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HIS CAREER HAS BEEN MORE INTERESTING than that of almost any other man in the public life of our generation. Unlike the four others who succeeded to the presidency by reason of death, he is known in every corner of the land. He began his career at twenty-three as an Assemblyman in New York State, but it was three years later that he attracted national attention. In 1884 he went to Chicago as a delegate to the Republican National Convention and although only twenty-six at the time, was one of the leaders of the Edmunds faction which gave the most prominent figures to the anti-Blaine secession from the party. He disappointed his friends at that time by refusing to join the bolt. He was then and has been ever since a party man. He spent the next two years in the Far West, where he won a reputation as a hunter of prowess and gratified to the fullest extent his love for the simple life and the rude justice of the range. In 1886 he was a candidate for mayor of New York and polled 60,000 votes out of a total of 220,000. President Harrison appointed him civil service commissioner in 1889 and he filled the place with great ability at a time when the merit system was under a severe strain. As a civil service reformer his career has been unexceptional. For a year he was police commissioner in New York city [sic]. He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy when the Spanish war broke out. He believed firmly in the necessity of that conflict from the day the news of the loss of the Maine was announced. It is said he was the first to suggest the attack on the Spanish fleet at Manila. He resigned his place to raise the irregular cavalry regiment which became known as the “Rough Riders.” The history of his connection with that extraordinary body is a familiar story to all our readers. The Roosevelt “luck” followed him through the campaign. His was the only volunteer regiment whose colonel was promoted and he succeeded to the command. Luck and energy carried him into the first serious engagement in Cuba and placed his regiment in such a position that its courage and discipline shone to great advantage compared with the conduct of another volunteer regiment. He led a memorable charge, escaped injury from a storm of bullets and returned safe and sound to New York to be nominated for Governor through the unwilling compliance of his chief political enemy and elected against the expectations of every professional politician in the State.