Skip to content

featuring historical research, writing, and media at st. mary's university

  • World History

    World History

    Menu
    • World History
    • Pre-Classical History (to 600 BCE)
    • Classical History (600 BCE-600 CE)
    • Post-Classical History (600 CE-1492 CE)
    • Early Modern History (1492-1789)
    • Modern History (1789-1914)
    • Global History (1900-present)

    From the Ancient World

    The Battle of Zama: Rome's Vengeance

    Posted by Davis Nickle12/01/2020

    From the Modern World

    The Holy See Takes On The Fight Against Climate Change

    Posted by Victor Rodriguez11/30/2020

    Regional Histories

    Menu
    • African and African American Studies
    • Latin American Studies
  • US History

    Early America

    Menu
    • US-Three Worlds Meet (to 1620)
    • US-Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
    • US-Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
    • US-Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
    • US-Civil War & Reconstruction (1850-1877)

    How the Soviet Union Compelled the United States to Build the World's Fastest Jet: The Lockheed A-12 OXCART

    Posted by Nathaniel Bielawski05/07/2020

    Was Ted Bundy a Sociopath or a Psychopath?

    Posted by Maria Cossio11/23/2020

    Whatalife: Harmon Dobson, the Founder of Whataburger

    Posted by Courtney Pena10/02/2019

    Korey Wise

    Posted by Maya Simon11/29/2020

    Drugs, Alcohol, and Arrests: The Downside to Robert Downey Jr.'s Acting Career

    Posted by Nelly Perez03/02/2020

    Johnnie Cochran's Battle Of The 27 Year Long Court Case

    Posted by Victoria Davis11/07/2019

    Dorothy Kamenshek: Playing ball during WW2

    Posted by Reba Reyes11/18/2020

    The Voice that Outshined the Rest: The success of Chris Cornell

    Posted by Christian Lopez11/24/2020

    The Complicated Process of Seeking Asylum in the United States

    Posted by Emilia Caballero Carmona10/29/2020

    William Weber: Attorney In it for Profit

    Posted by Makenzie Santana04/17/2019

    Breaking Silence or Just Speaking Louder?: The Story of Larry Nassar and his 499 Victims

    Posted by Paola Arellano04/07/2019

    Hispanophobia: La Discriminación contra las Personas que Hablan Español

    Posted by Cristian Maldonado12/22/2020

    MS-13: Origin of the Most Dangerous Gang in the World

    Posted by Juliana Montoya03/06/2020

    Creating a Monster: Richard Ramirez, The Night Stalker

    Posted by Claudia Sanchez05/08/2019

    Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor

    Posted by Shriji Lalji12/02/2020

    Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo and His Satanic Cult

    Posted by Briana Montes11/12/2019

    The Non-Stick Chemical That Stuck DuPont with a Stiff Bill In The Courtroom

    Posted by Aleea Costilla10/30/2020

    The Notorious RBG

    Posted by Alicia Guzman04/07/2019

    ¿Inglés sin barreras? Cómo Contribuye el Lenguaje de Internet a la Brecha Digital

    Posted by Felicia Cruz11/10/2020

    The Trials that Started the American Revolution: John Adams

    Posted by Andrea Degollado04/26/2020

    Billie Jean King: Ruler of the Court

    Posted by Charli Delmonico12/09/2019

    “Find a miracle, hold onto it, and keep going.” The Story of Elizabeth Smart

    Posted by Mia Hernandez11/07/2020

    A Forgotten Finals: Bill Russell, and the 1966 NBA Finals

    Posted by Kaleb Werku11/12/2019

    Why We Should Defend Human Gene Editing

    Posted by Emily Velazquez04/07/2019

    Perseverance in Preservation: The Hundred-year Historical Development of Woodlawn Lake Park

    Posted by Mario Sosa05/13/2019

    The Duchess of Windsor—How the IRS Helped Create Same Gender Marriage

    Posted by Christopher Metta Bexar04/07/2019

    Can We All Get Along?: The Fight Against Police Brutality

    Posted by Lindsey Ogle11/23/2020

    Big Nosed Kate - An Outlaw's Nightmare?

