23. A trip to South America was next for the former president
In 1913 Roosevelt planned to recover from his defeat in the presidential election by conducting a speaking tour in South America, after which he hoped to join a cruise on the Amazon arranged by a friend. Officials within the government of Brazil suggested to Roosevelt that he would enjoy an expedition to explore the River of Doubt, a stream of which the headwaters had been recently discovered, and which had been unknown until then. The thought of an adventurer exploring where no other white man had ever gone was enough for Roosevelt, and he eagerly agreed, gaining sponsorship from the American Natural History Museum in return for the specimens he was able to collect.
Edith was appalled at the idea of the former president, who still carried an assassin’s bullet in his chest, being in the South American jungles for such an extended period. She insisted that their son Kermit accompany the expedition, and the recently engaged Kermit acquiesced to his mother’s demands, postponing his nuptials to accompany his father. Near the end of 1913, the party set out from Caceres on the expedition, led by Candido Rondon, who had discovered the headwaters of the River of Doubt. They reached the headwaters in February, 1914, and part of the expedition turned back, leaving the Roosevelts, Rondon, a representative of the American Museum of Natural History named George Kruck Cherrie, and fifteen Brazilian litter-bearers to travel down the river.
