# Teddy Roosevelt, badass **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212 "2009-11-11T19:13:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/1 "2009-11-11T19:13:29Z")
Hey dopers, I’m doing a lesson for a bunch of high school sophmores on Teddy Roosevelt for their American History class for my observation course. They’re not overly enthusiastic about the class in general, so I thought I’d deviate from standard and emphasize exactly how cool this guy was. What points would you hit? I know I’m going to do: San Juan Hill, speechifying after being shot, conquering his asthma, and I’ll toss in this quote “Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake there would have been a fight” ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/2 "2009-11-11T19:19:15Z")
His conservationism might appeal to a younger crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/3 "2009-11-11T19:57:25Z")
Seems like he also had some involvement with regulating college football, possibly increasing safety rules or something… ---
**Author:** ![Rib\_Eye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Rib\_Eye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rib_Eye)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/4 "2009-11-11T20:01:45Z")
IIRC was Police Chief of New York City and he was a pretty good big-game hunter. He had the fortitude and good sense to divorce himself from the GOP when the party of Lincoln forgot its progressive roots to get in bed with the railroads and other big business. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/5 "2009-11-11T20:06:31Z")
Big Game Hunter. While it might not be something I enjoy, I love all those old photos of people hunting and fishing. (Hemingway is badass too) ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/6 "2009-11-11T20:24:02Z")
Almost died on the Amazon River. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/7 "2009-11-11T20:50:24Z")
He had, like, 30 goddamn dicks. Oh, wait. That was [Washington.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbRom1Rz8OA) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/8 "2009-11-11T20:58:23Z")
> [@Rib\_Eye](#): > > IIRC was Police Chief of New York City and he was a pretty good big-game hunter. He had the fortitude and good sense to divorce himself from the GOP when the party of Lincoln forgot its progressive roots to get in bed with the railroads and other big business. Yeah. The GOP was about as progressive as railroad iron, and the big business was becoming hugely important - the foundation of the american economy - while the progressives were trying to enact some of the msot incredibly stupid economic plans in history. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/9 "2009-11-11T21:36:53Z")
Well there are a bunch of T-Ro’s quotes on the walls of The Museum of Natural History that are kind of cool. IIRC, newsboys in NYC used to live in a house alone. Like 30 or 40 boys age 6 to 13 living alone and selling newspapers. Teddy thought it was cool that these boys were doing that because they were learning about life and such. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/10 "2009-11-11T21:58:22Z")
The teddy bear was named after him, after an incident where he refused to shoot a tied-up bear, considering it unsportsmanlike. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/11 "2009-11-11T22:14:20Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > The teddy bear was named after him, after an incident where he refused to shoot a tied-up bear, considering it unsportsmanlike. Apparently, Teddy had the bear shot _anyway_ - just not by him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/12 "2009-11-11T22:14:20Z")
I read somewhere that he challenged certain senators to a sort overland off-road hiking/ironman contest. In other words, from some point outside Washington, they would hike to the White House in a straight line, without going around anything. If they came up to a fence, they would climb over it. If they came to a stream, they would ford it. If they came to a house, they would climb over it. If true, I’m sure the senators declined. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/13 "2009-11-11T22:17:11Z")
He went camping in Yosemite with John Muir. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/14 "2009-11-11T22:28:53Z")
He was the first American (or at least one of the first) to earn a brown belt in judo. He also wrestled in college and had taken boxing lessons since his youth. It would not be a gross exaggeration to call him one of the first accomplished mixed martial artists in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/15 "2009-11-11T22:36:55Z")
[Chased and caught a few boat thieves while roughing it out west.](http://books.google.com/books?id=2maGdg-nHCIC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=roosevelt+chase+boat&source=bl&ots=Ln3P2vWtr4&sig=WUmR75PNuTT3jMqPmQeiWG31zns&hl=en&ei=8Tv7SpD8D9DNngfkodj2DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=roosevelt%20chase%20boat&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/16 "2009-11-11T23:00:02Z")
Chuck Norris wears Teddy Roosevelt pajamas. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/17 "2009-11-12T00:21:19Z")
I think getting shot in the chest and then going on stage to deliver a stump speech is pretty high on the list. When the doctors examined him later, they discovered that the bullet had lodged in his massive pectoral muscles! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/18 "2009-11-12T00:57:09Z")
It wasn’t unusal for him, as President, to go skinny-dipping in the Potomac…in November. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/19 "2009-11-12T03:54:29Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > He was the first American (or at least one of the first) to earn a brown belt in judo. He also wrestled in college and had taken boxing lessons since his youth. It would not be a gross exaggeration to call him one of the first accomplished mixed martial artists in the USA. This is something that’s perfect! The rest of the suggestions are pretty good too. And yes, my closing slide is titled “Chuck Norris wears Theodore Roosevelt pajamas”. And the file is named TRBAMFPOTUS.ppt - unfortunately, I can’t get away with actually putting the real title of my presentation in the slide show ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212/20 "2009-11-12T04:18:51Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Chuck Norris wears Teddy Roosevelt pajamas. Teddy Roosevelt’s pajamas would kick Chuck Norris’ ass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelt-badass/517212.md?page=2)