    Posted by Cameron Lopez04/04/2019

    Elvis: The Rise of the Rock and Roll King

    Posted by Alexander Avina12/06/2019

    Diabetes: Don't Sugarcoat It

    Posted by Pablo Medina11/14/2019

    Contemporary America

    Menu
    • US-Industrial United States (1870-1900)
    • US-Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
    • US-Great Depression & WWII (1929-1945)
    • US-Postwar United States (1945-early 1970s)
    • US-Contemporary United States (1968-present)
  • Themes

    SPICE Categories

    Specialty Categories

    Special Themes

    Menu
    • Social History
    • Political History
    • Environmental History
    • Cultural History
    • Economic History
    Menu
    • Art History
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Gender Studies
    • Human Rights
    • Public Health and Medicine
    • International Relations
    • Linguistics
    Menu
    • Military History
    • Music
    • People
    • Psychology
    • Religion
    • Science & Technology
    • Sports
    Menu
    • Catholic Heritage
    • The Year 1968
    • COVID-19
    • Social Justice
    • Spanish Language
  • Showcase

    Showcase Editions

    • Vol 1 – 2016
      • Vol 1 No 1 Aug-Sep 2016
      • Vol 1 No 2 Oct-Nov 2016
    • Vol 2 – 2017
      • Vol 2 No 1 Jan-Feb 2017
      • Vol 2 No 2 Mar-Apr 2017
      • Vol 2 No 3 Aug-Sep 2017
      • Vol 2 No 4 Oct-Nov 2017
    • Vol 3 – 2018
      • Vol 3 No 1 Jan-Feb 2018
      • Vol 3 No 2 Mar-Apr 2018
      • Vol 3 No 3 Aug-Sep 2018
      • Vol 3 No 4 Oct-Nov 2018
    • Vol 4 – 2019
      • Vol 4 No 1 Jan-Feb 2019
      • Vol 4 No 2 Mar-Apr 2019
      • Vol 4 No 3 Aug-Sep 2019
      • Vol 4 No 4 Oct-Nov 2019
    • Vol 5 – 2020
      • Vol 5 No 1 Jan-Feb 2020
      • Vol 5 No 2 Mar-Apr 2020
      • Vol 5 No 3 Aug-Sep 2020
    Menu
    • Vol 1 – 2016
      • Vol 1 No 1 Aug-Sep 2016
      • Vol 1 No 2 Oct-Nov 2016
    • Vol 2 – 2017
      • Vol 2 No 1 Jan-Feb 2017
      • Vol 2 No 2 Mar-Apr 2017
      • Vol 2 No 3 Aug-Sep 2017
      • Vol 2 No 4 Oct-Nov 2017
    • Vol 3 – 2018
      • Vol 3 No 1 Jan-Feb 2018
      • Vol 3 No 2 Mar-Apr 2018
      • Vol 3 No 3 Aug-Sep 2018
      • Vol 3 No 4 Oct-Nov 2018
    • Vol 4 – 2019
      • Vol 4 No 1 Jan-Feb 2019
      • Vol 4 No 2 Mar-Apr 2019
      • Vol 4 No 3 Aug-Sep 2019
      • Vol 4 No 4 Oct-Nov 2019
    • Vol 5 – 2020
      • Vol 5 No 1 Jan-Feb 2020
      • Vol 5 No 2 Mar-Apr 2020
      • Vol 5 No 3 Aug-Sep 2020
  • About

    Course Readings

    Article Indexes

    About Us

    Menu
    • Course Readings – SC 3300 – Nash
    • Course Readings – SMC 1301 – Wieck
    • Course Readings – PO 4334 – Dr Celine
    • Course Readings _ PO 3365 – Dr Celine
    Menu
    • Course Readings – HS 2321 – Whitener
    • Course Readings – HS 2322 – Whitener
    • Course Readings – SMC 1301 – Whitener
    Menu
    • Our Article/Author Index
    • Award Winning Articles
    Menu
    • Our StMU History Media Project
    • Our Faculty Consultants
    • Our Writers
    • Contact Us
  • Descriptive Article, People, Political History, United States History, US-Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
  • March 3, 2018

