Theodore Roosevelt was an Old New Yorker in the best sense of the word. His family for generations were New Yorkers, and they were not citizens only but citizens who, in each generation, took an active and important part in the affairs of the city and of the state. Going back to pre-revolutionary times, we find a predecessor among the City Fathers and later another an officer in the Continental Army. In the history of our city a Roosevelt has always figured in some important position of public service. The father of the ex-President was an Alderman, an Assemblyman, a Justice of the Supreme Court and represented New York in Congress.
Theodore, the strenuous, came quite naturally by his fervent patriotism and his burning earnestness of purpose. No other man could approach him in setting forth the virtue of pure Americanism, or as he graphically called it 100 per cent Americanism, and no one could listen to or even read his appeals without being stirred to a deep and lasting conviction of his duty. Theodore Roosevelt was a man who never swerved in the slightest degree either to the right side or to the left. His course was straight toward the goal and his step was unfaltering. No difficulty affrighted or even disturbed him, and he went forward with a strenuous confidence and courage against which nothing could prevail. To the public he was a man of rugged strength and sound wisdom with an inspiring personality which drew men instinctively around him, and in private he was a genial and kindly friend. New York was proud of her illustrious son and will cherish his memory as one of her most precious possessions.
It is gratifying to know that the Roosevelt traditions have been so splendidly continued and upheld by the four sons of the “Great American.”