It could well be the case that with Theodore Roosevelt, America has never had a president who spoke so passionately and modeled so beautifully the virtues of masculinity, family, marriage and children.
In speech that he gave in 1897, Teddy Roosevelt declared:
Speaking in 1905, President Roosevelt stated:
Addressing America’s highest ideals, T.R. once observed:
Our 26th president, Roosevelt was the youngest ever to be chief executive. Taking the oath at the age of 42 following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, the famed “Rough Rider” both faced and forged his way through difficulty. Roosevelt’s first wife died in 1884. He remarried in 1886. He fathered 6 children and gained a reputation as a principled but playful family man.
The Roosevelts hiked, swam, fished and hunted. He was an accomplished boxer and believed the good life was a vigorous one.
Mothers and fathers looking to inspire and educate their children might consider teaching them about T.R. One way they might do so is by introducing their tweens and teens to the television show, “Elkhorn” — a drama on the INSP Network.
You might know INSP by its original name — The Inspiration Network — a cable outfit first established as a non-profit organization coming out of the PTL Television Network. Now headquartered in South Carolina, INSP says their goal is to provide American families with high quality, clean, and safe entertainment that won’t offend their moral or Christian convictions. They have a special focus on westerns, action-dramas, and programs that celebrate and champion heroic characters.
“Elkhorn” — which tells the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s time in the Dakotas following the death of his first wife — fits well the noble mission of the network.
Not only did Roosevelt lose his wife, Alice Lee, on February 14, 1884, but he also lost his mother, Mittie, who died of typhoid fever that same day.
“The light has gone out of my life,” wrote Teddy in his diary. Grief stricken, he decided to take off for Medora, North Dakota. T.R. had visited the Dakota territory on a buffalo hunting trip in 1883. He felt like the journey and time outside of the familiar east coast would help him process and recover from the tragic losses.
Settling in North Dakota, Roosevelt established Elkhorn Ranch in the Badlands. His time there was difficult, but also formative and fulfilling. “I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota,” T.R. would later say.
The “Elkhorn” television show dramatizes and inevitably fictionalizes some of Roosevelt’s adventures, but there’s no denying that the former president’s time there helped develop his toughness, cultivated his confidence, and reaffirmed his contention and conviction that the strenuous life is superior to a sedentary one.
Americans woke up on January 7, 1919, to sad news from the day before. A triple decker New York Times headline relayed the story:
In addition to Elkhorn on television, families might want to consider planning a trip to the soon-to-be-opened Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. Fittingly, the grand opening is slated for July 4 — our nation’s 250th birthday. Teddy’s last words were “Please put out the light,” a directive to his servant James. Thankfully, whether on television, in books, or in the new Roosevelt Library, the spotlight on our nation’s 26th president continues to shine brightly.
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