Roosevelt, Theodore, 1927, Biographical Sketch

ROOSEVELT ARRIVED in the Presidential Chair, which he occupied from 1901 to 1909, through having been shelved to that of the Vice-Presidency, the least dangerous place the politicians could find for him. Having fought as a child for his very breath, and in later years on the blizzard-swept plains of Dakota, where he had gone to strengthen his constitution, Roosevelt had so contracted the fighting habit that he could not stop when he entered politics. From that time on he became a thorn in the side of the entrenched political interests, who soon learned that their alarm at his ascendency to the Presidency was not without foundation. Immediately there was instituted the policies of "The Big Stick," and "The Square Deal." The instant popularity he won in the White House has never been excelled by any other President, save Andrew Jackson. Instead of starting a war, "the big stick," stopped the only conflict that broke out during his term of office — the Russo-Japanese War. Aside from his dominant personality, which John Morley, upon his return to England, described as "more tremendous than that of Niagara Falls," the Panama Canal stands as his most enduring monument.1. Brief Biographies of our Presidents and the First Ladies of the Land, 1927, American Weekly, Inc., page 26.