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 * __Theodore Roosevelt (“TR”, “Trustbuster”, “Teddy”) __**

Birth: October 27, 1858 in New York, New York Death: January 6, 1919 in Oyster Bay, New York Political Party: Republican Terms of Office: September 14, 1901 - March 4, 1909 (two terms) Vice President: None (1901-1905), Charles W. Fairbanks (1905-1909)

The 26th president of the United States was know by many names some including; TR, Trustbuster, and Teddy. Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated into office when President McKinley was assassinated. Theodore wasn’t like most of the other United States presidents; he had an intoxicating personality that could draw even some of the most conservative politicians to support his cause. It’s this personality of his that allowed him to become extremely popular as president, that and the fact that he fought for the common man’s rights. This modern president deserves nothing lower than an A for his presidency.

 Upon entering his presidency, Theodore only truly had one goal which was to regulate the many trusts that had been established over the years. Later on, he devoted his presidency to preserving the natural resources in America and improving the food industries, after reading the vivid book known as The Jungle. In foreign relations, Theodore was known to be an imperialist, which led to the development of the “Big Stick” Policy. For his trust goal, he filed a suit against the large railroad company led by J.P. Morgan, known as the Northern Securities Company. Denounced as a monopoly, it violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. When the Supreme Court oversaw this suit, they agreed with the government and the Northern Securities Company was ordered to be dismantled. With this motion, Theodore gained the nickname of the “Trustbuster” and the business community began to feel wary. But he didn’t stop pursuing his goal there, Theodore went on and got the Elkins Act of 1903 passed by Congress (this was suppose to end the practice of railroad companies giving special rebates to companies, but some companies were able to get around this act) along with the Hepburn Act of 1906 (this gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to regulate shipping rates on railroads). For his foreign goals, if you could call his ideas that, he was very imperialistic with his decisions. He was able to gain land in Panama to construct the Panama Canal, which in turn gave the citizens of Panama their freedom from Columbia. He also created the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which in simple terms stated that the United States will intervene to keep foreign countries from intervening with Latin America. Whether or not this had a positive or negative outcome is debatable due to the fact that the Latin American countries did not appreciate how America could practically control their trade.

The relationship between Theodore and Congress was very desirable. With the Republicans dominating in both the House and Senate during both terms of Theodore’s presidency, it allowed many of his bills and acts to be passed. Also, because of Theodore’s personality he was probably able to persuade some of the democrats to see his side of things. The only Act that received a large amount of disagreement from Congress was the previously stated Hepburn Act, but even when Congress didn’t approve of ideas, Theodore was able to rally up enough public support to succeed in his motion.

To be stating which decision was the most positive outcome of Theodore’s presidency would be like looking at the world through a keyhole. Theodore accomplished many great things that improved the lives of Americans; whether if it was through what they consumed, or how they were treated at work. However, the most positive and long lasting decision of Theodore’s would have been his strides for natural resource preservation. When he entered his presidency, Theodore was appalled by the way Americans were using their resources. He stressed how important it was to preserve woodlands and mountain ranges. He mainly wanted to change America from abusing resources to carefully managing them. During his presidency the amount of protected land in the United States grew from 42 million acres to 172 million acres. He created five new national parks and multiple national forests. He also proclaimed the eighteen U.S. National monuments. The most negative outcome of Theodore’s presidency is also difficult to determine. Some could argue that the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was his most negative decision, but to say that is to pretty much disagree with his entire foreign policy. The Roosevelt Corollary practically placed the Latin American countries under the United States authority against their will. It stated that the United States would repay the Latin American countries’ debts, which would make them owe the United States instead of some European nation. The Latin American countries felt that the United States were trying to control them, which made a lot of Latin American countries upset at the United States.

In conclusion, the United States was greatly affected by Theodore’s presidency and although he could have run for a third term and won, he respected the two year term limit and announced that he would not run for another term. Besides Theodore was truly a child at heart and probably felt that he didn’t belong in the executive office. Needless to say, Theodore Roosevelt was defiantly one of America’s best and he showed that throughout his presidential terms. He deserves nothing less than an A.

**Bibliography: **  "American President: Theodore Roosevelt." //Miller Center of Public Affairs //. Miller center University of Virginia. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. []. Theodore Roosevelt." //The White House //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">. U.S. Government. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. < [] >.