In honor of the 163rd anniversary of Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday, here is a list of trivia items about America’s most interesting President.
– he was blinded in the left eye during a sparring match when he was President
– he did not like to be called “Teddy”, as a child his family called him “Teedie”; as an adult, he preferred TR or Colonel
– his uncles on his mother’s side fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War; his father hired a substitute to avoid serving and to continue his charitable work
– he published two books on birds before graduating from Harvard (the first was The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks)
– his book “The Naval War of 1812” became required reading at the Naval War College and was placed on every ship
– all four sons fought in WWI and his daughter Ethel was a nurse
– as Governor of New York, he raised teacher salaries
– when he returned from a trip to Europe, he received the first ticker-tape parade up Broadway Avenue
– he tried to have “In God We Trust” from coins because he considered it to be unconstitutional and sacrilegious
– he was possibly the fastest hand-shaker in presidential history – 50 per minute
– the pistol TR carried up Kettle Hill was from the USS Maine
– on his African safari after his presidency, he killed 296 animals including 17 lions and a rhino that was charging at him
– on his honeymoon to Europe with his first wife Alice, TR climbed the Matterhorn without any previous mountain climbing experience
– his kids would sled down the stairs using a large cookie platters
– daughter Alice would sometimes encourage her siblings to crawl under the table at state dinners and pinch knees and beg for food Kelly 128
– Teddy had the exterior of the White House painted white and began to refer to it officially as “The White House” on Presidential stationary Kelly 129
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