up the land up to homesteaders project to habituate it for agriculture . The AOU ’s status as a conservationist group would mechanically send them to the bottom of the software raft .
But when they asked TR to apply his executive power to make Pelican Island a nature preserve , he actually hear .
The Chief Executive was on board . By crusade the executive order through the USDA , it sneak by Congress without causing a fuss . In 1903 , Pelican Island was established as the first - ever national wildlife refuge in the United States .
On a bivouacking misstep he take that same yr , TR realized there was even more he could be doing to relieve the environs . The president spent three days in California ’s Yosemite with natural scientist John Muir . They hiked in the dark of the granite Sentinel Dome and camp under the towering redwood trees of Mariposa Grove — TR with 40 wool blanket to keep him lovesome . But it was n’t a pleasure trip for Muir — he was set to win over his friend to use his power to protect the incredible position .
Muir made his compositor’s case around the campfire … and come through . TR left California humble by the natural beauty he saw , and he consecrate to preserve it . When writing about Yosemitea few yearslater , he said : " There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite , the groves of [ the ] giant sequoia [ … ] our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their small fry ’s children … with their majestic beauty all unmarred . ”
When Theodore returned home from the camping slip , he was enliven to fall out new jurisprudence preserving America ’s wilderness — often using the “ I so will it ” approach that worked for him with Pelican Island . Congress did n’t apportion TR ’s environmentalist goal , though , so he went over their heads on many juncture , using executive orders to craft the conservation insurance policy he need for the country .
That ’s Tyler Kuliberda , instruction technician at Roosevelt ’s Long Island home , Sagamore Hill National Historic Site , where , on one flooring , there advert a painting of Roosevelt and Cannon disputation .
Some of TR ’s most influential management arrive from the Antiquities Act of 1906 .
With the deed , Theodore Roosevelt had the mightiness to set up National Monuments on Union land . If he felt there was an arena in danger , he could yield it permanent auspices without throw to get permission from Congress first .
Here ’s Will Shafroth , President and CEO of the National Park Foundation , whose great - grandfather was involve with the introduction of the Antiquities Act :
The goal of the Antiquities Act was n’t to shut out people away from the Carry Nation ’s lifelike wonders . With these protection put in property , TR ensured National Monuments would be preserved for more citizens to enjoy , whether by studying them in a scientific capability , reverberate on their history , or just appreciating their knockout .
The first site show a National Monument was Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming . Anyone who ’s seenClose Encounters of the Third Kindknows this rock shaping : The 867 - animal foot - tall butte juts out from the horizon , with cliffs run along with hundreds ofparallel cracksleading to a flat - ish height . The Antiquities Act was also used to preserve places of cultural significance . Immediately following Devils Tower , El Morro , an ancient pueblo in New Mexico , and Montezuma Castle , a pre - Columbian structure built into an Arizona drop-off side , were added to the register of National Monuments .
The Antiquities Act was really put to the test on January 11 , 1908 . That ’s when President Roosevelt upgraded the Grand Canyon from a game preserve to a National Monument .
The Grand Canyon — already a major tourist attracter — may have started to resemble a report park without federal protection . Or maybe it would have fallen dupe to copper color and zinc mining interests .
rather , Theodore Roosevelt paved the mode for the Grand Canyon to become a full - fledge National Park in 1919 , three yr after the National Park Service was established . The National Park Service , alongside other government way , would be tasked with protecting these lands .
Before the environment was a top issue with voters , and before climate change was a steady part of the news cps , Theodore Roosevelt saw the importance of conserving the rural area ’s resources — not just for his constituent , but for succeeding generation of Americans .
In 1908 , TR gave a speech communication titled “ Conservation as a National Duty . ” In it , he say that :
This feels like a good spot to take a prompt break . We ’ll be right back .
It ’s knockout to regain a open of Theodore Roosevelt ’s Sagamore Hill acres that is n’t adorned with something that used to be awake . The wall display trophies of bighorn sheep and moose , while the tanned hide of big cats are draped over chairs and placed on floor , their faces frozen in lasting snarls .
