Teddy Roosevelt: The Right Man at the Right Time (clip)

[theBike45]

Teddy Roosevelt was mostly a lying blowhard. After he left the Presidency he decided to return to the White House and ran as a third party candidate, ruining any chance for defeating Woodrow Wilson - Teddy the big baby. He smeared Taft in the process, despite the fact that Taft had, in fact, prosecuted far more anti-trust cases than Teddy ever had. Child labor never bothered Teddy for the first 40 years of his life, so his outrage was pure show.

[lipitzm]

Ledesman: "T.R. sold half of Europe to the tyrant Stalin."

And people want to cut back on education? Stalin was a kid when T.R. was President. Learn your history.

[Theblizzardking]

So we became a socialist nation after TR. What are we now? Ultra socialist/communist?

[xexixk]

@Theblizzardking Yeah b/c communists/socialists would be colluding with private industry, handing over billions to wall street, banks and private industry. You should really learn the meanings of words before you throw them around. And how dare TR take on those poor mistreated industrialists who did no wrong and treated their workers so nicely.

[eslubin]

That's Tom Willis from the Jeffersons

[Evilbusdriver12]

the sherman anti-trust act has been for years. TR: And now its come to life, isn't that splended? lol

[Dailybabble]

Do you think Roosevelt and George the first President will be proud how our Congress/President running the new U.S.?

Opinion please

[spinnernet1]

@Dailybabble hell no. Teddy Roosevelt would be pissed off with both the democrats and the republicans of today. He'd despise the extremists of both sides. I think the same can be said of George Washington. He'd really hate to see what has become of this country and it's politicians.

[TheJoec2005]

dotn ever compare obama to roosevelt or lincoln or any other great president

[Ledesma66]

T.R. sold half of Europe to the tyrant Stalin, his physical weakness and his illness left half of Europe in the hands of the greatest tyrant in modern history ..

[MIAgdup]

@Ledesma66 are you stupid or something... when TR died Stalin was still busy robbing banks for a socialist party not yet in power under the rule of Nicholas II... smh

[SSArcher11]

@Ledesma66 You don't mean Theodore Roosevelt. That is understandable if you are not from the U.S.

[metatronius]

@Ledesma66 That's FDR, not TR

[lovesclassiccars]

The "capitalism v. socialism" theory is kind of difficult to weed through to see the realities in the fuller economic picture, which is an issue today. Putting theories aside, I have to say that TR expressed it well, saying that if certain measures are not taken to help the working man, then socialism itself would be implemented to "fix" an imperfect system. And this "fixing" has led to tyranny in different countries.

[gotch09]

Boy, doesn't the "socialist" skit sound familiar? Just like President Obama is a "socialist". They scream loud enough and long enough- maybe a few people will start to get scared."Socialist" is screamed by a weak minded class baiter.

[coolmamac]

God bless Teddy Roosevelt.

[KingBowser22]

the one who plays them. He remids me of someone in the jeffersons.

[jasperminer]

why do i picture teddy kicking everyones ass after the camera's stop rolling

[Catchetat]

We have Obama.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

TR was one of the best Presidents this countrys ever had. His biography by Edmond Morris was outstanding.

[ALEXplus3]

yes it was.

[IVoteNone]

Any brute can dominate and take by force. It takes a man to earn a living by creating value for other men. Howcome Teddy Roosevelt didn't invent refrigerators or trains or railroads or automobiles or revolutionize the efficiency of oil refining or steel production? Because he was a brute.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

In Roosevelt's Presidency, he won the Nobel Peace Prize, established the Dept of Commerce and Labor, reduced the National Debt by over 90 million dollars, established the Meat Inspection Act, the Pure Food & Drug Act and busted huge Trusts (monopolies) bring large corporations under control of the people. You are absolutely correct though, he did not invent the Refrigerator and that indeed is a disgrace to his memory. If Teddy was a brute, he'd have my vote if he was here today.

[IVoteNone]

Roosevelt was just a guy with a bunch of power who could threaten people at the point of a gun. Andrew Carnegie on the other hand revolutionized steel production bringing about unprecedented efficiency in the industry resulting in the lowest prices and highest output ever seen up to that point in history. Roosevelt and his constituents had nothing but contempt for men who accomplished great things. We're lucky that Carnegie didn't quit and tell Roosevelt to run the damn factories himself.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

@IVoteNone Andrew Carnegie ay? Did you know that Carnegie encouraged child labor? He often employed school age boys to work in his coal mines and steel mills. During the miner's strike at the Homestead mine in Colorado, Carnegie's partner Henry Clay Frick had the state militia called in who opened fire on the striking miners which included women and children. So how does using 12 year olds to shovel coal, "create value" for anyone? (Except Carnegie and Frick of course).

[IVoteNone]

Throughout human history until the 20th century children worked to provide income for the family. This isn't because of shitty parenting or evil exploiters, it's because people were poor. Children had to work because there wasn't any stuff. The factories in the 19th and early 20th centuries sucked. Output was minuscule compared to what we're capable of today. Today child labor laws are irrelevant. Back then child labor laws just meant that families skipped dinner a few nights a week.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

Don't forget working conditions that were often fatal and the low slave wages.  Hmph, you'd think a wealthy industrialist like Andrew Carnegie would've been the first to correct those conditions and "create value" for the 10 year olds shoveling his coal to fuel his factories and his greed.

