in Politics, US History 901 Words

#OnThisDay: Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday, 1858

With President Trump still bombing boats in international waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and sending an aircraft carrier to the coast of Venezuela, it was difficult to settle on a topic for today’s blog post.

I decided to blog about President Theodore Roosevelt’s interest in conservation on the 167th anniversary of his birth. You’ll see why later in this post.

Photo from the Library of Congress of a statue of Teddy Roosevelt on a horse as a "Rough Rider" in the Spanish-American War.
Statue of Theodore Roosevelt as a “Rough Rider” at Roosevelt Park in Minot, North Dakota. (Photo Source: Library of Congress)

United States President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 in New York City. He and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, had a daughter named Alice.

His wife and his mother both died on the same day in 1884, and he went to his ranch in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory to grieve for two years. He hunted big game and drove cattle.

He returned to New York, married Edith Kermit Crow, and they had five children together. Roosevelt began his political career being elected mayor of New York City in 1886. He became well-connected in the Republican Party and was appointed Secretary of the Navy.

He left his post to become a colonel in the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, famously known as the “Rough Riders.” He led the Rough Riders in the Battle of San Juan in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

After the war, Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York. He was selected to be William McKinley’s Vice-Presidential running mate. McKinley became U.S. President in 1900.

When President McKinley was assassinated on September 6, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became the U.S. President.

The main thing Roosevelt is remembered for, in addition to being a “Rough Rider,” was his conservation efforts. During his time in office, he set aside nearly 200 million acres of land for national forests, reserves, and wildlife refuges.

Unfortunately, he wanted Native Americans removed from many of their ancestral territories to create those preserved lands. Some 86 million acres of Native American tribal land became national forests.

He was re-elected U.S. President in 1904.

Since Theodore Roosevelt is remembered for his conservation efforts, it is only right to also blog today about current U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to destroy the environment.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

On Friday, the Trump Administration announced that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is now open for drilling.

This is what https://www.fws.gov/refuge/arctic said about the Refuge on Oct. 24, 2025. The website had not been updated due to the federal government shutdown, so I decided to cut and paste the following before someone decides to update it and replace all the positive details with glowing descriptions of Trump’s famous mindset of “drill, baby, drill!”:

“Arctic National Wildlife Refuge sustains people, wildlife, and fish in the northeastern corner of Alaska, a vast landscape of rich cultural traditions and thriving ecological diversity. It is located on the traditional homelands of the Iñupiat and Gwichʼin peoples.

“Approximately the size of South Carolina, the refuge has no roads or facilities. The lands and waters are a critical home to migratory and resident wildlife, have unique recreational values, and contain the largest designated Wilderness within the National Wildlife Refuge System. Many people may know of the refuge by an abbreviation: ANWR (pronounced an-whar). The full name reminds us that the refuge is part of our national heritage, designated for wildlife conservation.

“A trip to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge can be an inspiring, life-changing experience. Whether you want to photograph, fish, hunt, challenge yourself with travel in the backcountry, or just spend quiet time in an immense and humbling landscape, this is a truly remarkable place.

“All refuge lands are open to the public, and there are no visitor fees or specific entry points. Visitors plan and arrange their own transportation, trip locations, and itineraries; careful preparation, and self-reliance are a must. There are no roads, established trails, or facilities of any type within the refuge’s 19 million acres. Most bring their own food and gear, and access the refuge by air taxi, flying in from nearby communities. First-time visitors may wish to participate in a guided trip. Even experienced visitors may wish to use the support of commercial recreational services (see Tours for information about authorized recreational guides, hunting guides, and air taxi operators). Although there is no cell phone coverage, satellite phones do work in many areas. Explore the Activities section and see Rules and Policies for additional helpful trip planning information.”

The underlined words are clickable on the website and there is also an interactive map.

I decided to cut and paste so much of the description because it will never be that way again.

With oil drilling taking place all over the place, areas will be closed to the public.

With drilling taking place all over the place, it will no longer be a safe refuge for the amazing wildlife of Alaska.

Shame on Donald Trump and his minions!

I naively thought that once a piece of land was designated as a national park, national forest, national seashore, national wildlife refuge, etc., it was safe from a future President destroying it. Of course, I also thought the East Wing of the White House was safe from destruction by a U.S. President.

