HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEDDY
Buffalo Bill Cody called him "a cyclone." Mark Twain called him "an earthquake." One of Teddy Roosevelt's relatives said, "When Theodore attends a wedding, he wants to be the bride, and when he attends a funeral, he wants to be the corpse.' No president was as colorful. By today's standards, his foreign policy was unabashed imperialism, but he was the first president to do much to protect the environment and to take on the corporate trusts.
Bob Minzesheimer recommends 5 books about our 26th president, who was born Oct. 27, 1858.
- Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough: a brilliantly researched and beautifully written account of Roosevelt's coming of age, politically and personally.
- The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex, by Edmund Morris, the definitive two-volume account of his life and presidency by a master historian.
- The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, a remarkable true-life adventure about the daring descent Roosevelt made down an unmapped tributary of the Amazon after his humiliating election defeat in 1912.
- Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz, the best bio for young readers.
Local note: I assume Roosevelt School, built in 1923, four years after Teddy Roosevelt's death, is named for him. My kids, who attended Pre-K there, call it The Teddy Roosevelt School. But believe it or not, school officials say they're not sure of the origins of the school name. Neither is the Ossining Historical Society. Isn't it time to solve that historical mystery?