Presidential Mettle Pt. 1: Theodore Roosevelt
(Author's Note) In honor of former President Trump, who has "endured more than any other president in the history of the United States of America," I thought we should share stories of other presidents who've endured challenges. Today's entry: President Theodore Roosevelt.
By 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt had made himself into something of a legend. Between his military campaigns with the Rough Riders and a succession of arduous (and remarkably well-publicized) expeditions, he had elevated his status as a strong, tough leader. He was also a populist who had served the better part of two terms as the youngest president in history, after the assassination of President McKinley. So Roosevelt was both a popular and known quantity on the presidential campaign trail.
On Oct. 14 of that year, Roosevelt was leaving the Gilpatrick Hotel to attend a late campaign rally at Milwaukee Auditorium. John Schrank was just five feet away–point blank range–when he pulled out a Colt .38 revolver and fired a single shot into Roosevelt’s chest. Before the would-be assassin could fire another shot, Elbert E. Martin subdued Schrank and disarmed him. Seeing the crowd advancing towards Schrank, Roosevelt ordered the man be detained and remanded to police unharmed. Meanwhile, the wounded Roosevelt had work to do.
Over the loud protestations of his staff and security, Roosevelt refused to go to the hospital. A battle-tried soldier and experienced hunter, Roosevelt surmised since he wasn’t coughing up blood, the bullet had not reached his lungs. (And since he wasn’t dead, it hadn’t hit his heart, either.) Instead of medical attention, Roosevelt attended the campaign event.
Once there, he asked the crowd for quiet because, as he told them, he had just been shot. He produced his steel eyeglasses case and a 50-page speech, folded in half and stained with blood, which he proceeded to deliver over the next ninety minutes. After he finished the speech, he met with a few well-wishers before, at last, acquiescing to seeking medical attention.
An x-ray confirmed what the former president had concluded: the bullet was lodged in the muscle and had not entered the chest cavity. Doctors determined it was much safer to leave the bullet in situ rather than to risk an infection or other complications with a removal. They patched up the former president, who immediately returned to the campaign trail
Unfortunately for Roosevelt, the assassination attempt didn’t much help his aspirations for a third term as president. He lost the race to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. While Roosevelt drew a respectable 27% of the vote, Wilson dominated the Electoral College, winning some 40 of the 48 states.
As a token of his appreciation, Roosevelt presented Martin with the Colt .38 Police Special, the spent casing and five unfired rounds, and a gold watch inscribed with the Oct. 14, 1912 date for remembrance. Because of Roosevelt’s quick intervention, Schrank survived what was likely to have become a lynching at the hands of an angry mob. Shrank was charged with the shooting, and he pled guilty. A judicial panel determined Schrank was insane and instead of sending him to jail committed him to a mental hospital, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Schrank died in 1943, at the age of 67.
The bullet remained in Roosevelt’s chest for the rest of his life.