Janet

28 thoughts on “#OnThisDay: Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday, 1858”

  5. Thank you so, so much, Laleh! I’ll keep an eye out for the review. Sometimes it takes a while for them to show up on Amazon. How sweet of you! And I’ll look for your blog now… Thank you so very much!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Yes, Liz. It is beyond sad when a country has a President who only places monetary value on every square inch of the country and was apparently raised to hate nature.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I was blown away by the comments on Laleh’s blog today! I have so much love and respect for her. I’m reading her new book now. Stayed up until 3 a.m. this morning because I had to read just one more chapter.

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  12. I think he’s regressed to the point that the only reason he wants to destroy the environment is that sane people want to preserve it. He’s like the bully on the beach who destroys Susie’s sand castle just to make her cry.

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  13. Every day I read something about what that man has done or is doing and now this why the hell doesn’t someone stop him …he obviously doesn’t give a toss about the environment money and power is his mantra…I’m so mad that he is getting away with this 😟x

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  14. I can’t believe none of these agencies are stopping him and he needs stopping or he won’t…That man is only motivated by money and power he doesn’t give a toss about the eco systems or biodiversity…it’s a scandal and disaster for that area…x

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  18. It’s overwhelming, disgusting, and terrifying, Carol. We thought Congress was a “check and balance,” but Congress is failing us miserably. The Supreme Court ruled that a sitting US President can’t be charged with doing anything illegal while performing his/her duties, so Congress and the Supreme Court let the genie out of the bottle and it appears no one is willing to try to put it back in. Never in my life did I think we would have a US President hellbent on destroying our democracy. The fact that Congress and the Supreme Court are allowing it… perhaps I could say encouraging it… is beyond my comprehension. Today, in Japan, he bragged that he not only is sending the National Guard into cities to stop crime, but he will send something beyond the National Guard if he needs to. For 71 years, I never had to worry or even think about the US military being deployed on US soil to do anything but render aid during a natural disaster or the National Guard sent in during a rare riot — like the race riots in the 1960s. There are so many things today to worry about that have never been a concern before. We thought we could depend on our Constitution, but Trump ignores the Constitution. I’m still in shock that he had the East Wing of the White House demolished last week. There’s no end to it.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. I think he has fired everyone high enough up in every agency that might have stood up to him. He fired the Librarian of Congress for no reason. He fired the Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. She has refused to leave and is fighting him in court. He can’t tolerate women who are professional and smarter than he is, so he just fires them — whether he has the right to fire them or not. He just keeps firing people and ending government aid programs. He obvious hatred for nature is something we will never recover from. Once a species is gone, it’s gone. He only sees dollars signs when he looks at the land.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. From afar I see that unfolding and I struggle to believe how he still has fans when everything that the world held the US in high esteem for is being eroded it defies belief …shaking head xx

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  23. It’s horrible having a front row seat to this disaster. Everything we held dear — or I thought for 70 years that we held dear — apparently, everyone did not hold dear.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Thank you, Carol. Every time I let a little bit of optimism slip in, he does something more horrible than before and knocks me back down. I think a lot of Americans feel like we’re just punching bags now. Congress shut down the government and neither political party will give an inch. Traffic control officers at all the airports are working without pay. They haven’t been paid in four weeks. As if they aren’t already working under a great deal of stress trying to prevent plane crashes, now they’re working without pay. It’s absolutely crazy. Many federal employees have been fired even though it is against federal law for them to be paid during a government shutdown. Laws are blown to the wind. It is ludicrous that Congress cannot pass a federal budget! Absolute idiots are in charge. The US Department of Agriculture has $6 billion reserved for emergencies such as keeping food assistance programs running in case of a shutdown or whatever. That $6 billion was set aside by Congress. But Trump refuses to release any of that money to fund the SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) after October 31. That means millions of Americans will lose that money that has to be spent on food (and there are restrictions on what can and cannot be purchased with it). I heard on the news that 39% of the children in the US live in households that receive SNAP money. Trump pulled funds from children’s cancer research, he pulled money from education programs — especially for the disabled children, and now he’s withholding money they need for food. If this were a movie, it would be labeled as horror.

    Liked by 1 person

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