Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He had been the 25th Vice President before becoming President upon the assassination of President William McKinley. Inaugurated at the age of 42, Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history. Within the Republican Party, he was a reformer who sought to bring the party's conservative ideals into the 20th century. He broke with his friend and successor William Howard Taft and ran as a third party candidate in 1912 on the Progressive Party ticket. Before his presidency, Roosevelt served as a New York State assemblyman, Police Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy. As a colonel, he commanded his famous all-volunteer First U.S. National Cavalry regiment, the "Rough Riders" during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt also served a successful term as Governor of New York. He was a famous historian and naturalist; his 15 books include works on outdoor life, natural history, U.S. Western and political history, an autobiography and a host of other topics. In his lifetime, he was considered a foremost authority on North American big game animals and Eastern birds.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

874: The remains of Saint Nicephorus were brought back to Constantinople to be interred at the Church of the Holy Apostles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Nicephorus_I_of_Constantinople)

1781: William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus)

1881: Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated in a Nihilist plot by Ignacy Hryniewiecki. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_II_of_Russia)

1921: Mongolia, under the Black Baron, proclaimed its independence from China. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Ungern_von_Sternberg)

1954: Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French military to begin the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the final battle in the First Indochina War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Don't play for safety. It's the most dangerous thing in the world." -- Hugh Walpole (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hugh_Walpole)