| | Roosevelt is best known for his remarkable personality and commitment to democratic process. He was strongly committed to law and order, active leadership, civic duty, and individual self-responsibility. He was more concerned with the process of change than its direction. Roosevelt redefined American masculinity. He became a cowboy himself and the world soon identified America with cowboy values of courage and initiative, and hardihood in meeting outdoor challenges such as herding, hunting, and exploration. He strongly endorsed motherhood and criticized women who had careers and neglected motherhood. (Few Americans paid heed to his urgings that America needs a higher birth rate.)<ref> See "Theodore Roosevelt on Motherhood and the Welfare of the State," ''Population and Development Review,'' Vol. 13, No. 1 (Mar., 1987), pp. 141-147 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1972126 online]</ref> | | Roosevelt is best known for his remarkable personality and commitment to democratic process. He was strongly committed to law and order, active leadership, civic duty, and individual self-responsibility. He was more concerned with the process of change than its direction. Roosevelt redefined American masculinity. He became a cowboy himself and the world soon identified America with cowboy values of courage and initiative, and hardihood in meeting outdoor challenges such as herding, hunting, and exploration. He strongly endorsed motherhood and criticized women who had careers and neglected motherhood. (Few Americans paid heed to his urgings that America needs a higher birth rate.)<ref> See "Theodore Roosevelt on Motherhood and the Welfare of the State," ''Population and Development Review,'' Vol. 13, No. 1 (Mar., 1987), pp. 141-147 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1972126 online]</ref> |
| | + | ''Nearly ten months after making this declaration of his enchantment with the young Alice Lee of Boston, Theodore Roosevelt married his "sweet life." Four years later, February brought tragedy; on February 14, 1884, Roosevelt's young wife died after giving birth to the couple's first child. Only a few hours earlier, his mother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt had died in the same house. After the double funeral and the christening of his new baby daughter, Alice, on February 17, 1884, the bereaved husband wrote:'' [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html] |