S01-05 The Sulking Hero of the West: Teddy Roosevelt in North Dakota

Professor Footnote

There were many reasons young American men went West in the early history of the United States. Maybe Thomas Jefferson sent you. Maybe you went looking for more farm land. Maybe you went looking for an adventure. Of all the reasons to go West, most of them involve a desire to make a name for oneself. But for Theodore Roosevelt in the 1880s, going West was a way to escape his name, his reputation as a wealthy child of privilege, and his very unfortunate private life.