Theodore Roosevelt

BANG.

Theodore Roosevelt calmly withdraws a white handkerchief to his mouth and coughs into it. He inspects the cloth. There's no blood. That's good. It means he's not bleeding internally.

He'd know. In his long and colorful career, Roosevelt has been an amateur boxer and cattle rancher, he's fistfought outlaws in the Dakotas, battled corruption as commissioner of the New York City Police Department, served as President of the United States twice, created national parks, hunted lions in Africa, discovered uncharted wilderness in Brazil, received the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War and also got the Medal of Honor for leading a cavalry charge into Spanish line infantry at the Battle of San Juan Hill, the decisive battle of the Spanish-American War… a war he started unilaterally, despite not having any authority to do so.

It is October 14, 1912, and Theodore Roosevelt has just been shot in the chest at close range by an assassin. As his supporters grab the gunman and restain him, Roosevelt demands no harm be done to the man. He tells the rest of his supporters to take their seats… because Theodore Roosevelt is about to give an 82-minute campaign speech with a thirty-eight caliber bullet lodged in his chest.

This week we talk about America's most badass president! Professor Greg Jackson of History That Doesn't Suck joins the show to talk about the rough-riding cowboy, amateur boxer, former NYPD commissioner, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Medal of Honor Recipient who once declared war on Spain without any authority to do so and once gave an 80-minute campaign speech with a .38 caliber bullet in his chest.

Badass of the Week is an iHeart radio podcast produced by High Five Content. Executive producers are Andrew Jacobs, Pat Larash, and Ben Thompson. Writing is by Pat and Ben. Story editing is by Ian Jacobs, Brandon Fibbs and Ali Lemer. Mixing and music and Sound Design is by Jude Brewer. Consulting by Michael May. Special thanks to Noel Brown at iHeart. Badass of the Week is based on the website BadassoftheWeek.com, where you can read all sorts of stories about other badasses. If you want to reach out with questions or ideas, you can email us at badasspodcast@badassoftheweek.com. If you like the podcast, subscribe, follow, listen and tell your friends and your enemies if you want, as we'll be back next week with another one. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.