TR was the first President:

• to fly in an airplane
• to be submerged in a submarine
• to own a car
• to have a telephone in his home
• to travel outside the borders of the US while still in office.
• to entertain an African-American in the White House, inviting Booker T. Washington to dinner
• to win a Nobel Prize
• to win a medal of honor

TR Conservation Accomplishments:

• 51 federal bird sanctuaries
• 18 national monuments
• 150 National Forests
• 4 National Game Preserves
• 5 National Parks
• 24 Reclamation Projects
• 7 Conservation Conferences and Commissions
• 230 Million acres of land set aside for future generations

Other Interesting facts:

• Youngest President of the US (42)
• Had photographic memory. He could recite pages from a newspaper he had just read as if he were reading from it. He was also a speed reader and would read two to three books a day.
• Had Christmas trees banned from the White House because of concern about the overcutting of forests.
• He disliked the nickname “Teddy”. None of his friends and family dared to address him by it.
• His first wife, Alice, and his mother both died on the same day from different diseases in his own home, February 14, 1884.
• Once delivered a 90 minute speech in spite of being shot moments before by a would-be assassin.
• Once kept a hyena as a pet.
• Responsible for the Maxwell House coffee slogan “Good to the Last Drop.”
• Six children: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980); Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1887-1944); Kermit Roosevelt (1889-1943); Ethel Roosevelt Derby (1891-1977); Archibald Roosevelt (1894-1979); Quentin Roosevelt (1897-1918).
• Ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City.
• Was the only US President to be born in New York City.
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897-1898).
• Charter member of the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
• Governor of New York (1899-1900).
• There is a picture of a young Teddy watching Abraham Lincoln’s funeral cortège passing by from an upstairs window of his grandfather’s house on Union Square, New York City.
• Uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt, (his brother Elliot’s daughter)
• His second wife, Edith, was his childhood sweetheart
• Severe asthma made him a sickly infant and virtually homebound child. His parents tried all available remedies and traveled worldwide to find him a salutary climate. But it was vigorous exercise that helped turn him into a healthy, productive adult.
• His association with the “teddy bear” toy dates back to a hunting trip. A bear was wounded and offered to Roosevelt to shoot it. He refused, saying it was “unsportsmanlike”. News of the incident spread, including a cartoon drawing of Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub, tied with a rope.
• Nephew of Congressman Robert B. Roosevelt.
• Cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Like his cousin, he was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
• After the assassination of President William McKinley, he was sworn in as President on September 14, 1901, in Buffalo, NY.
• Known for his “Square Deal” program and his speeches urging honesty in business.