The End of a Strenuous Life. Theodore Roosevelt dies, January 6, 1919.

A great President, and by some measures one of the greatest Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest man to ever become President, and a titanic personality sometimes compared to a force of nature, died at age 60.

An aged Theodore Roosevelt in 1918.

As he was a force in American politics and life at such an early age, and in such an adult fashion, it's difficult to appreciate that he was not what we'd normally consider an old man at the time of his death.  Having said that, the hard charging nature of his life combined with a childhood condition of asthma, malaria contracted on an expedition in Brazil, and the lingering affects of a gunshot wound during his unsuccessful Presidential run against Taft combined to dramatically age him in the last ten years of his life.  The man who died in on this day in 1919 looked old and by all accounts was feeling old and worn out at the time of his death.  The last straw in this process seems to have been the death of his son Quentin during World War One, after which he declined markedly.

A controversial figure even today, Roosevelt is nearly sui generis and therefore claimed by nearly ever aspect of American public and political life.  He combined favoring an aggressive American foreign policy with an increasingly liberal, even radical, approach to American domestic problems.  Conservatives today look upon him as one of the great Republican Presidents while American liberals look towards his domestic policies as inspiration.  One of the local incumbent politicians called upon his photographed visage in the recent 2018 election to attempt to draw parallels to himself, even though there were very few apparent ones. To many Americans he defines Americanism, and perhaps more accurately than any other President we have had in modern times.  He therefore remains both in the past and surprisingly present.

While McKinley was the first President of the 20th Century, it was really Roosevelt who as the first modern President and created the office that we've had ever since.  He was unparalleled in that role; a role that he thrived in and defined in no small part because of his huge intellect and extremely physical nature.  The nation has not seen anyone like him since in high office, and its unlikely to.