Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, a military hero, a naturalist, and a progressive reformer. He was also a lifelong friend to the Jewish people.
Born in 1858, Theodore was a sickly, asthmatic child with a strong and charismatic personality. He compensated for his physical weakness by engaging in masculine pursuits like operating a cattle ranch and serving with great distinction in the Spanish-American war.
After the war, Theodore became New York City Police Commissioner. During this time, an infamous anti-Semite was scheduled to deliver a high-profile public address. Theodore’s commitment to free speech prevented him from cancelling the appearance, so instead he assigned the man a security detail of Jewish police officers.
In 1901, President William McKinley ran for re-election, with Theodore on the ticket as his VP (McKinley’s previous VP died of heart failure). McKinley won in a landslide, but less than a year later he was felled by an assassin’s bullet and Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States.
As President, Theodore Roosevelt, known as TR, was beloved by many American Jews for his outspoken defense of the persecuted Jews of Russia. In 1903, the brutal Kishniev pogrom led the Jewish community to rally in support of their endangered brethren. They successfully lobbied the President to send a letter of protest to the Czar of Russia. The arrogant Czar refused to even accept TR’s letter, which said in part, “I need not dwell upon a fact so patent as the widespread indignation with which the Americans heard of the dreadful outrages upon the Jews in Kishniev.”
Theodore Roosevelt made history by being the first president to appoint a Jew to a Cabinet position. Oscar Straus was a well-respected U.S. Ambassador to Ottoman Turkey during the 1880’s and 90’s. In 1906, TR reached out to Straus, saying, “I don’t know whether you know it or not, but I want you to become a member of my Cabinet. I have a very high estimate of your character, your judgment and your ability, and I want you for personal reasons. There is still a further reason: I want to show Russia and some other countries what we think of Jews in this country.”
Oscar Straus served as United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the rest of TR’s term, which ended in 1909.
TR received a Nobel Peace Prize for his valiant efforts to settle the Russo-Japanese War. He donated a large portion of his proceeds to the National Jewish Welfare Board.
A passionate Zionist, TR believed in the Jewish people’s right to a nation state in their ancient homeland, at that time occupied by Ottoman colonizers. After World War I he said that “peace could only be real when the Armenians and the Arabs were given their independence, and the Jews given control of Palestine.”
For his lifetime of public service, and unwavering support for Jews in America and around the world, we honor Theodore Roosevelt as this week’s Thursday Hero.
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