10 Interesting Facts About President William Howard Taft

10. Play Ball! Taft was the first president to throw the first ball of baseball season, beginning a tradition that continues today.

9. Tone deaf Taft was tone deaf and had to be nudged whenever the national anthem was played.

8. First to own a car In 1906, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role of negotiator in the Russo-Japanese War. He was the first American to win the Nobel Prize.

7. A multitasking homeschooler Roosevelt’s education was mostly homeschooling by his parents and tutors. He was an avid reader and developed a photographic memory. It is said he was a great multi-tasker, able to dictate letters and memos to two separate secretaries while browsing through a book at the same time. It was said that he read a book everyday before breakfast and at times read three books a day!

6. Just call me TR President Roosevelt was the first president to be commonly known by his initials.

5. Boxing injury Roosevelt was blind in his left eye, the result of a boxing injury he sustained while in office.

4. Skinny-dipper Roosevelt was known to go skinny-dipping in the Potomac River during the wintertime.

3. First in flight On October 11, 1910, Roosevelt took a four minute flight in a plane built by the Wright brothers, making him the first president to fly in an airplane.

2. Youngest President Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president, assuming the office at the age of 42 after President McKinley was assassinated. John F. Kennedy was the youngest president to be elected to office. He was 43 when he became president.

1. You can’t kill a Bull Moose On October 14, 1912, Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when a local saloon-keeper shot him. The bullet lodged in his chest after passing through a jacket pocket containing his steel eyeglass case and a copy of his 50 page speech which had been folded in half. Being an anatomist, Roosevelt concluded that since he wasn’t coughing blood the bullet had not penetrated the chest wall into his lung. He declined immediate treatment and gave his 90 minute speech with blood seeping from the wound into his shirt. “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot,” Roosevelt said, “but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose

You can’t kill a Bull Moose

DO NOW: 3 full sentences in 3 minutes List three interesting facts that you learned about Theodore Roosevelt that you did not know before our lesson. 1._________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 3._____________________________________ _____________________________________

TR Exit Ticket Describe three facts about Theodore Roosevelt that you think are the most important in understanding his personality and explain what they tell us about his presidency. Complete your responses in full sentences on the index card. Don’t forget your name.