Teddy Roosevelt, the Birth of the Progressive Party, and the Speech that Slowed a Bullet

Newspaper Headline the Day after the Assassination Attempt | Courtesy of The New York Times
Newspaper Headline the Day after the Assassination Attempt | Courtesy of The New York Times
Natalie Thamm

Natalie Thamm

Stepping into an open-air car just after 8 pm, Teddy Roosevelt stood to wave to the adoring crowd that had gathered around him. Just as he raised his hat, the shot of a .38 colt revolver rang out from no more than five feet in front of him. As he fell back into the car, the crowd quickly disarmed the would-be assassin and began to attack him.1

Many events led up to this exact moment. Nearly twelve years earlier, Roosevelt had been William McKinley’s Vice President when McKinley had died from a similar assassin’s bullet just six months into his second term. Roosevelt’s subsequent rise to the presidency upset many in his own Republican Party, due to the fact that he had been placed as McKinley’s Vice President for the sole purpose of removing him from positions of power, particularly in the New York legislature. He had been a part of New York politics off and on from the age of twenty-three. But many in his own party were unhappy with Roosevelt because of his support for political reforms that would end corruption in politics, including that of the Republican Party Machine in New York, which made most of the major decisions for the entire Republican Party. At the time, the office of Vice President was seen as a dead-end for one’s political career, because it lacked any real power; so the move to “elevate” Roosevelt to be McKinley’s running-mate in 1900 made sense for the Party Machine to support. Unfortunately for them, McKinley’s untimely death foiled their attempts to end Roosevelt’s political career, and ultimately they fast-tracked him into the Presidency at the age of forty-two, which made him the youngest person to ever be sworn-in to this position. Roosevelt went on to become the party’s undisputed leader and easily won the Presidential election of 1904. During his years in office, Roosevelt was quite the well-rounded President. He worked on everything from domestic programs regulating railroads and food to conservation acts to foreign policy, even winning a Noble Peace Prize in 1906 for his mediation of the Russo-Japanese War.2

Though, when the election of 1908 rolled around, having already technically served two terms as President and wanting to follow the precedent of not seeking a third, Roosevelt stepped aside to allow the rise of William Howard Taft, his Secretary of War, to take his place on the Republican ticket. With Roosevelt’s backing, Taft took the Presidency easily. But not long after Taft’s administration began, Roosevelt, who had become increasingly progressive in the later years of his second term, did not like that Taft’s views and policies continued to move further and further right. Not only were his views and policies moving further right, but Taft directly undermined several policies and programs that Roosevelt had approved and developed during his two terms. This prompted some in the progressive wing of the party to support a more progressive man to take his place on the Republican ticket in the election of 1912. For a while, it seemed as though Robert La Follette, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, would become the progressive opponent of Taft, but after several missteps and his sanity being called into question, Roosevelt announced his decision to seek a third term. Support began to build for Roosevelt, and ultimately he chose to challenge Taft at the Republican National Convention, with the backing of several prominent members of the party. Roosevelt narrowly failed to secure the nomination, again because of plots against him within the Machine and the committee giving all contested delegates to Taft. After this loss, Roosevelt walked out of the convention, and immediately created his own party, the Progressive or “Bull Moose” Party, that was built on Roosevelt’s Square Deal platform focusing on helping all classes of people, not only with the support of those that backed him at the Convention, but several others as well.3 With the party bitterly split, Roosevelt did more campaigning himself than any of the other candidates, stopping in thirty-eight states. The exhaustion of all of the campaigning, and some bouts of sickness, had caused some previous speeches to be cancelled, or postponed, but, Roosevelt, determined to not cancel any more, arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 14, 1912, stopping first to have dinner at the Gilpatrick Hotel, before his speech. After dinner, on the way to his car, he met the assassin’s bullet.4

A Photo of the Shirt Roosevelt was wearing during the Attempt | Courtesy of Harlingue/Roger Viollet/Getty Images