In the north elbow room , the sabre and chapeau from TR ’s days as a Rough Rider pay heed in the antler of an elk — one of two in the way — which are locate across from two bison heads . There ’s adinner chimemade of elephant tusks in the foyer , beneath the head of a cape buffalo . In his upstairs library , there ’s a bizarre - look electric chair made with the horns of longhorn cattle , and ahippo footthat was metamorphose into a inkwell .
Though notallof the animals there were bagged by TR , the former president ’s home is a testament to his love life of big game hunting .
That ’s Tyler Kuliberda .
Many of the prize at Sagamore Hill come from a hunt stumble TR took after leave office . Like many ex-husband - presidents , he lionise the terminal of his land tenure with a much - want holiday — but alternatively of loosen up on some beach , he go down off on a safari in the east African wild .
The former president took this Book of Job seriously . He enter Africa with rifle , a shotgun , a drum of common salt for preserving hides , a trunk of pigskin - bound book , and agold - rise lapin ’s footfor good luck .
The party returned home with more specimen than the museum could have hoped for . Between them , Kermit and Theodore shot and killed512 animals . That ’s not including the hundreds of creatures the other party members collected or the many birds the Roosevelts did n’t tally . Most specimens were donated to the National Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History , though the pair did keep a few trophies for themselves . It took the Smithsonian eight long time to catalog every detail it received . Some of thesmallest specimensthe party bag ended up in theU.S. Tick Collection — a monumental catalogue of ticks from around the worldly concern that scientists employ to study tickborne illnesses .
SomecriticizedTR for the excessive amount of butchery that took place on the misstep . But even after shooting hundreds of animals in the duad of 11 calendar month , he insisted it was done in the name of science . He told the press : " I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum , the American Museum of Natural History , and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned . "
Any self - describe environmentalist chairman defeat one lion , let alone nine as TR did , would be a massive outrage today . But a conservationist Orion was n’t an oxymoron in the other twentieth century .
That include ornithologist John James Audubon , another outdoorsman naturalist that Roosevelt was obsessed with . When he arrange off to produce a life - sized guide to all the avians in America — which would become theBirds of America , a Good Book so big that itrequired its own furniturejust to look at it — he did n’t capture the level of contingent in his vibrant and lifelike painting solely by studying live chick through a twosome of opera glasses . His work demand him to hunt . He shot his specimen , articulated them with wires , and then painted them .
Here ’s David Hurst Thomas :
In 1914 , TR go down off on another expeditiousness — this fourth dimension to the Amazon rainforest . in the beginning mean to be a lecture tour of South America , he turned the misstep into a scientific missionary work by compile specimens for the American Museum of Natural History . At years 55 , he knew that his adventuring days were limited . Hecalled the journeyhis “ last fortune to be a boy . ”
These scenes have been recreated in pop culture countless times thanks to Theodore ’s account of it . His verbal description of the fish itself also helped cement its terrorize reputation in the public imagery . He spell :
“ The head with its short muzzle , gaze malignant eyes , and gape , cruelly armed jaw , is the embodiment of evil ferocity ; and the activity of the fish exactly correspond its look . ”
Whether he was watching a mickle of birds or circularise tale about the piranha , Theodore Roosevelt have it off nature . As Kuliberda explicate , he expressed his respect for wildlife by track down it — something that ’s difficult for people to wrap their heads around today .
Harvesting brute for museum collections does n’t occur in such large phone number today — it’sstrictly regulatedand there are honorable guidelines . But when it does happen , there ’s oftenpublic outrage . One scientist who pull together a rarely - see birdreceived death threatsafterwards .
I have it off what I ’m about to say is not going to be popular , but see me out . Scientific collections are of the essence — specimens pick up in the past helper scientist resolve scientific mysteries and make unexampled discoveries that can really help save wildlife . In the late sixties and early 1970s , when Peregrine falcon population were mysteriously go down , scientist compared contemporaneous falcon egg to decades - sometime specimen at several museum and individual appeal around the country . They noticed the refreshful eggshells were much thin than the old 1 , and determined that the pesticide DDT was to blame . Another example : By comparing the old feathers of seabirds to new feathers , scientist could show that the amount of atomic number 80 in the world ’s oceans was rising . Who ’s to say what future scientist might learn from specimen being garner today ?
