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History's Trainwrecks - 018 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part VIII

018 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part VIII

10/09/21 • 15 min

1 Listener

History's Trainwrecks

The ghost of William McKinley appeared to him in a dream, and told him to kill Theodore Roosevelt.


John Schrank was thirty-six years old, unemployed, and unhinged. During the presidential campaign of 1912, “he read in two New York newspapers that the Colonel was determined to overthrow the Constitution.” It had been eleven years since the ghost of the slain President had pointed his finger at Roosevelt in Schrank’s nightmare and said, “This is my murderer, avenge my death.”


The time had come.


Presidential Safety Tip Number Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: President of the United States should always be the last job you ever have.


Teddy was getting ready to address a crowded auditorium in Milwaukee on October 14th, 1912. He had written his speech and folded it into his right jacket pocket. He left his hotel and went out to his open car and got seated. A crowd gathered, and he stood up to bow, waving his hat.


John Schrank, who had followed Teddy from New Orleans to Milwaukee, fired one shot, striking Teddy in the chest. One of Roosevelt's bodyguards, Elbert Martin, an ex-football player, tackled Schrank right when he fired, having seen the gun and rushed over.


Teddy had "dropped without a sound," and was feared dead, but he pulled himself up. He seemed unhurt, and asked Martin to bring the would-be assassin to the side of the car. "Don't hurt him," Teddy ordered. "Bring him here." Teddy took Schrank's head in both hands to see if he recognized him. All he saw was "the dull-eyed, unmistakable expressionlessness of insanity." He asked Schrank, "What did you do it for?" then, getting no answer, ordered his guards to turn Schrank over to the police.


Teddy told his guards that Schrank had "plinked" him. They tried to get him to go to the hospital. Teddy rasped, "You get me to that speech."


***


Teddy went on to speak for nearly an hour and half, tossing the sheets of his speech down as he reached the end of a page, as had always been his practice when giving speeches. (These pages were snapped up by the crowd as souvenirs. These were even better, as each page had a bullet hole in it). His aides stood waiting below to catch him if he passed out.


His face was white after eighty minutes, but he made it to the end of his speech. After that, amid the roaring and applause of the crowd, he told his doctor, "Now I am ready to go with you and do what you want."


He made it through the crowd, many of whom wanted to shake his hand and slap him on the back as if he didn't have a new bullet stuck in his ribs, and was checked in to Milwaukee's Emergency Hospital. The news of the assassination attempt flashed around the country. Edith Roosevelt was pulled out of her box at a theatre during the performance to be told. She said, "Take me to where I can talk to him or hear from him at once."


An X-ray found the bullet. After passing through Teddy's thick overcoat, fifty pages of his speech folded in half, his steel-reinforced spectacle case, his suspender belt, shirt and undershirt, the bullet still retained enough force to crack a rib. Two things had saved his life: the glasses he had needed since he was a small boy, and his penchant for giving long speeches.


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Sources


Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.


Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.”


Wikipedia, “William Howard Taft.” Retrieved August 9, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft


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The ghost of William McKinley appeared to him in a dream, and told him to kill Theodore Roosevelt.


John Schrank was thirty-six years old, unemployed, and unhinged. During the presidential campaign of 1912, “he read in two New York newspapers that the Colonel was determined to overthrow the Constitution.” It had been eleven years since the ghost of the slain President had pointed his finger at Roosevelt in Schrank’s nightmare and said, “This is my murderer, avenge my death.”


The time had come.


Presidential Safety Tip Number Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: President of the United States should always be the last job you ever have.


Teddy was getting ready to address a crowded auditorium in Milwaukee on October 14th, 1912. He had written his speech and folded it into his right jacket pocket. He left his hotel and went out to his open car and got seated. A crowd gathered, and he stood up to bow, waving his hat.


John Schrank, who had followed Teddy from New Orleans to Milwaukee, fired one shot, striking Teddy in the chest. One of Roosevelt's bodyguards, Elbert Martin, an ex-football player, tackled Schrank right when he fired, having seen the gun and rushed over.