Immediately after the shot, Roosevelt quickly regained his footing and called the crowd off of the man. Many in the crowd even called for the man to be killed on the spot, but Roosevelt insisted he not be hurt.5 Roosevelt then attempted to determine why the assassin had fired at him, but to no avail;  though, later, it was found that a note in his pocket offered a reason of sorts: John Flammang Schrank, the would-be assassin and unemployed saloon keeper, who adamantly opposed the idea of three-term presidents, had a dream in which McKinley rose out of a coffin, pointed to a painting of Roosevelt, and asked him, Schrank, to avenge his death. Once Schrank was whisked away, everyone was sure that Roosevelt would immediately head to the hospital. But, being not only a skilled hunter, but anatomist as well, Roosevelt knew that since he was not coughing up blood, his lungs had not been hit. So he decided to head on to the auditorium to deliver his speech, to the protest of most everyone.6 Upon his arrival, he did allow a few doctors to assess the wound, but they saw that his fifty-page manuscript, which had been folded in half, and his lead-lined glasses case, had slowed the entry of the bullet into his chest; and so his speech would go on.7

Photo of Roosevelt’s Speech with Bullet Holes | Courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt Collection

With a clean handkerchief pressed against the hole in his chest, Roosevelt took the stage. The first words of his speech were ones that no one in the audience fully expected: “Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot.” Shock traveled through the audience, with many even calling out that his story was fake. Opening the breast of his jacket, exposing his blood-soaked shirt, he continued, “It takes more than that to kill a bull moose.”8

The Lead Line Eyeglass Case that was in Roosevelt’s Pocket with Bullet Hole | Courtesy of History.com

Roosevelt then went on to deliver an most ninety-minute campaign speech titled “Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual,” that outlined his idea of “New Nationalism,” which was based on the beliefs of the safety and welfare of workers coming first before profits, the protection of property rights, and, what Roosevelt believed to be the most important, the welfare and protection of all people, no matter their class. His belief in the cause was so strong, that he even mentioned it as one of the reasons that he was still giving the speech:

“And now, friends, I want to take advantage of this incident and say a word of solemn warning to my fellow countrymen. First of all, I want to say this about myself: I have altogether too important things to think of to feel any concern over my own death; and now I can not speak to you insincerely within five minutes of being shot. I am telling you the literal truth when I say that my concern is for many other things…I am in this cause with my whole heart and soul. I believe that the Progressive movement is for making life a little easier for all our people…I am absorbed in the success of that movement.”9

He only stopped once, roughly thirty minutes in, when he was interrupted by his campaign manger who attempted to convince him to go to the hospital, but Roosevelt waved him off. Only when the speech had been given in its entirety did he finally agree to go to the hospital. There, it was revealed that the bullet had lodged itself in one of his ribs and that it did not have a chance of shifting into his lungs, leading the doctors to determine that it would be safer to leave it where it was. After one week of recovery, Roosevelt was back on the campaign trail, with just over two weeks left until the election. Unfortunately, the bitter divide in the Republican Party cost not only Taft the election, but himself as well. Had one or the other run without opposition from the other, the Republican Party may have prevailed. While Taft and Roosevelt received over fifty percent of the popular vote when combined, the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, carried forty states and won in the electoral college in a landslide, 435 to 96, combined, which may in part be due to the fact that Roosevelt was running as a third party candidate. Even though Roosevelt did not win, he had come in second place, ahead of Taft. This was the first, and only, time in American history that a third party has done as well as Roosevelt did in this election, which demonstrated just how dominate he was on the political stage. Furthermore, his larger than life personality is displayed when later asked about how he remained calm enough to deliver his speech after having been shot, let alone one of its length, Roosevelt simply stated that he had been expecting it for a while, so he wasn’t surprised, and, “In the very unlikely event of the wound being mortal I wished to die with my boots on.”10

