Roosevelt Theodore

Roosevelt

, Theodore 1858-1919.

The 26th president of the United States (1901-1909). Leader of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, he served as governor of New York (1899-1901) and US vice president (1901) under William McKinley. On McKinley's assassination (September 1901), he assumed the presidency. Roosevelt's administration was marked by the regulation of trusts, the building of the Panama Canal, and a foreign policy based on the motto "Speak softly and carry a big stick." He won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in the Russo-Japanese War.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.