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==Early career==

==Early career==

He directed both the [[New York Police Department]]<ref>Roosevelt is the only president born in [[New York City]], but [[Herbert Hoover]] and [[Richard Nixon]] lived there when they were elected.</ref> and later, the [[Navy Department]]. He was appointed civil service commissioner by President [[Benjamin Harrison]].

Given a chance to run for the state legislature in a "silk stocking" (rich) district in Manhattan, he astonished his upscale friends by  dropping out of Columbia Law School; he was elected. His goal, he explained ,was to join the "ruling class" not merely watch it passively.

 

Young Roosevelt was a Republican reformer in the legislature, writing more bills than anyone. Already a major player in state politics, he attended the Republican National Convention in 1884 and fought alongside the [[Mugwump]] reformers; they lost to the Stalwart faction that nominated [[James G. Blaine]]. Refusing to join other Mugwumps in supporting Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]], the Democratic nominee, he stayed loyal to the GOP.<ref>Edward Kohn, "Crossing the Rubicon: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the 1884 Republican National Convention." ''Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era'' 2006 5(1): 18-45. Issn: 1537-7814 </ref>

 

TR held many offices. He was on the federal Civil Service Commission, then headed the New York City Police Department. After campaigning vigorously for [[William McKinley]] in the momentous 1896 presidential election, he became Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the #2 position. TR loved ships and had written solid naval history; his goal was to modernize the Navy, brining it up to world class standards.

 

==War with Spain, 1898==

==War with Spain, 1898==

When the battleship ''Maine'' was blown up in Manila harbor on February 15, 1898, Roosevelt, immediately resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and worked with Colonel [[Leonard Wood]] to recruit a volunteer cavalry regiment composed of TR's Ivy League friends and Western cowboys for the [[Spanish-American War|coming war against Spain]]. Hundreds answered his invitation to join in this grand endeavor, and, after brief training, the "Rough Riders" arrived in Cuba. On July 1, 1898, Roosevelt seized the initiative and led his men on the celebrated charge of San Juan Hill where 89 of the 490 who followed were killed. Nevertheless, the press and Roosevelt made this the most important battle of the campaign. The splendid little war was soon over and TR returned to a hero's welcome in new York City.  

When the battleship ''Maine'' was blown up in Manila harbor on February 15, 1898, Roosevelt, immediately resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and worked with Colonel [[Leonard Wood]] to recruit a volunteer cavalry regiment composed of TR's Ivy League friends and Western cowboys for the [[Spanish-American War|coming war against Spain]]. Hundreds answered his invitation to join in this grand endeavor, and, after brief training, the "Rough Riders" arrived in Cuba. On July 1, 1898, Roosevelt seized the initiative and led his men on the celebrated charge of San Juan Hill where 89 of the 490 who followed were killed. Nevertheless, the press and Roosevelt made this the most important battle of the campaign. The splendid little war was soon over and TR returned to a hero's welcome in new York City.