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TWO ASSASINATION BULLETS THAT CHANGED THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S LIFE

 

President Theodore Roosevelt speaks to the crowd

With all the news of Presidential assassination attempts, I was reminded of two assassination bullets that completely changed Theodore Roosevelt’s life. I’ve been studying Roosevelt since I produced and narrated the audiobook of his adventure “Through the Brazilian Wilderness.”

President William McKinley in 1901


The first bullets that changed Roosevelt’s life were fired on September 6, 1901. They were not fired at Roosevelt, but at William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States. Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist American citizen, had tracked McKinley to assassinate him.

Newspaper illustration of Leon Czolgosz, gun disguised in wrapping, shoots President William McKinley.

When McKinley made a public appearance at the Pan American exhibition in Buffalo New York, Czolgosz came forward pretending to shake his hand and fired a gun directly at him.


At this moment, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was 475 miles away in Vermont, speaking at the annual meeting of the Vermont Fish and Game league.

Although Roosevelt was known to be a hunter, this minor appearance kept Roosevelt away from the political action. Roosevelt felt that the position of Vice President was a very insignificant position, where some politicians (including him) were hung out to dry, never to be heard from again. But fate had a different idea.

President William McKinley and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt

When assassination news reached Roosevelt, he immediately traveled to Buffalo by every means possible, yacht, train and even by rowboat. McKinley was still alive when Roosevelt reached him, attended by doctors who were hopeful but did not fully understand medical sanitation. Roosevelt was encouraged to leave by the doctors and urged to continue a family vacation – lest the public become restless about McKinley’s health.

 

Roosevelt left McKinley and traveled to the Adirondacks to climb Mount Marcy.  But on September 14, McKinley began to fail . 


Roosevelt was told to wait for the safety of daylight before traveling for a train station 35 miles away, but he became restless and started out in the dark by wagon and arrived at the station at 4:45 AM, where he was informed that McKinley had died during the night.


Roosevelt continued by train to Buffalo, where 13 hours later, he was sworn in as the 26th President of the United States. There are no photographs of this ceremony because Roosevelt barred them. He was still dressed for the mountains and felt he was not dressed properly to be sworn in as President of the United States.


The second assassination bullet that Roosevelt experienced  was aimed directly at him and was intended to kill him.
 After his Presidency ended, Roosevelt was disappointed with the man he had supported to replace him, William Howard Taft. In 1912, Roosevelt left the Republican party and began his own political party, which became known as the “Bull Moose” party. It received its name from a frightening event.
While giving one of his campaign speeches, on October 12, 1912, speaking from the rear end of a train car, Roosevelt was shot directly in the chest during the middle of his speech by a saloon keeper named John Schrant.

The bullet passed through Roosevelt’s coat, hit Roosevelt’s eyeglass case and penetrated his thick 50 page speech in his coat pocket before lodging in his chest.

An experienced hunter, Roosevelt knew he had been shot, but concluded that since he was not coughing up blood, the bullet had not entered his lungs or a vital organ. He then spoke to the crowd:


“Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot—but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”

Roosevelt also quieted the crowd and stopped them from lynching John Schrant on the spot.
Later, the doctors who examined Roosevelt found the bullet edged tightly inside him and decided that to remove it would be dangerous and threaten his life. Roosevelt carried the bullet inside him for the rest of his life.
Roosevelt lost the support of the Republican party and began his own third party called “The Bull Moose Party” recalling his speech. But, after all that adventure he and the Republican Party lost the election to a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson.

After that loss, Theodore Roosevelt ended his political career and began adventuring.  He wrote about his adventures, and I recorded his last adventure, which almost cost him his life.


Roosevelt agreed to adventure down an unexplored river in Brazil known as the “River of Doubt,” which was believed to empty into the Amazon River. It was a badly planned adventure and a trip that nearly killed him and certainly shortened his life. Roosevelt described it all in his book, “Through The Brazilian Wilderness”. It is a grand adventure and my Listen 2 Read audiobook recording of his original version  contains  sounds of the the jungle and the river that will make you feel that you are traveling with Roosevelt down the River of Doubt. 

You can download THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS from almost any audiobook service including HERE: 

You can view the entire Listen2Read American Adventure Library HERE


Andre Stojka
Publisher
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