Examine Roosevelt's life before the presidency and his first term in the White House. After graduation he chose an unusual career: politics. Party operators who resented his reform efforts relegated him to the office of Vice President. But the business interests of the Republican Party were disappointed when the reformer ascended to the White House after McKinley was assassinated.

Roosevelt entered his second term in office torn between conservatives and progressives in Congress. He accomplished what he could by stretching the power of the presidency, most notably on conservation. Out of politics, he went to Africa on safari. He returned and ran as the candidate of the newly formed Progressive Party. The bitter split created an easy win for Democratic Woodrow Wilson.