# Teddy Roosevelt's Posthumous Medal of Honor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 29, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843 "2004-10-29T13:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843/1 "2004-10-29T13:30:17Z")
In [“Have We Ever Had A Killer In The White House?”](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041029.html), Cecil says > [@](#): > > During his famous charge with the Rough Riders up Cuba’s San Juan Hill in 1898, Teddy was among the first to reach the enemy trenches as the Spanish were retreating. Two men shot at him; Teddy fired back, and one died. At least one historian doubts that in the chaos of battle anybody could know for certain who had fired the fatal shot, but Teddy was sure he had done it and\*\* the Medal of Honor citation he received 102 years later (long story)\*\* credits him with the death. (bolding mine) So…what’s the “long story”??? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843/2 "2004-10-29T14:32:09Z")
Here you [go.](http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/MedalofHonor%20Quest.htm) > [@](#): > > It was, to say the least, highly unusual for an award recommended by the entire chain of command to be rejected; and this was an award for action in combat that had been witnessed by many and widely reported in the press. But the recommendation was indeed rejected by the War Department. Why? The probable reason is that TR had sent a telegram and a letter to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger strongly urging that American troops, ravaged by tropical diseases, be immediately returned to the United States now that the fighting was over. (TR himself contracted malaria, which remained with him the rest of his life). General Shafter leaked these messages to the press, thereby embarrassing and infuriating Secretary of War Alger as well as President William McKinley. > > Alger was subsequently forced to resign from the cabinet after an investigating commission exposed his incompetence at the War Department. TR, of course, became President in 1901, and that ended the matter of his Medal of Honor, or so it seemed. Then, in the “Fiscal Year 1996 National Defense Authorization Act,” passed by Congress on February 10, 1996, Congress repealed the statute of limitations on military decorations. The legislation was passed primarily because of the failure of the United States to award the Medal of Honor to worthy African Americans during World War II and the Korean War, but the 1996 Congressional measure potentially opened the door for the consideration of any case from the past involving military decorations. > > It was then that Congressman Paul McHale, Democrat from the 15th District in Pennsylvania, a former officer in the Marines, took up the cause of TR’s Medal of Honor and began what might well be called the “second battle of San Juan Heights”! Congressman McHale, who retired from Congress in 1999, was present, along with other Congressional champions of TR’s cause, at the presentation of the Medal of Honor in the White House on January 16, 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843/3 "2004-10-29T14:36:43Z")
Sorry hit submit too soon. Its a bit more complicated than just what I quoted. Read the whole page I linked to. Yes it is a long story. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843/4 "2004-10-29T18:59:59Z")
Oof. Thank you for the info, **Loach**! You’re right…it’s LONG. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843/5 "2004-10-29T22:04:20Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Sorry hit submit too soon. Its a bit more complicated than just what I quoted. Read the whole page I linked to. Yes it is a long story. Actually you hit the button about right. We frown on _too_ long a quote. Copyrights and all that. Thx. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teddy-roosevelts-posthumous-medal-of-honor/271843/6 "2004-10-30T11:53:20Z")
Actually Sam I quoted what I wanted to, I just wanted to point out that there is more information in the article. Which I did in my second post. Which should have been in my first post but I hit submit too soon. Which I mentioned in my second post and again right now. Or, more simply, I understand the quote policy and do comply.