The Strenuous Life

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Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.


The Speech[edit]

Roosevelt states the main point of his speech in the opening remarks:



The speech was published in 1900 as part of a collection of other Roosevelt writings and addresses also entitled The Strenuous Life.[1]


Roosevelt's speech reflected his own personality and life experience. Roosevelt was sickly and asthmatic as a youngster, and had to sleep propped up in bed or slouching in a chair during much of his early childhood. He was in poor physical condition as a result. Roosevelt's father compelled the young Roosevelt to take up exercise, including boxing lessons in order to ward off bullies.[2] The influence stuck. Upon graduating from Harvard University, Roosevelt underwent a physical examination and his doctor advised him that due to serious heart problems, he should find a desk job and avoid strenuous activity. Roosevelt disregarded the advice. As an adult, he exercised regularly and took up boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. As governor of New York, he boxed with sparring partners several times a week, a practice he regularly continued as President until one blow detached his left retina, leaving him blind in that eye (a fact not made public until many years later). Thereafter, he practiced jujutsu and continued his habit of skinny-dipping in the Potomac River during winter.[3][4]


The speech also reflected the American spirit at the turn of the 20th century. The increasing industrialization and urbanization of America led many to become fearful of growing weak. College sports were on the rise, as were recreational athletics such as bicycling. American culture embraced masculinity, patriotism, and nationalism.[6] Issues of masculinity were especially predominant during this time, given the various women's movements of the age. Critics and scholars, including author Henry James, worried about a femininization of America. The time was ripe for Roosevelt to extol the masculine virtues of the strenuous life.[7] Roosevelt used the speech to justify American imperialism as well.[8]

In popular culture[edit]

  • Sarah Vowell's collection of essays entitled The Partly Cloudy Patriot includes one entitled "The Strenuous Life." Vowell compares her life to Roosevelt's, especially her lack of strenuousness, and refers to the speech directly.
  • Kathleen Dalton's biography of Roosevelt is entitled Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life.

External links[edit]


  1. ^ Roosevelt, Theodore. 1900. The Strenuous Life; Essays and Addresses
  2. ^ Thayer, William Roscoe (1919). "Chapter I". Theodore Roosevelt: An Intimate Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 20. 
  3. ^ Thayer, Chapter XVII, pp. 22–24.
  4. ^ Maiden, David (2006). "Theodore Roosevelt". Spectrum Biographies. Retrieved 2006-03-07. 
  5. ^ Miller, Nathan (1994). Theodore Roosevelt: A Life. HarperCollins. p. 9. 
  6. ^ Higham, John. Writing American History: Essays on Modern Scholarship. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1970. pp. 78-84.
  7. ^ Testi, Arnaldo. The Journal of American History. Volume 81, No. 4. (Mar., 1995), pp. 1521
  8. ^ Burton, David H. Journal of the History of Ideas. Volume 26, No. 1. (January - March 1965), pp. 110-111.