Published in 2025, Bret Baier’s historical biography To Rescue the American Spirit: Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower chronicles the life of the 26th US president. The book traces Roosevelt’s journey from a frail, asthmatic child to a dynamic reformer, celebrated war hero, and transformative leader whose presidency marked America’s emergence as a global power. Beginning with his sudden ascension to the presidency after William McKinley’s assassination, the narrative explores how Roosevelt’s energetic and often controversial leadership reshaped the nation’s domestic and foreign policy at the dawn of the 20th century. This work is part of the author’s series of bestselling presidential histories, which includes titles on George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Bret Baier, a prominent journalist and author, frames Roosevelt’s story as a source of insight into contemporary challenges, examining how Roosevelt’s principles apply to modern questions of executive power and global leadership. The biography analyzes how Roosevelt’s statecraft was guided by key themes, including his belief in Preparedness for War Versus Desire for Peace, The Importance of Backing Diplomacy with Strength, and Balancing Public and Economic Needs in Government. Through this lens, Baier presents Roosevelt not just as a historical figure but as an architect of the modern American presidency and the nation’s role on the world stage.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of alcoholism, illness, racism, death, and death by suicide.

Summary

On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot by an assassin at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, who was in Vermont, rushed to Buffalo to await news but was told McKinley should recover; however, after Roosevelt decided to return to a family vacation, McKinley worsened. Roosevelt endured a treacherous journey to reach him in time, but McKinley died before he arrived. Shortly after, he took the oath of office, becoming the 26th President of the United States at age 42.

Author Bret Baier returns to the beginning of Roosevelt’s story. Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City to Theodore “Thee” Roosevelt Sr. and Martha “Mittie” Bulloch. The Roosevelt household was divided during the Civil War, as Mittie’s brothers fought for the Confederacy while Thee, a staunch Lincoln supporter, contributed to the Union cause. As a child, Roosevelt was frail and suffered from severe asthma, but he dedicated himself to exercise, including boxing. He also developed a passion for natural history. His father instilled in him a strong moral code throughout his childhood based in his own wide-ranging philanthropic efforts.

Roosevelt entered Harvard in 1876, where he was known for his combativeness and energetic personality. In February 1878, his father died from a malignant tumor, devastating Roosevelt. He soon met and fell in love with Alice Hathaway Lee, and they became engaged in January 1880. Roosevelt graduated from Harvard and married Alice soon after. He entered politics, winning a seat in the New York State Assembly in 1881, where he established himself as a reformer by challenging party machine politics and attempting to impeach a corrupt judge. His daughter, Alice, was born on February 12, 1884, but his mother and wife both died of illness just days later. Crushed, Roosevelt left his infant daughter in the care of his sister and never spoke of his wife again.

Grief-stricken, Roosevelt retreated from politics and headed west to the Badlands of the Dakota Territory, where he had previously invested in a cattle ranch. He immersed himself in the rugged life of a cowboy, finding healing in the harsh landscape and the company of frontiersmen. During this period, he wrote one of several books in his lifetime. After a harsh winter devastated his cattle ranch, Roosevelt sold his stake and returned to New York.

He secretly rekindled his relationship with his childhood friend, Edith Carow, and they married in 1886. They went on to have five children: Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin. Edith decided that Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice, would live with them. Roosevelt ran for mayor of New York City in 1886 but lost. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him to the US Civil Service Commission. For six years, he waged a constant battle against the political patronage system, making the commission a living force for reform. In 1895, Roosevelt became president of the New York City Police Board of Commissioners. He launched a crusade to clean up the corrupt police force and eliminate sources of bribery.

In 1897, with the help of his friend, Henry Cabot Lodge, Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the McKinley administration. A longtime advocate for naval power, he pushed for military preparedness. He became a vocal proponent of US intervention in Cuba, where rebels were fighting for independence from brutal Spanish rule. After a US battleship exploded, Roosevelt pressed for war, amassing what means of naval preparedness he could despite McKinley’s aversion to conflict.

When the Spanish-American War was declared in April 1898, Roosevelt resigned from the Navy Department to form the First US Volunteer Cavalry, nicknamed the “Rough Riders.” It was a diverse group of cowboys, frontiersmen, Indigenous Americans, and Ivy League athletes. The regiment trained in San Antonio, Texas, before traveling to Tampa, Florida, the chaotic embarkation point for Cuba. Logistical issues dogged their deployment, but they eventually sailed to Cuba and soon engaged the Spanish at the Battle of Las Guasimas.

