Even those of us who can hardly hark back a single fact from high schooltime history stratum ( levy my script ) likely call up Theodore Roosevelt ’s name for a few fundamental reason . The 26th chairman of the United States served from 1901 to 1909 , and he ’s the leader responsible for the domesticated program known asthe Square Deal , which focused on " the three Cs " : consumer protection , incarnate regulation andconservationism . Roosevelt ’s bequest continues to live on today in many ways , even though his clip in role ended over a century ago . Here are six thing we ’re still thanking Teddy Roosevelt for today :
1. He Established the U.S. Forest Service
Conservation was a major component in Roosevelt ’s plans to revitalise the country , and after taking berth in 1901 , he established the United States Forest Service ( USFS ) , which today remain its mission " to have the health , diversity , and productivity of the Nation ’s forest and grassland to touch the need of present and future generations . "
There ’s everything he did in person , as a naturalist and public trope , to promote the trade protection of nature — but it ’s what he did as president that matters , Clay Risen , The New York Times deputy op - male erecticle dysfunction editor program and author of " The Crowded hr : Theodore Roosevelt , the Rough Riders , and the Dawn of the American Century , " articulate via e-mail . " He took what was still a nascent movement and planted it firmly within U.S. government insurance policy . Thanks to him , the idea that the government has a critical role to play in protect America ’s natural heritage has never been seriously question ; in fact , it has become a core part of our collective identity . "
2. He Signed Legislation Creating Five National Parks and 150 National Forests
At the laying of the foundation for the Gateway to Yellowstone National Park in 1903 , Rooseveltsaid in a spoken language : " The Yellowstone Park is something absolutely alone in the worldly concern , so far as I know … The dodge of its preservation is noteworthy in its essential democracy …. This Park was created , and is now dish out , for the benefit and enjoyment of the people …. The only way that the the great unwashed as a whole can guarantee to themselves and their nestling the use in perpetuity of what the Yellowstone Park has to give is by assuming the ownership in the name of the nation and by jealously safeguarding and preserving the scenery , the timberland and the waste creatures . "
" It ’s promiscuous to imagine an alternative universe , where the pressures of the twentieth century carved up almost all the available state in the U.S. and conservation became a losing battle between entrenched baron and an underfunded environmental move , " Risen says . " Again , there are so many achievements , but this is one I keep going back to in my mind . "
3. He Changed the Role of the American Father
" I live many people , myself included , who are shine by Teddy Roosevelt ’s commitment to his kinsperson , " Risen says . " For such a public figure , he was an intensely private someone when he wanted to be , and he build a tumid , strong firmament around his domestic life , specially during his second marriage . He doted on his children in a manner that belies the stereotype of the previous 19th - century Victorian humanity of means — visitors to his home at Sagamore Hill describe how freely and physically he play with his kids , almost like a child himself . Of naturally he was still Teddy Roosevelt , and he was still a man of his course and meter — his wife did much of the housework , and he drop large quantity of time aside from home . Nevertheless , I do n’t think you’re able to translate Teddy Roosevelt in full until you appreciate the grandness of his crime syndicate to him . "
4. He Established the First 51 Bird Reserves
An zealous birdwatcher , Roosevelt feel turbulently about protect avian mintage from poacher . In 1903 , he establishedPelican Island , Florida , as the first federal bird qualification , and as the first whole in what would eventually be recognize as the National Wildlife Refuge System . Today , you’re able to find a refuge near you by visitinghttps://www.fws.gov/refuges/find-a-wildlife-refuge/?method=zipcodeand typing in your goose egg code .
5. He Initiated Construction of the Panama Canal
Roosevelt believe it was important for there to be a canal that spanned theIsthmus of Panamain fiat to back up American military and commercial-grade design . Colombia refused America ’s terms for build the canal , so Roosevelt threw his support behind the political course of study in Panama that sought to form an autonomous nation . The new establish country of Panama then sold the epithelial duct zone to America for $ 10 million and an additional one-year amount that increased over time . ThePanama Canalwas completed in 1914 and continues to be a major swop conduit today — in 2019 , the duct registered a totality of 13,785 theodolite , transporting 252 million tons ( 228 metric tons ) of goods , and generating bell that totaled $ 2,592 million .
6. He Helped End the Russo-Japanese War
Roosevelt became the first American to come through the Nobel Peace Prize when he persuade the parties of the Russo - Japanese War to suffer in a peace conference at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine . Thanks to his intermediation efforts , both position signed the Treaty of Portsmouth on Sept. 5 , 1905 , which terminate the state of war . The following year , Roosevelt was present the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize . But grant to Risen , this monumental accomplishment was just the tip of the berg in terms of Roosevelt ’s long - lasting legacy .
" Teddy Roosevelt is often caricatured as a valet de chambre of violence , or at least aggression , " Risen says . " And there ’s something to that , both in his personal living and in his strange policy views . But he was also more complex than that , especially as President . In his youth and his old age , he at times take a chauvinistic , aggressive scene of the world . But in the White House , he made tremendous part to the mechanisms of conflict firmness of purpose and diplomacy . He come through the Nobel Peace Prize for negociate the end of the Russo - Japanese War , but that was only the beginning of his achievements . "
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