Life and times. This is just over an hour. Im john eleff, president of the Lincoln Group of the District Of Columbia. The Lincoln Group has existed since the 1930s to honor the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. And this year we have a special opportunity to hear from an extraordinary speaker. And in introducing him i would like to repeat something that he said at the First NationalRepublican Convention that he attended as a young man in 1884. He was part of a reform wing of the Republican Party, and they had an insurgent candidate to be temporary chair of the convention, taking on the candidacy of the Republican National committee. That candidate happened to be the africanamerican congressmen from mississippi, john r. Lynch, and here is somewhere of what our speaker said. It is now less than a quarter of a century this this great city organized it is a fitting thing for us to choose to preside over this convention. One of that race whose right to sit within these walls is due to the blood and treasury lavishly spent by the founders of the Republican Party. So it is a great honor and pleasure to introduce the 26th president of the United States no, he asked me to introduce him differently. It is a tremendous honor to introduce colonel theodore roosevelt. [ applause ] thank you very, very much, sir. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I am theodore roosevelt, and im delighted to be here this evening with the Lincoln Group of the District Of Columbia and northern virginia. How its done my heart good to share fellowship with you this evening. So many of you recognized me and greeted me accordingly. Hello, teddy. Good evening, mr. President. My friends in my retirem call me colonel for my brief time in the first United States volunteer cavalry. History remembers us as the rough riders. All of those greetings tonight historically accurate stands in stark contrast to the one young man when we road down to Roosevelt Island yesterday, he pointed at me and said, look, theres the monopoly dude. [ laughter ] quite humbling for an old politician i assure you. And if he knew his history from mr. Obrien, he would have known i was the antimonopoly dude. Well, i am here to salute Abraham Lincoln. Of course i was a little boy born in 1878. Of course as a little boy what a hero Abraham Lincoln was to me. Even with some caution from your chief executive here, i wanted to share with you of course what you already know. Im a famous knickerbocker, a new yorker through and through, but i stand before you half georgiaen. My great great grandfather was the revolutionary of georgia. You might know mrs. Rosa is a daughter of georgia and now of course the bulks indeed some historians say if not for the stories i heard as a young boy, stories of relatives who hunted panthers in the swamp, of an uncle, of those who marched off to florida to fight in the seminal war, if not for all of these stories for southern dare ask doom and adventure, then i might have not grown to pbe you president. I can indeed improve my southern stock. My grandfather and grandmother, they were sweethearts as children. My grandfather james steven bulk and my grandmother Martha Stewart. I thought you might catch on there. Martha stewart was the youngest leaving young martha behind, he didnt want to leave young martha unmarriedch in this regard my grandfather proposed to the young lady. As those ladies in those days refused the first proposal. He married a young lady in savannah, Esther Elliott. A week later my grandmother married Esther Elliotts father, john elliott. My grandmother Martha Stewart elliott at that time was a wonderful hostess here in washington, d. C. Two years after his retirement he died. Shortly thereafter Esther Elliot bullock died at which point my grandfather proposed to my grandmother at which point my grandfather was marrying my step motherinlaw. If that doesnt make me a southerner, i dont know what will. They were married in 1853. If your travels take you nearby to atlanta, i hope youll visit bullock hall. When i toured the south i bragged about my southern heritage. Of course i had two uncles that were prominent amongst the confederacy. My mothers half brother was head of a Confederate Secret Service in europe. My uncle urvine was said to be the man who fired the last canon off of the alabama in its fateful fight off the coast of france. Both men refused to sign a loyalty oath to the union and are buried today with the symbols of the confederacy on their graves in liverpool, england. Imagine now as a boy my growing up in the heart of the union. My father found no way he could fight against my mothers family. My father, yes its true, he paid for two substitutes to fight in his place during the war. But my father wanted to serve the union cause. He was a founder of the Union League Club of new york city. And along with others of new york, they had an idea which sent my father to the nations capitol and to the offices of john hay, president lincolns private secretary, my father was seen in to meet with the president. The idea was for the allotment commission. You of course here know the allotment commission. This is the first time in our history through legislation the soldier was allowed to signup to have a portion of his pay sent home to his spouse and children. In previous wars very often the family was left at home, destitute, relying upon local charity for support. It took a while. Congress in the early years of the war, they werent