Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb by Brian Lamb

Author:Brian Lamb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Public Affairs

Teddy Roosevelt’s own words on a plaque near his grave

Returning to the United States in 1910, Roosevelt became convinced that President Taft had shifted too far to the right. He decided to challenge the incumbent. Falling short of winning the Republican nomination for president in 1912, he created the Progressive, or Bull Moose party, which split the GOP vote and put Woodrow Wilson in the White House. During the campaign, Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt by a deranged gunman. Shot in the chest, Roosevelt proceeded to give his scheduled speech before going to the hospital.

Over the next few years, TR continued to travel and write extensively. His lifelong passion for physical activity was his counterbalance for poor health, but his exertions caught up with him. He was hospitalized for a month in February 1918, following complications after emergency surgery on his leg. He never fully regained his balance. By the time he reached age sixty, TR was deaf in one ear, blind in one eye, and half-crippled with rheumatism. The pain in his joints grew so bad that his doctor ordered bed rest. TR disobeyed and was hospitalized a few days later. He remained in the hospital for seven weeks with his wife Edith by his side.

A considerably weakened Roosevelt returned home to his Sagamore Hill estate late in 1918. Devastated by the death of his youngest son Quentin in World War I, he spent most of his days resting. On January 4, 1919, Roosevelt’s White House valet, James Amos, came to the Roosevelt household to help his former employer. Amos was concerned by what he found: the formerly robust man appeared weak and tired. The next night, Roosevelt complained of shortness of breath. An attending doctor gave him something to help him sleep. As James Amos helped him to bed, Roosevelt asked him to turn out the light. Those were his last words. Teddy Roosevelt died in his sleep of a coronary embolism.

The nation was shocked by his sudden death, and telegrams poured in from around the world. Both houses of Congress adjourned, and a forty-two-member delegation left for New York on a special train for the funeral. Former President William Howard Taft and Henry Cabot Lodge were among the other dignitaries who traveled to Oyster Bay.

As snow fell outside, a private service for the family was held at Sagamore Hill two days after Roosevelt’s death. That afternoon, five hundred invited guests assembled at Christ Episcopal Church in Oyster Bay for a simple funeral service conducted by the Reverend George Talmage. Roosevelt’s flag-draped oak coffin, topped by a wreath and two banners from his beloved Rough Riders cavalry, lay at the front of the church. When the service concluded, Roosevelt’s body was taken by six pallbearers to Young’s Memorial Cemetery for burial. An estimated four thousand people, including many schoolchildren, lined the procession route. At 2:59 p.m., as the casket was lowered into the ground, New York City observed a moment of silence in Roosevelt’s honor.

Roosevelt selected his gravesite on a knoll overlooking the water.

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