In the following pages Daniel Henderson has presented in condensed form
the life story of Theodore Roosevelt. The writer has made no serious
effort to go into the details of his official and political career or
to deal with the great questions of foreign and home policy which came
up during his public career.
Theodore Roosevelt’s activities were so varied and the field he covered
so wide, that no work of this kind can give more than the barest
outline. Nevertheless, the book is so written as to give those who
may read it a general idea of his boyhood, his youth, and many of the
things he did, his high ideals, his purity of purpose, his intense
patriotism, his love of the outdoor life, and his understanding not
only of towns and cities, but of the wild places of the world and the
people, animals, and birds who dwell in them.
The story brings out his intense Americanism, his love of fair play,
and his fearless and straightforward character. He stands out as a man
whose life was characterized not only by devotion to country and truth,
as he saw it, but to the best interests of mankind. While his spirit
was one of intense Americanism, his sympathies were as wide as the
world.
It is a book especially fitted for the youth of the country, and the
record of achievements therein will serve as an inspiration to all who
read it.
Theodore Roosevelt was the most inspiring and, consequently, the most
dominant figure in our national life since Lincoln, and his influence
on American youth and upon our people as a whole will always be an
uplifting one.
His life will always be an inspiration for greater effort and for
higher ideals.
“Great-Heart” is dead but his influence lives on!
[Illustration: Leonard Wood]
Major General U. S. Army.