16. Teddy Roosevelt’s Troubled and Tragic Youth
President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858 – 1919) had been a sickly child, whose parents feared he would not survive to adulthood. The son of a Manhattan socialite and a businessman philanthropist father, young Teddy often suffered severe asthma attacks that doctors could do little about. As he described the bouts in later years, they felt as if somebody had sat on his chest and tried to smother him with pillows. A born fighter, TR did not despair, and discovered how to keep down the asthma and simultaneously keep up his spirits: vigorous exercise. When he was around eleven-years-old, Teddy traveled with his family to Europe, and as they hiked in the Alps, the sickly kid discovered that he could keep pace with his father. It felt pretty good, and from then on, TR adopted a regimen of strenuous exercise and outdoors activities.
He also took up boxing to learn how to fight, after he got bullied by older boys on a camping trip. TR went to Harvard, where he boxed and rowed. He was good enough at the former to make it to second place in a Harvard boxing tournament. After Harvard, TR spent a year at Columbia Law School, before he dropped out in 1881 to serve in the New York State Assembly. His political career showed early promise, and he made a name for himself, especially in his efforts against corporate corruption. Then came 1884, a horrible year for the future president. On Valentine’s Day, February 14th, two days after she gave birth to their daughter Alice, his wife died. His mother died a few hours later. The only entry on his diary that day was an ‘X’, and the notation “The light has gone out of my life“.
