On January 6th, 1919,Theodore Roosevelt’s died at the age of sixty, the result of a pulmonary embolism. In the days, weeks, and months following TR’s death, countless tributes and memorials were offered in his honor. Newspapers, as one might expect, began the process and there are several such examples in the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site’s collection.  This particular tribute appeared in the New York Herald on January 7th, 1919.  The illustration that dominates the page is from noted editorial cartoonist W.A. Rogers, who was responsible for other familiar TR-themed cartoons (see examples here, here, and here).  The words that appear on the banner at the bottom of the tribute — “Let us pay with our bodies for our soul’s desire” — are Roosevelt’s.  From a letter TR wrote about the time that the United States entered World War I in the spring of 1917, the phrase became a call to arms and patriotic sacrifice.  Interestingly, Rogers himself used the same quote as the title for another cartoon that was used in the context of recruitment.

That said, when I consider TR’s untimely death, two things come to mind.  First, the cable that TR’s son Archie sent to his brothers Ted Jr. and Kermit, who were still serving in Europe (after the end of World War I).  The cable simply said, “The old lion is dead.” I’ve never read anything that explains exactly how/why Archie chose those particular words, but they seem entirely apt.  The other thing that sticks in my mind is the comment, “Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight” – attributed to then-Vice President Thomas Marshall.  I suspect that many people agreed with Marshall’s assessment.

— Lenora M. Henson, Curator