  1. Robert Walsdorff, “Death-defying speech, (cover story),” Cobblestone 14, no. 3 (1993): 40. ↵
  2. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia Research Starters, 2013, s.v. “Theodore Roosevelt,” by William I. Hair. ↵
  3. “Progressive (Bull Moose) Party (1912),” in Guide to U.S. Elections, 6th ed, Washington, D.C., United States: CQ Press, 2010. CQ Press Voting & Elections Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed February 22, 2018). ↵
  4. Patricia O’Toole, “Assassination foiled: 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt was saved from a bullet by 50 pieces of paper,” Smithsonian, 2012, 64. ↵
  5. Christopher Klein, “When Teddy Roosevelt Was Shot in 1912, a Speech May Have Saved His Life,” History.com, October 12, 2012, (Accessed February 22, http://www.history.com/news/shot-in-the-chest-100-years-ago-teddy-roosevelt-kept-on-talking. ↵
  6. Patricia O’Toole, “Assassination foiled: 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt was saved from a bullet by 50 pieces of paper,” Smithsonian, 2012, 64. ↵
  7. Patricia O’Toole, “The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelts Life,” Smithsonian.com. November 01, 2012, (Accessed February 22), https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-speech-that-saved-teddy-roosevelts-life-83479091/. ↵
  8. Christopher Klein, “When Teddy Roosevelt Was Shot in 1912, a Speech May Have Saved His Life,” History.com, October 12, 2012, (Accessed February 22, http://www.history.com/news/shot-in-the-chest-100-years-ago-teddy-roosevelt-kept-on-talking. ↵
  9. Henry Blodget, “Heres The Famous Populist Speech Teddy Roosevelt Gave Right After Getting Shot,” Business Insider, October 14, 2011, (Accessed February 28, 2018), http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-famous-populist-speech-teddy-roosevelt-gave-right-after-getting-shot-2011-10. ↵
  10. Patricia O’Toole, 2012, “Assassination foiled: 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt was saved from a bullet by 50 pieces of paper,” Smithsonian, (2012): 64. ↵

Tags from the story

  • Assassination attempt on Teddy Roosevelt, Bull Moose Party, Theodore Roosevelt

Share this post

Share on facebook
Share on google
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest
Share on print
Share on email
Natalie Thamm

Natalie Thamm

Author Portfolio Page

Colonialism: Dead or Rebranded? Re-Emerging Patterns of Destruction in the DRC

At every level, the conflict within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains very complex.

Read More »

“Doctor Miracle”: Denis Mukwege, Healing Women, Children, and Communities

In what has been called the “rape capital of the world” by a top UN

Read More »

Murder or “Justifiable Homicide”?: The Death of the Revolutionary Fred Hampton

Winner of the Spring 2019 StMU History Media Award for Best Use of Images On

Read More »

Kwibuka: Remembering the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide in 1994 unleashed 100 days of absolute terror. Between April 6th and

Read More »

Snow White: From Grimm Origins to Happily Ever After

Winner of the Spring 2018 StMU History Media Award for Best Storyteller Best Overall Research

Read More »

A Tale of Two Harlots: The Unlikely Dream and a Stark Reality in Georgian England

When the Georgian Era comes to mind, the idea of it being rife with sex

Read More »

From False Jobs to False Hope: The Evolution of Nigerian Pimps

Traditionally, when one imagines how someone ends up in slavery of any kind, one sees

Read More »

This Post Has 50 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Marlene Lozano 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    Teddy Roosevelt was admired and still is respected by many people including me. I did not know that he had been shot during one of his speeches and then not only called the crowd off on the would-be assassin but then continued to finish his speech at the event. Overall the author wrote an excellent Article that did Roosevelt justice.

  2. Avatar
    Caroline Bush 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    Great article! I really had no idea that President Roosevelt had been shot while delivering his speech campaigning for another term. This article did a great job explaining just how Roosevelt got shot and the speech leading up to that. I honestly did not know that it was Roosevelt’s Fifty paged manuscript and glasses case that saved his life. Overall this was a very interesting article that I really enjoyed reading, I also enjoyed the amount of details included in this article and how they didn’t make the article drag at all.

