President Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth
President of the United States, had an Irish grandmother, and he
is fond of attributing to that sturdy strain those aggressive qualities
which have played no small part in his remarkable career. Although
the youngest man to reach the great office he now holds, few, if
any, of his predecessors have had so wide and thorough a training
for the position. He was in his earliest manhood an active and valuable
member of the State Legislature. As President of the National Board
of Civil Service Commissioners he labored unremittingly for the
betterment of the civil service. In New York City he mastered, as
President of the Board of Police Commissioners, the subject of the
police and municipal administration. He became thoroughly acquainted
with naval affairs when Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and as
Colonel of a regiment in the war with Spain, obtained thorough experience
and valuable knowledge of the army. As Governor of the great State
of New York, he proved to be a strong, steady executive, and his
brief experience as Vice-President and President of the Senate,
serves but to cap his other varied experiences. He has been a man
of affairs and also a student of affairs, and his contributions
to the history of his country are useful and instructive. He thus
comes to his high office as a man who has knowledge and experience.
He has written history and has helped to make history, and his honesty,
patriotism, admirable abilities, earnestness and singleness of purpose
seem to justify the high hopes held by his fellow countrymen, of
all shades of opinion, that President Roosevelt’s Administration
will enroll his name with the strong, serious statesmen who deserve
the gratitude of the nation.
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