Word: roosevelted
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...span of a few days, Roosevelt, once America's youngest President and among its most vigorous, had become a feverish, at times delirious, invalid. He was suffering from malaria and had developed a potentially deadly bacterial infection after slicing his leg on a boulder. In the sweltering rain forest, the cut had quickly become infected, causing his leg to redden and swell and sending his temperature soaring to 105°F. At the same time, the expedition had reached a set of seemingly impassable rapids. Roosevelt's Brazilian co-commander, Colonel Cândido Rondon, had announced that they would have...
...made his decision that night. Before the first rays of sunlight seeped through the thin tent walls, he summoned his remaining strength and called out to George Cherrie, a naturalist who, along with Roosevelt's son Kermit, had been keeping a vigil over the feverish ex-President. Turning to his friend and his son, Roosevelt said, "Boys, I realize that some of us are not going to finish this journey. Cherrie, I want you and Kermit to go on. You can get out. I will stop here...
...Roosevelt had set sail for South America in the fall of 1913, not quite a year after his failed attempt to regain the presidency. As a third-party candidate vying for a third term, he had split the Republican vote, putting a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, in the White House for the first time in 16 years. After the election, Roosevelt found himself a pariah, ridiculed by his enemies and hated by many of his old Republican friends and backers. Hunkered down at Sagamore Hill, his secluded home in Oyster Bay, N.Y., he fought to stave off depression and despair...
Escape came in the form of an invitation to speak in South America. It was a chance to leave New York; to see Kermit, who was working in Brazil; and to take a quiet collecting trip into the Amazon. When Roosevelt reached Brazil, the country's Foreign Minister abruptly offered him a rare opportunity: a chance to explore an unmapped river in the heart of the rain forest. So mysterious was this tributary that even the man who had discovered its headwaters five years earlier had no idea where it went and so had named it Rio da Dúvida...
...Roosevelt, the opportunity was irresistible. Not only did it appeal to him as a naturalist and would-be explorer, but it was also precisely the difficult adventure he was longing for. Throughout his life, he had battled depression and loss by seeking out dangerous physical challenges and pushing himself to the limit of his endurance. This expedition was a chance to prove his strength and reclaim his sense of purpose. It was a chance for redemption...