Roosevelt, Theodore. Twenty-sixth president. Born in New York City, October 27, 1858, the son of Theodore and Martha (Bullock) Roosevelt. Though physically delicate in youth, he entered Harvard University at 18, and was graduated in 1880. In the following year, Roosevelt began the study of law, and was elected to the New York legislature. He was twice reelected, and became the candidate of the minority party for speaker in his second term. In 1884 he was chosen a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and later in the year went to North Dakota, where he spent two years on a ranch raising cattle. In 1886 he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York. President Harrison appointed him a member of the United States Civil Service Commission in 1889, in which capacity he served until 1895, when he resigned to accept the presidency of the Police Commission of New York City under Mayor Strong. President McKinley appointed him assistant secretary of the navy in April, 1897, and upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, in 1898, he resigned the post to assist in organizing the first U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (afterwards known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders), of which he became lieutenant-colonel, and later colonel, for gallantry in the battles of Las Guasimas and San Juan, Cuba. In September, 1898, he was mustered out with his regiment at Montauk, Long Island. Shortly following, he was nominated for governor of New York, and elected, November, 1898. Two years later, he was unanimously nominated for vice-president of the United States by the Republican National Convention, at Philadelphia, and elected. He succeeded to the presidency September 14, 1901, upon the death of President McKinley, and at the close of the term was unanimously nominated by his party to succeed himself, and elected November, 1904. His second term embraced a strenuous, successful campaign for political, industrial, and social reform. His efforts in bringing about a treaty of peace between Japan and Russia in 1905 were important and effective, in appreciation of which he was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1906. He headed a large hunting party to Africa for the Smithsonian Institution, 1909. In 1910 he returned through Europe, making speeches at Cairo, Paris, and the Guildhall, London. The Smithsonian Institution received over 23,000 specimens as the result of this trip. In 1912 he was presidential candidate of the Progressive Party, which he had organized. During the campaign, he was shot at Milwaukee, but was not fatally wounded. Contributing editor of the "Outlook," 1909-14. During an exploration in South America, 1913-14, he discovered several hundred miles, previously unexplored, of a river tributary to the Madeira, named in his honor, Rio Teodoro. Early in the great war, he became decidedly anti-German, and upon the sinking of the "Lusitania" in 1916, vigorously urged national preparedness against Teutonic aggression. Among his important publications are: "Winning of the West," "History of the Naval War of 1812," "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," "Life of Thomas Hart Benton," "Life of Gouverneur Morris," "Ranch Life and Hunting Trail," "History of New York," "American Ideals and Other Essays," "The Wilderness Hunter," "The Rough Riders," "Life of Oliver Cromwell," "The Strenuous Life," "Theodore Roosevelt: an Autobiography," "African Game Trails," "Life Histories of African Game Animals," "Through the Brazilian Wilderness," "America and the World War." He was twice married: first to Alice Lee, in 1880 (who died in 1884), second to Edith Kermit Carow, in 1886. His four sons (Theodore, Kermit, Archibald, and Quentin) served in American or allied armies, 1917-18. The youngest, Quentin Roosevelt, was killed in an airplane battle in France, 1918. Following the Brazilian Expedition, Roosevelt's health became impaired, and he died of pulmonary embolism January 6, 1919.