Theodore Roosevelt on Film

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Theodore Roosevelt acknowledging crowd
Scenes of T.R. and his sons Quentin and Archie, 1917-1918
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Overview

Theodore Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to have his career and life chronicled on a large scale by motion picture companies (even though his predecessors, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley, were the first to be filmed). This presentation features 104 films which record events in Roosevelt's life from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to his death in 1919; 8 of these films have previously appeared in other American Memory presentations. The majority of films (87) are from the Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection, while the remainder are from the Paper Print Collection. Besides containing scenes of Roosevelt, these films include views of world figures, politicians, monarchs, and friends and family members of Roosevelt who influenced his life and the era in which he lived. Commemorative events up to 1921 are also included as well as silent documentaries compiled from earlier footage by the Theodore Roosevelt Association between 1919 and 1928. Four sound recordings made by Roosevelt for the Edison Company in 1912 in which he states his progressive political views are also included.

Timeline

A Chronology of T.R. on Film

Essays

Speeches from the 1912
Bull Moose Campaign