Chapter 9
Final Years

At first Theodore Roosevelt did put politics aside. He traveled again within the United States. Then at the end of 1913, Kermit joined him for another grand adventure, a difficult journey to explore South America. Edith also came for part of the journey. On the trip, Roosevelt visited a region in the Amazon, and a river there was named for him.

Roosevelt returned to New York looking thin and tired. Some people wondered if his days as a public figure were over. But he still loved politics and public battles. He challenged Woodrow Wilson when he disagreed with the president. And one thing they disagreed on was the war that erupted in Europe during the summer of 1914.

On one side, the main countries were France, Russia, and Great Britain. On the other was Germany and Austria-Hungary. Wilson thought the United States should stay neutral and not take sides. Roosevelt accepted this at first, but by 1915 he saw Germany as a great threat to world peace and order. And he thought that Americans should prepare for war.

After German attacks on US ships, the United States finally did enter the war, in April 1917. Just as he had in 1898, Roosevelt volunteered to lead men into battle. But now, he was almost sixty and at times he suffered from Cuban fever, a disease that first struck him in his Rough Riders days. He also had high blood pressure. The government denied Roosevelt’s request to return to war.

Roosevelt was proud to see his sons Ted, Archie, Kermit, and Quentin join the American forces that went to fight in Europe. Quentin became a pilot. On one mission, an enemy plane fired at him, killing him just moments before his plane crashed in a field. The news of Quentin’s death in July 1918 stunned his parents. It came after Archie had already suffered severe injuries in battle. Edith’s heart, Roosevelt wrote, “will ache for Quentin until she dies.” Roosevelt said he felt “very bitter” that his smart, talented son had died so young. At Sagamore Hill, the former president was seen with his face against Quentin’s horse. Roosevelt cried as he called out, “Poor Quenty-Quee!”

Despite the great loss, Roosevelt stayed busy. He wrote magazine articles about the war and politics, as he had done for several years. Some people even suggested that he should run as a Republican for president in 1920. But his old energy was gone. His health and the loss of Quentin had taken away much of his strength.

In the fall of 1918, Roosevelt took one last trip out West, visiting several states in support of Republican politicians. When he got back to New York, he complained of pain in his left leg and feet. His doctors gave him medicine to fight the pain and told him to rest. Around midnight, on the night of January 5, 1919, he laid down on the couch, calling to his valet, “Please put out that light, James.” These were the last words the always talkative Theodore Roosevelt ever spoke. Several hours later, he was gone.

Many Americans were shocked to hear that a man they had always seen as so strong had died. The Roosevelts held a small ceremony at Sagamore Hill. Praise for him poured in from newspapers around the country. Almost everyone agreed that Roosevelt was a great man who knew how to have fun and enjoy life. Americans liked having a leader with those qualities. They also knew how much he loved the country and wanted to make it better. His family carried on that tradition, as several of his children became active in politics or the military, and his niece Eleanor, the wife of Franklin Roosevelt, became one of the most famous First Ladies in US history. The Roosevelts were truly a great American family.

Today in South Dakota, a huge likeness of Roosevelt’s face, some sixty feet tall, looks out over the Badlands. On his nose sit his familiar spectacles. He is next to three other great presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, in the granite carving on Mount Rushmore. Roosevelt’s face was finished in 1939, the last of the four.

To many Americans today, Theodore Roosevelt may seem like a distant figure. But he worked hard to serve his country, and he helped shape the role of the modern president. And he had a grand time doing it. As he might have said, it was a “bully” thing to do.