BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



HPHE publishers of Theodore Roosevelt's books 

 1 have decided to publish a popular edition of 

 them during the Presidential campaign, and have 

 asked me to write a few words of introduction. 

 Few names are more widely known at the present 

 moment than that of Theodore Roosevelt, so that 

 in one sense any introduction is superfluous. But 

 in this sense he is known chiefly as the "Rough 

 Rider" of the Santiago campaign; whereas those 

 who read these books will see that his experience 

 as a volunteer officer in the war with Spain is only 

 one incident in a life which has been singularly 

 varied in thought and accomplishment and useful 

 in many fields. 



Roosevelt was born in New York City, October 

 27, 1858. On his father's side he is descended from 

 a Dutch emigrant of the seventeenth century, and 

 the intermediate generations have been prudent, 

 hard-working, successful merchants, prominent at 

 all times in the commercial and social life of New 

 York. His father's mother was from Pennsyl- 

 vania, of Irish stock. His own mother was from 

 Georgia, a daughter of James Dunwoodie Bullock, 



VOL. I. 



