When Theodore Roosevelt died this week in 1919, Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall commented, "Death had to take him in his asleep. If Roosevelt had been alive, there would have been a fight."
TR was what we might call a "Renaissance Man" and is one of the most unique presidents in our history. Yet his uniqueness eludes us. For Lincoln, highly revered by TR for his very nature, not just his attainments; and as with TR's fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt, the presidency was the pinnacle of their careers. For Theodore Roosevelt, however, the presidency was only one detail of his busy life, his always-crowded hours.
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