In his life Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. wore many hats in a figurative sense – he was an American politician, author, naturalist, soldier, explorer, historian and of course was the 26th President of the United States. He was known for his exuberant personality and was born to a wealthy New York City family; he was a sickly child who suffered from asthma but grew into a man with a “cowboy” persona and robust masculinity. He attended Harvard College, was New York City Police Commissioner and resigned from the U.S. Navy Department at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War to help form the famous Rough Riders – a unit made up of wealthy Easterners and Western cowboys.

While he didn’t wear a sun/pith helmet when in the military – at the time the American Army and USMC did use the Model 1887 pattern helmet – he would don the safari style helmet after he left the White House.

Teddy Roosevelt in an undated photo wearing a sun helmet and in his tweed suit.

Following his presidency Roosevelt embarked on the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition, with the goal to collect specimens for the Smithsonian’s new Natural History Museum. During the year long trek he helped collect around 11,400 animal specimens, which took the museum’s naturalists nearly eight years to catalog. This “safari,” which was financed by Andrew Carnegie, took Roosevelt from Mombasa in British East Africa to the Belgian Congo before the party followed the Nile to Khartoum in the Sudan.

Roosevelt was accompanied on the trip by his son, Kermit (age 19), who served as official photographer, and three representatives from the Smithsonian: Major Edgar A. Mearns (1856-1916), a retired Army surgeon and field naturalist, J. Alden Loring (1871-1947) and Edmund Heller (1898-1918), both zoologists.

Teddy Roosevelt in Africa. This photo shows one of the patterns of helmets he wore whilst on “safari.”

Teddy Roosevelt – the big game hunter!

The Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition team in 1909. (Image from Smithsonian Institution Archives)

In addition to the specimens for the museum Roosevelt and the expedition members also obtained live animals for the National Zoological Park—including a leopard, lions, cheetahs, and gazelles, as well as birds like an eagle, a vulture, and a buteo.

During the African Expedition photographic evidence suggests that Roosevelt wore either a British Wolseley style helmet or a Bombay Bowler style helmet, yet the origin or manufacture of either is unknown.

Teddy and Kermit Roosevelt atop an African buffalo, 1909. (Image from Smithsonian Institution Archives)

Cover of Scribner’s Magazine featuring Teddy Roosevelt’s trip to Africa. Image from Scribner’s Magazine, Charles Scribner’s Sons Vol. XLVI Oct 1909

After returning from Africa Roosevelt attempted to re-enter politics but his efforts to return to the White House resulted in a split of the Republican Party, and he lost his 1912 bid. Following this defeat – which was a rare occurrence for a man who seldom faced setbacks – he opted for a follow-up exploration, this time in South America.

The Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition of 1913-14 was to be the first exploration of the 1000-mile long “River of Doubt” (later renamed the Rio Roosevelt) in a remote area of the Brazilian Amazon basin. Roosevelt had originally planned to go on a speaking tour in Argentina and Brazil, but the latter’s government suggested that the former “Rough Rider” accompany the famous Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon on the journey, which was sponsored in part by the American Museum of Natural History.

Almost from the beginning the expedition experienced problems, including the fact that the heavy dug-out canoes were unsuitable to the constant rapids, while the food provisions were not adequate for the long journey – forcing the team onto near starvation diets. Over time insects and diseases such as malaria weighed heavily on nearly every member of the expedition. Of the 19 men who set out on this expedition only 16 returned.

Theodore Roosevelt is shown in a headnet and fringed gauntlets, seated in a clearing in a camp chair at folding table, writing. (Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site)

Theodore Roosevelt and Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon pose with a recent kill during the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition. (Dickinson State University)

The expedition also only made it about one-quarter of the way down the river, when the party came upon “seringueiros” or “rubber men,” who were rubber trappers. At this point Roosevelt was near death from a leg wound that had become infected. While the greatly weakened Roosevelt made it home to a hero’s welcome in New York Harbor he never fully recovered from this journey – he died less than five years later at the age of 60.

Teddy Roosevelt – the man with many talents – wearing one of his many hats.

Peter Suciu

November 2014