[IVoteNone]

The only way to make real long lasting sustainable improvements in material welfare is to make more stuff, actual physical consumer goods. There is no government shortcut. Carnegie revolutionized the steel industry improving efficiency and increasing output. Men like him are the reason why people have a lot of stuff today whereas back then people had little stuff. Roosevelt was just some brute who tried to turn one fish into two fish by legislating prosperity, impossible.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

My argument still stands, TR created almost 20 National Parks, numerous productive government agencies that I mentioned earlier as well as being the driving force behind the completion of the Panama Canal. Andrew Carnegie and the other big wig industrialists of the day could care less about who skipped dinner and who got killed in the mines, only how much they could fill their own coffers. TR failed to end child labor but at least he TRIED to end it unlike Carnegie who condoned it.

[IVoteNone]

If TR had ended child labor at that point in history there would have literally been starvation. Children didn't work because parents were terrible, but because children had to work to feed the family. The actual physical consumer goods weren't there. They didn't exist. It took a lot of labor to make things back then because output is limited to the efficiency of production methods, and production methods back then were far less efficient than they are today. Today's machines are simply better.

[IVoteNone]

Wages are not determined by individual employers but the supply and demand for labor. Nominal wages are irrelevant because a dollar today isn't worth the same as a dollar a hundred years ago, but yes, both real wages and nominal wages were much much lower in the 19th century. The reason, as I already explained, is because there was no stuff! You can abolish poverty through legislation, but if the actual physical goods do not exist the law will have no effect.

[IVoteNone]

These men you have contempt for are, in part, directly responsible for the material wealth we enjoy today. Todays industrialists have built off of their methods and now we have more stuff than people a hundred years ago could ever dream of.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

Regardless of who's responsible for "making stuff" and the "stuff" we have today, Carnegie employed children in deplorable work conditions and going back to your original statement, I believe that would make him what you would call a "brute". Funny, my Great Grandparents came here from Germany over 100 years ago and their kids never had to work to keep from starving. What BS.

[IVoteNone]

"Funny, my Great Grandparents came here from Germany over 100 years ago and their kids never had to work to keep from starving. What BS."

Depends on where they lived and exactly when they moved down, because absolute poverty lines are arbitrary and some places are cheaper to live than others, but children that weren't formally employed for a salary usually did very labor intensive work in rural areas for the family.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

The ends don't justify the means.

[IVoteNone]

Production was more grueling, labor intensive, and dangerous a hundred years ago than it is today, and output per manhour was very low compared to today. Maybe your sentiment is that people shouldn't have to struggle to get by, but that's just the reality of life in the past.

[IVoteNone]

They didn't have the things we have today. If you think people in the 19th century had it bad, look at people in the Middle Ages. Each generation is limited to a living standard determined by the technology available at the time.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

Enough said.  TR was a Naturalist who provided over 230 million acres of protected land, an avid outdoorsman, a law man, a Rancher, a soldier, an author of 35 books, the Governor of NY, Vice-President, President and a father of 6 children. An all around Man's man. If thats what you call a brute then make sure its with a capital B. One more question before I leave your sophistry IVN, besides pointing out brutes, what is it that YOU do to "create value" for your fellow man every day?

[IVoteNone]

Sophistry? I have made rational empirical arguments. I can't argue with your sentimental dislike of past living standards if you are not willing to acknowledge the economic reality of why they were so. Roosevelt was a brute because what he did outside his personal life as President he did by force. A brute does not know reason. A brute only knows the barrel of a gun, and that's what Roosevelt used in attempt to raise living standards, but the belief that prosperity can be forced is a fallacy.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

Right......again I ask you, what is it that YOU do to "create value" for your fellow man every day.

[IVoteNone]

I replied to your comments to correct your irrational contempt for the men who paved the way for the material quality of living we enjoy today, not to talk about my personal life. To sum everything I've said up simply, making more things is the only way to have more things, the industrialists of the nineteenth century revolutionized the making of things, TR made nothing and so did nothing to create long lasting improvement in material living standards and should be given no credit. That's all.

[greeneyedsteamengine]

Yes, thats what I suspected all along, you're a crybaby who adds nothing to anyones life. You're just a user of "things". I will admit though it takes balls to point that hollow, hypocritical finger at someone else. Take care of yourself IVN and remember, the world already has enough whiners and complainers in it without someone like you joining their ranks. Good luck to you.

[IVoteNone]

I'm not an altruist. I don't live my life to create value for others, and neither did the industrialists of the 19th century. They created value for others because the only way to make money in a trade economic system is to create something other people value. Your contempt for these industrialists is illogical. At least you've stopped trying to rationally justify it.

[Raidermista]

@IVoteNone TR set standards and quality control that human nature lacks because of greed. Carnegie sure as hell did create a lot for everyone but when you keep it running with no quality control you take advantage. TR did "point his gun" as it was needed. He brought quality and ethics to the game. Something that a lot of my business colleagues lack.

[owlking149]

Teddy's my favorite prez! Thanx fur sharin'!

[PaxMongolia]

Excellent video; very lively and spirited acting.

[trolleyjolly]

This looks like an awesome video with alot of connections with today's issues. However, I do find the $60 price tag for the half-hour DVD a bit much...

[1eyedcatfish]

This looks cool.