 Welcome to the Badlands of North Dakota. We're so glad you're here. I'm Clay Jenkins and I'll be your host and moderator through the next couple of days. We're delighted to see you. Welcome the National Theodore Roosevelt Association for its annual meeting here in western North Dakota. Welcome to all of you who have come from North Dakota and the region to be part of our sixth annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium on the campus of Dickinson State University. Special thanks to the TR Honors Leadership students for coming tonight. We very much appreciate your being here. Of course to our speakers and presenters and all of you, welcome to Dickinson North Dakota. I bring you greetings on behalf of our president, D.C. Costin, and the project manager of the Theodore Roosevelt Center, Sharon Kilser. We have a lot to do tonight and so I want to get right to it. And to begin, I want to bring up the president of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, the grandson of Archie Roosevelt, and the great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. Tweed Roosevelt. Thank you, Clay. Thank you. I'm not here. You'll be happy to hear to make any speech of any sort. I'm only here to welcome you as well as president of Theodore Roosevelt Association. We've been in business since 1920 and we're chartered by Congress to continue the ideals of Theodore Roosevelt. And that's one reason why this fits so well with what's going on out here. We're delighted with what Dickinson is doing, particularly in the digitization of TR's papers and works and so on. We do a lot of things. We have police awards that we give. TR was police commissioner of New York. He suffered from a disability, a serious one, asthma. We give around the country awards to police officers who have been severely injured on the job, but have come back even though they could have retired on disability and had an exemplary career. We have really wonderful way for us to recognize what the police do for us. We also have a teddy bear program for teddy bears for kids in hospitals. We have speech programs for high school students. We do all sorts of things. But the only one thing I want to tell you why you really should join the Theodore Roosevelt Association if you haven't already. It just so happens there's an aircraft carrier called Theodore Roosevelt. And every couple of years they take us on a cruise and we go out on the aircraft carrier. They do all kinds of flight, you know, planes landing and taking off and people jumping into the water. It's really spectacular. We've had a very close relationship with the aircraft carrier. In fact, we have a couple of the ex-skippers with us here tonight. And every year we give a junior officer award to the most exemplary junior officer on her. But the trip is spectacular and you can only come if you're a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. I don't know. It may break some of your banks. We're charging 50 bucks to join and you get a spectacular journal that we have, a referee journal. So go to TheodoreRosevelt.org and join us. For those of you who are already members, you know what a great organization we have and you also know what a great job Dickinson is doing for the memory of Theodore Roosevelt. And for that, we thank you all. Thank you, Tweed. We're so glad you're here. Before I introduce Dr. West, I want to do just a couple more things. Welcome five German Marshall Fund international exchange students who are here traveling through the United States. They happen to be in North Dakota at the moment. There's one from Croatia, another Hungary, one from Greece, Denmark, and the Netherlands. And they're hosted in North Dakota by Sarah Nordby from the Amidon area. So welcome to all of you. And to set the mood for the entire Theodore Roosevelt Symposium, I'd like to have two members of the staff and faculty of Dickinson State University come up and give you a little song. This is called Teddy Roosevelt's West. It was produced in 1925. The words and music, and you might do your cell phones. Please make sure your cell phones are off throughout the proceedings if you can. The words and music are by Walter Edward Delano. The music will be sung tonight, this piece by Bruce Southard, who is the co-chairman of our music department at Dickinson State University. And he will be accompanied by Joel Walters, who's an instructor of music here at DSU. The song, by the way, was provided to us by our friend Greg Wynn, who's a member of the TRA Executive Committee. He's also a TR collector. He has more than 100 pieces of Roosevelt-related music, and this is just one piece of it. Now, never before heard in this century in North Dakota, Teddy Roosevelt's West. We sing of North Dakota, bright star in field of blue. Of health and wealth, her quota is a bountyous gift to you. She is moving, moving onward on the trail our fathers draw. And with her hands set to the plow, she holds her faith in God. When the west it beckoned Teddy, in the days now past and gone. With vision clear and steady, he left the eastern throng. With faith in God and love for man, he trusts the settling sun. To North Dakota came he then, to fight the fight he won. With hidden treasure, wealth untold, North Dakota. To her prairies broad, with their fertile sod, kiss thy son and reign and yore. She lay in the USA, we call her God's country. Teddy Roosevelt's West, he loved her best. North Dakota, hail with hidden treasure, wealth untold, North Dakota welcomes you. To her prairies broad, with their fertile sod, kiss thy son and reign and yore. Teddy Roosevelt's West, he loved her best. North Dakota, hail to thee. Bruce Souther and Joel Walters of our music department here. And before I go on, I should say after the program there will be a book signing in the lobby. Doug Ellison and Mary Ellison of Western Edge Books out in Medora are our booksellers throughout this event. There will be a lot of books available. You can buy them more or less at any time. And if you'd like the author to sign them, there will be some specified signing moments. But if you go up to one of the authors and not interrupt them when they're eating or something and ask them to sign, I feel certain that they will be very glad to sign their books. So make sure that you look at the bookstalls and there will be a formal book signing just after the lecture tonight. And then finally Sharon Kilser will be coming up after the question and answer period to provide some notes and logistics and suggestions about how you can use your week here on the campus of Dickinson State University and on Saturday out in the little village of Medora.