Teddy had "dropped without a sound," and was feared dead, but he pulled himself up. He seemed unhurt, and asked Martin to bring the would-be assassin to the side of the car. "Don't hurt him," Teddy ordered. "Bring him here." Teddy took Schrank's head in both hands to see if he recognized him. All he saw was "the dull-eyed, unmistakable expressionlessness of insanity." He asked Schrank, "What did you do it for?" then, getting no answer, ordered his guards to turn Schrank over to the police.


Teddy told his guards that Schrank had "plinked" him. They tried to get him to go to the hospital. Teddy rasped, "You get me to that speech."


***


Teddy went on to speak for nearly an hour and half, tossing the sheets of his speech down as he reached the end of a page, as had always been his practice when giving speeches. (These pages were snapped up by the crowd as souvenirs. These were even better, as each page had a bullet hole in it). His aides stood waiting below to catch him if he passed out.


His face was white after eighty minutes, but he made it to the end of his speech. After that, amid the roaring and applause of the crowd, he told his doctor, "Now I am ready to go with you and do what you want."


He made it through the crowd, many of whom wanted to shake his hand and slap him on the back as if he didn't have a new bullet stuck in his ribs, and was checked in to Milwaukee's Emergency Hospital. The news of the assassination attempt flashed around the country. Edith Roosevelt was pulled out of her box at a theatre during the performance to be told. She said, "Take me to where I can talk to him or hear from him at once."


An X-ray found the bullet. After passing through Teddy's thick overcoat, fifty pages of his speech folded in half, his steel-reinforced spectacle case, his suspender belt, shirt and undershirt, the bullet still retained enough force to crack a rib. Two things had saved his life: the glasses he had needed since he was a small boy, and his penchant for giving long speeches.


Click here to support our show!


Sources


Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.


Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.”


Wikipedia, “William Howard Taft.” Retrieved August 9, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft


Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

undefined - 017 - What's In A Dam Name?

017 - What's In A Dam Name?

Herbert Hoover’s name was mud.


By 1930, the Great Depression was in full swing. Fortunes had been lost, savings had been wiped out, and four million Americans were unemployed (a rate of nearly nine percent). President Hoover was widely perceived as being tone-deaf to both the gravity of the economic catastrophe and the suffering of average Americans.


A lot of things got named for Herbert Hoover. “Hoovervilles” were the shanty towns built on the outskirts of cities where homeless unemployed men and their families lived. There was a big one right in New York’s Central Park. The nation’s largest Hooverville, in St. Louis, had an unofficial mayor and built its own churches and other institutions.


There were also “Hoover blankets” (sheets of old newspaper used as blankets), “Hoover flags (empty pockets turned out), “Hoover leather” (cardboard placed in the soles of shoes to cover the holes) and “Hoover wagons” (automobiles hooked to teams of horses, their engines removed).


There was also, awkwardly enough, Hoover Dam.


Click here to check out "Ragtown" by Kelly Stone Gamble for a great tale about the people who built the dam.


If you liked the show, please click here to support us on Patreon!


Sources

American Experience, “The Controversial Naming of the Dam.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hoover-controversy/

Gamble, Kelly Stone. “Ragtown.” Retrieved September 19, 2021 from https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B094DXDLTC

Wikipedia, “Herbert Hoover.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover

Wikipedia, “Hoover Dam.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

Wikipedia, “Hooverville.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

undefined - 019 - Ancient Office Hours

019 - Ancient Office Hours

Join history nerd and classicist extraordinaire, Lexie Henning, as she chats with thought leaders in academia and the entertainment industry about how they got into their field, their current research/projects, and how the ancient world inspires them. Together they strive to connect modern societies to ancient worlds, examine the practicality of going into ancient studies, and talk about why it’s important to fund the humanities. Their goal is to increase access to information about the ancient world and the people who are influenced by it.


Today I’m presenting their interview with Dr. Andrew Reinhard, an archaeologist and Director of Publications at the American Numismatic Society. His career in Classics is a great story. Dr. Reinhard has had quite the interesting career, to say the least. He has also pioneered archeogaming, and discusses the challenges of being a historian who works with gaming companies.

Visit their website at www.theozymandiasproject.com , listen to the Ancient Office Hours podcast on Itunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcatcher (RSS Feed), and follow them on their social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and Youtube)

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.



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