History Channel Documentaries

TR: An American Lion (2003x11)

Air date: Jan 20, 2003

A sickly, asthmatic child who became a world adventurer and renowned politician, with jobs ranging from cowboy to Police Commissioner of New York City to the 26th President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt contained almost literary contradictions: He was both a social reformer who fought the abusive power of corporate monopolies and an advocate for war who sought to extend American power across the globe. The History Channel's enormous biography Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion follows this prickly personality from such low points as the death of his mother and first wife on the same day to his rapid political rise to his tumultuous presidency (which was launched by the assassination of President McKinley and included trust-breaking, labor conflicts, environmental reform, brokering an end to war between Russia and Japan, and setting in motion the Panama Canal) to his failed attempt at creating a third political party. It's fascinating viewing, told through photographs, films from the time, dramatizations, and interviews with Roosevelt's descendants, academics, and former President Bill Clinton.