familiar with a man coming to lubby congress for the idea of which there wasnt some motive of selfprofit. But my father wanted to serve. So much so he became an allotment commissioner for the state of new yorker. And during those early years my father traveled. My father traveled by train and horseback very often to his own peril to get those soldiers to signup to send a portion to send home to spouse and children. When my father was away from my home, my home became a bevy of proconfederate activity. Three southern women beneath that group, so when my father was away the women would have the children in the basement kitchen preparing clothing, medicine, cash that would make its way to the war and via blockade runner make its way as aid to the south. Yes, perhaps you more than others know when i was a little boy i witnessed the sad funeral parade that came through new york city bearing the body of our martyred president through new york on their way back to springfield. Now after my demise a photographer and historian brought a photograph of that parade to my widow, ms. Roosevelt. And she was familiar with the scene. The picture being it a picture as it passed by grandfathers house. In the second window you see the silhouettes of two small boys. Thats me and my brother elliot watching the parade below. What you do not see is that my future bride, edith carol, was locked in the closet. I of course began my career as a young republican as a young student at harvard college. You must understand me when i tell you i did not learn much of practical value at harvard. Much of my College Mates majored in night lie. But it was my father who sent me to cambridge my freshman years with these words. He said theodore first take care of your health, second your studies. Sadly while i was at harvard my father died of stomach cancer. He but a young man of 45. The entire city of new york was in mourning, and i was in an entirely foul mood. I rote in my diary i thought i might go insane from sadness. I sought refuge in maine, and there with a great man i hunted and hiked and canoed. We climbed the highest point in maine of the great appalachian trail. And we visited the lumber camps where my vocabulary was greatly expanded. And each and every morning before we had our adventures, i took my canoe to where the west branch of the rivers were joined by first brook. And thereof the morning lights i began each and every day as my late father would do with bible devotion. In the years hence the people of maine would see fit to name that bible point, so named for the fact that i as a young man sought and found the wisdom and comfort of the good book there. I would later in my life say that a thorough knowledge of the bible was worth more than a college education. And when i said so i had in mind that great scholar of the good book, Abraham Lincoln. I hope that ive hat my campground cleaner than i found it, but at some point in my 3 1 2 years as president , i might have done some good. The nation gives me credit for the National Parks, perhaps erroneously so. Yellin stone in 1872, ulysses s. Grant. I was only able to double the National Parks. I discovered very often the opposite of progress was congress. But i hope that you enjoy the National Parks. And of course when we think about the National Parks we must think of president Abraham Lincoln who made a condition of california statehood in 1864 the maintenance of the preservation of yosemite as a National Park of the state. And during my administration when we discovered the California Parks Commission was not living up to the responsibility of maintaining that National Park we refederalized much of that park and expanded during my administration in 1903. Theres a great deal of my administration, of course, that has its origin during the lincoln administration. The railroad act, the settling of the west and my own adventures after the dakota territory that would not have occurred without that great legislation. And of course there are many north dakota fathers that still tell me to this day they got the deed with my signature. But that would not have occurred without am homestead act. He was your president there wasnt a major controversy, a maker issue of which i wouldnt look up to the picture i had in my office of Abraham Lincoln. A picture of an unbearded lincoln. I sort of wish the president had not have grown the chin wiskers myself, but i looked up and thought what would the president do in this circumstance. Well, as fantastic as it might sound, it gave me great comfort to put myself in the meend of Abraham Lincoln during the small controversies compared to the great controversies. Of course i was proud to be a member of the Republican Party. And for many republicans in the audience, i know you may blame me for the eight years of wilson. The reason i ran against taft was in great part because of the fact he had divorced himself from the roots of republicans party. The common man, the farmer. But he was doing quite well by the special interest of wall street by the man i call the benefactor of great wealth and land robbers. That party stole the nomination for taft. By the way, not the first or last time something political was stolen in chicago. We returned weeks later and i accepted the nomination of it progressor party. My nomination accepted by james adams, a future Nobel Peace Prizewinner. And how delighted i was to know that her father, mr. Adams of northwestern illinois was a dear friend of Abraham Lincoln