  3. Avatar
    Maria Mancha 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    President Roosevelt the youngest man in office who served 3 terms and survived a bullet, the man can’t be stopped. The intro to this article was very strong, it made me feel as if I was in the presence. His different views from the Republican. I think what was really interesting was John Flammang Schrank had a dream of Mckinely pointing a finger at Roosevelt and telling him to avenge his death. Also he used himself getting shot to make a speech, and I really enjoyed how you included a part of it in the article. Overall I learned a lot from this article and it was extremely interesting to read.

  4. Avatar
    Kailan Pena 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    I had heard of President Roosevelt and his term in office but never knew that he ran for another term as a progressive party and was also a third candidate. He recieved the second highest votes a well as the peoples popular vote. He may not have won but in my book he stays winning because he is the one who set the foundation for the progressive party.

  5. Avatar
    Johnanthony Hernandez 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    Great article, Teddy Roosevelt has been one of my favorite Presidents. I remember being in high school and telling this one girl to shut up when we got to Roosevelt in our history class. I know I wouldn’t be up to giving a speech after being shot and my life only being saved by a pair of glasses and a fifty-page manuscript. But I do remember my teacher saying, “if you think your tough, get shot in the chest and give a speech that same day.”

  6. Avatar
    Regina De La Parra 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    This article was very interesting to read and truly informative. I did not know how President Roosevelt became president and now I have even learned that he didn’t even win the popular vote! I love learning about politics and how these events that we today take for granted came to be, changing everything. This article is filled with lots of good research and insightful information. Great job, Natalie!

  7. Avatar
    Tyler Sleeter 24 Apr 2018 Reply

    Great article with lots of information. Teddy Roosevelt is one of those people that I am always learning new things about. It seems like he did it all while he was alive. I did not know that Roosevelt had been shot and survived because of his glasses and a 50 page manuscript. It is interesting to me that Roosevelt did not let that stop him from giving a speech; such a show of bravado. Roosevelt seems to be one of those characters that comes out of tall tale, like Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill. Only Roosevelt was a real person that actually did so many of the things attributed to him.

  8. Avatar
    Timothy ODekirk 23 Apr 2018 Reply

    Theodore Roosevelt is an inspiration to America even to this very day. He was a highly respected individual. He put the move on the progressive party and demanded change for the United States during the time. The presidency and campaign of Theodore Roosevelt was quite interesting since this was during the time that changes needed to be made for the United States on several issues. Teddy Roosevelt is one of the most famous presidents in the history of the United States and will forever be a known figure to the country to this day.

  9. Avatar
    Maria Esquivel 22 Apr 2018 Reply

    Before reading this, I knew Teddy Roosevelt created the ‘Bull Moose’ party, however, I did not know that Roosevelt’s fifty-page manuscript and glasses case saved his life. Although, Roosevelt lost the presidential election, it’s nice to read how good he did as a third-party candidate. This was an incredible article on President Roosevelt, and the images provided were very interesting as well. Great Job, Natalie and congratulations on all your nominations!

  10. Avatar
    Miguel Camarillo-Cohen 25 Mar 2018 Reply

    The article was very interesting. I had no idea that President Roosevelt, while campaigning for another term promoting the Progressive Party agenda as third-party candidate, was not only shot delivered his speech. This article bought to memory how President Clinton, and, US Senator Jones won their elections. They won because third-party candidates give them the victory. While Roosevelt did not win the presidential election, he did receive the second highest votes, popular vote. Wilson won the election. Taft lost. Roosevelt set the Progressive Party’s platform. I enjoyed the pictures as well, nice touch.

Comments navigation

Previous commentPrevious
NextNext comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

StMU History Media

A Student Organization of St. Mary's University of San Antonio Texas

Sponsors

  • College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, St. Mary's University
  • Department of History, St. Mary's University
  • Department of Political Science, St. Mary's University
  • Center for Catholic Studies, St. Mary's University

Support Services

  • The Learning Assistance Center, St. Mary's University
  • Louis J. Blume Library Services, St. Mary's University
  • STRIVE Career Center, St. Mary's University
  • Academic Technology Services, St. Mary's University

About

  • About Us
  • Our Authors
  • Our Archive
  • Contacts

© All rights reserved

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest