Currently reading John C. Maxwell's "Leadership 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know." He has a section that talks about Teddy Roosevelt. Here is an excerpt. Helps explain why is he is my all-time favorite prez:
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TR (which was Roosevelt's nickname) was known for regular boxing and judo sessions, challenging horseback rides, and long, strenuous hikes. A French ambassador who visited Roosevelt used to tell about the time that he accompanied the president on a walk through the woods. When the two men came to the banks of a stream that was too deep to cross by foot, TR stripped off his clothes and expected the dignitary to do the same so that they could swim to the other side. Nothing was an obstacle to Roosevelt.
His enthusiasm and stamina seemed boundless. As vice presidential candidate in 1900, he gave 673 speeches and traveled 20,000 miles while campaigning for President McKinley.
And years after his presidency, while preparing to deliver a speech in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin. With a broken rib and a bullet in his chest, Roosevelt insisted on delivering his one-hour long speech before allowing himself to be taken to the hospital. . . .
Roosevelt's list of accomplishments is remarkable. Under his leadership, the United States emerged as a world power. He helped the country develop a first-class navy. He saw that the Panama Canal was built. He negotiated peace between Russia and Japan, winning a Nobel Peace Prize in the process. And when people questioned TR's leadership--since he had become president when McKinley was assassinated--he campaigned and was reelected by the largest majority of any president up to his time.
Ever the man of action, when Roosevelt completed his term as president in 1909, he immediately traveled to Africa where he led a scientific expedition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.
On January 6, 1919, at his home in New York, Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep. Then Vice President Marshall said, "Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight." When they removed him from his bed, they found a book under his pillow. Up to the very last, TR was still striving to learn and improve himself.
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Too bad they don't make them like Teddy Roosevelt anymore.