and known as double d adams for the spelling of the family name. The lincoln administration, how we wished it lasted longer than it had. But it wasnt to be. But we were inspired still by the greatness of this man. We heard that theodore Roosevelt Island, during that civil war that island was occupied by United States colored troops, and it was a freedmans village. And in the later years of war and in the years right after the war, the island was known then as mason island. The revolutionary patriot, george mason, his family owning the island through those years. Theres a wonderful bit of connection through history. I love the way we find that history has these wonderful web that are woven that remind us we are all indeed connected. On that island, mason owned the island during the war of 1812. And mason served the kessant of the original mason. Mason served as commissioner in charge of exchange of prisoners with the british. So he was sought after by Francis Scott key. And it was mason who gave Francis Scott key his Commission Papers to go and negotiate in the release of prisoners outside fort mckenly during that fateful battle. Of course we have our National Anthem the starspangled banner written at a result of he taking that commission. I first served as your United StatesCivil Service commissioner. Apoined by jecbenjamin harrison fought against corruption. And then i fought corruption in his democratic regime just as well. You may know that the author of the United StatesCivil Service act, whats known as the pendleton act, George Pendleton of ohio, the Vice President ial nominee of general mcclellan in 1864. And George Pendletons wife, alice key, the daughter of Francis Scott key. Ive been told so much history that i didnt know by your members. I thought i might share a little bit i knew with you today. I hope i lived up to the asoperations the American People had for my presidency. I sadly came to the presidency through the graveyard with the assassination of president mckinley occurring. 1991 in buffalo new york. I raced through a fish and game dinner to be by his side. And after somedays his physicians assured me and his members of the cabinet who had assembled there that the president would recooperate from his wounds. I remember the trip well. Ted junior shhis first buck. I climbed the highest point in new york state and when i reached the apex, the clouds split and my french kwiguide shd me the bodies of water. When we came down a hunting guide known to me was coming up the path rushing with what appeared to be a telegram in his hands. I knew it was bad news. The telegram was from john hay, now mckinleys secretary of state. It informed me, indeed, that the president was dying in buffalo and i was needed there. Terribly sad news to come to the presidency through the graveyard. Unfortunately those treating his wounds were obstetricians. When i reached it along the hudson river, another telegram given to me from john hay stating at 2 15 that morning president mckinley had died. I was now your president. I raced to buffalo by train, paid condolences to ms. Mckinley. And alwilcox mansion on Delaware Avenue and buffalo, of one of only four times that the president took the oath of office not in the nations capitol. In a burrowed suit of clothes i took the office with a bible in hand. Stating for the peace, prosperity of the American People would remain entirely unbroken. I wrote to a friend while we were in a period of national mourning, it would be worse if we ignored the duties before us. So much so that within weeks of becoming your president and after allowing ms. Mckinley time to move out of the white house, in the month of october, i spent a day working on issues of education and southern improvement with a gentleman. Then that night when i invited booker t. Washington, the president of tuskegee university, he in his youth had been enslaved, did you realize it was the first time a man of color had been a guest of the american president . Some change is retrogression. By all things done by the most recent administrations, the thing i lument most that the name of president mckinley, the last president to have fought in the civil war, who was taken off officially the highest point of north carolina, the president said the federal government should refer to that mountain as denally. The park is named denali. Would it really have been much of a cost to keep the name of mckinley atop that mountain . Might some child in an american schoolhouse wonder why that mountain was named mckinley and look up that name whose record was perhaps overshadowed by my own but it was during the administration we pursued the open door policy of the secretary of state in china. During that time we annexed hawaii. Mount rainer National Park and so much more. History is a tenuous thing. Its important to keep the names of history alive. And salute the work youre doing to keep the name and the legacy of abrahamlengthen alive. Believe it or not, that man who is amongst the greatest men who ever lived, of course theres revisionism in history. There are some who would perhaps have us believe lincoln was not perhaps as great as he was. I applaud your work and i ask you to redouble it, to keep alive the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. I saluted lincoln in 1903. I toured the country. Congress had recessed in the spring. I toured 22 states and two territories. When i was your president and i did not go golfing. I went hunt [camping, very often in the