All who have ever taken a walk through a national park or visited a national monument in the United States would do well today to stop and wish a happy 150th birthday to one of the great souls of the American conservation movement: Theodore Roosevelt (“TR” to his many admirers).
Some things about TR you might not know:
He is the first and only U.S. president to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (for valor exhibited at Kettle Hill and San Juan Heights during the Battle of San Juan Heights in Cuba, awarded posthumously in 2001).
He disliked being called “Teddy.”
He was a Freemason.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.
He was an avid bird watcher and compiled the first known bird list for the White House grounds.
He made possible the vast network of national parks and monuments by his enactment of the Antiquities Act of June 8, 1906 that enabled him and his successors to “proclaim historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest in federal ownership as national monuments.”
What else can one say of such a forward thinking leader? Bully for you TR, and happy birthday.
Peace and good bird watching.