Hunting can even be used as a conservation strategy . In Midwestern states , hunters bid inauctionsor enterlotteriesto obtain the tag involve to hound bighorn sheep , with the proceeds hold out to conservation . These trace tag programs , along withreintroduction crusade , have helped the once - endangeredbighorn sheepmake a spectacular comeback . Here ’s David Hurst Thomas .
Theodore Roosevelt ’s bequest may have look much different if it was n’t for his time spent in the Badlands . In 1883 , the 24 - year - old head West in search of bison to hunt and exhibit . There was nothing like the Badlands ’ Painted Canyon back East : The hilly vista would have roll on for miles before him , the color of the stone formations depart in intensity depending on how gay it was alfresco and if it had rain that day . TheLakotapeople dubbed the terrain " mako sica " or " land bad " because it was barren and unforgiving , but to TR , it was paradise .
spoiled chance followed him the whole trip : He and his hunt guide discovered that the great herd of bison that had once stray the region were now hard to encounter . He was also plagued by bad atmospheric condition — but nothing could soften his mood .
That ’s Eileen Andes , Chief of Interpretation and Public Affairs at Theodore Roosevelt National Park .
Even after he ’d bagged his bison , TR was n’t quite ready to leave the Badlands behind entirely . He had fallen in love life with cowherd aliveness and decide to invest ina kine ranchin North Dakota call the Maltese Cross . afterward , he ’d purchase another , which he knight the Elkhorn . There was nothing glamorous about being a rancher in that part of the state . Fuel , food , and H2O were all tough to come by . In the summertime , temperatures exceeded 100 degrees , and in the winter , the snow pile up so high that cattle were found in trees . Though challenge , the asperity he faced out West were a novel change from what TR have in New York .
He spent the next few year traveling back and forth between North Dakota and his New York nursing home , but it was in the Badlands where he built his rugged persona . He conduct his iconicbuckskin suitthere . Picture a buttery , fawn - colour in garment with long fringes trimming intimately every crinkle . To TR , it was a symbolisation of the Old West at its point . He also find it practical — the neutral color camouflaged him in the Sir Henry Joseph Wood and the diffuse textile allowed him to pussyfoot through the brush restfully . But most working cowman at the time were not impressed . Here ’s Kuliberda .
One of his most iconic portraits express him wearing the get - up in what appear to be a forest with a rifle rest in his circuit . Labeled “ Theo . Roosevelt as hunter , ” the exposure was actually shoot inManhattan .
As Andes explicate , TR ’s clip in North Dakota also helped shape his posture on conservation .
Twenty year after trekking to the Badlands to kill his first bison , Theodore Roosevelt used his power as president to help them . He became the honorary chairwoman of theAmerican Bison Societyat the Bronx Zoo in 1905 . With TR ’s support , the organization transfer bison out West in an effort to repopulate the Great Plains . There were less than a thousand wild bison live in the U.S. in the recent 1800s and there are roughly350,000of them today .
Theodore Roosevelt ’s time in the Dakotas is what inspire him to live a living of significance and adventure with little elbow room for compromise when it came to changing the man for the better . On his time there , heproclaimed , “ I have always said I would not have been prexy had it not been for my experience in North Dakota . It washerethat the romance of my life began . ”
Credits
History Vs.is host by me , Erin McCarthy . This instalment was written by Michele Debczak and researched by me , with fact checking by Austin Thompson . subject field recording by Jon Mayer and Tyler Klang . Joe Weigand sound TR in this episode .
The executive producers are Erin McCarthy , Julie Douglas , and Tyler Klang . The supervising manufacturer is Dylan Fagan . The show is edit by Dylan Fagan and Lowell Brillante .
especial thanks to David Hurst Thomas , Tyler Kuliberda , Will Shafroth , Eileen Andes , and North Dakota Tourism .
To discover more about this instalment , and Theodore Roosevelt , visitMentalFloss.com/HistoryVs .
History Vs.is a yield of iHeartRadio and Mental Floss .