After commanding generals fell ill, Colonel Roosevelt was left in full command of the Rough Riders. On July 1, 1898, Roosevelt led his regiment in the multi-regimental assault on Kettle Hill and then San Juan Hill, a pivotal battle that solidified his status as a national war hero. Black troops of the 10th Cavalry were among the first to reach the crest. After the Spanish surrender, the Rough Riders returned to the US and were mustered out at Montauk, Long Island.

Riding a wave of popularity, Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York in 1898. He continued his progressive agenda, pushing for civil service reform, conservation, and corporate regulation, often clashing with the powerful Republican party boss, Thomas Collier Platt. To sideline the troublesome governor, party bosses like Platt supported moving him to the vice presidency. A powerful grassroots enthusiasm also drove his nomination on President McKinley’s 1900 reelection ticket. Roosevelt reluctantly accepted, fearing the vice presidency was a political dead end. He campaigned vigorously, and the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket won a decisive victory.

As president, the energetic Roosevelt family brought a new vitality to the White House. In October 1901, Roosevelt invited Black leader Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House, sparking outrage across the segregated South. Roosevelt launched his trust-busting agenda, filing a lawsuit against J.P. Morgan’s Northern Securities railroad monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act. In 1902, he intervened in a major anthracite coal strike, threatening to use the army to seize the mines and forcing operators to negotiate with the union. This established a new role for the federal government in labor disputes and became a cornerstone of his “Square Deal” domestic policy.

Roosevelt championed the construction of a canal through Panama over a competing route in Nicaragua. When Colombia, which controlled Panama, rejected the US treaty terms, Roosevelt supported a Panamanian independence movement. With US warships preventing Colombian interference, Panama declared its independence in 1903 and signed a treaty granting the US control of the Canal Zone. Roosevelt also embarked on a tour of the American West, where he delivered powerful speeches advocating for the conservation of natural wonders like the Grand Canyon.

Roosevelt won the 1904 presidential election in a landslide but shocked the nation by announcing he would not seek another term in 1908. He acted as a mediator to end the Russo-Japanese War, hosting peace negotiations in 1905. For his successful diplomacy, Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.

In November 1906, Roosevelt visited the Panama Canal construction site. Amid rising tensions with Japan over anti-immigration sentiments in San Francisco, Roosevelt sent the “Great White Fleet” of 16 battleships on a 14-month tour around the world to project American naval power. Honoring his pledge not to run again, Roosevelt handpicked his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, to be his successor. Taft won the 1908 presidential election, with Roosevelt confident his policies would be continued.

After leaving office, Roosevelt embarked on a yearlong safari in Africa with his son, Kermit, collecting specimens for the Smithsonian, followed by a tour of Europe. He became increasingly disillusioned with President Taft, who he felt had abandoned his progressive policies. In a 1910 speech, Roosevelt outlined his progressive vision of “New Nationalism.” Despite his earlier pledge, Roosevelt challenged Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination, arguing that Taft betrayed the principles he was elected to uphold. When the party establishment ensured Taft’s nomination, Roosevelt’s supporters walked out and formed the Progressive Party, nicknamed the “Bull Moose Party.”

The 1912 election became a three-way race between Taft, Roosevelt, and the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson. On October 14, 1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by an assassin, but he survived. The split in the Republican vote allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency. In 1914, Roosevelt undertook a dangerous expedition to map the uncharted River of Doubt in the Brazilian Amazon. He suffered injury and illness, nearly dying and suffering health consequences for the rest of his life. With the outbreak of World War I in Europe, Roosevelt became a fierce critic of President Wilson’s policy of neutrality, advocating for military preparedness and US intervention on behalf of the Allies.

After the US entered World War I in April 1917, Wilson rejected Roosevelt’s offer to raise and lead a volunteer division in France. All four of Roosevelt’s sons served in the war. In 1918, his youngest son, Quentin, a pilot, was shot down and killed over France. The loss devastated Roosevelt, whose own health was in steep decline. On January 6, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep at his home, Sagamore Hill, from a blood clot in his lungs. He was 60 years old. He was buried in Oyster Bay, mourned by the nation and the world as a transformative figure who rescued the American spirit and ushered the United States onto the world stage as a superpower.