b'Roosevelt continued from page 45minutes the cowboys spurred their horses after it, whoopingthat it can be argued that if it were he in the White House and shouting. They were dim specks on the horizon asin 1919 instead of the Wilson he was so contemptuous of, Roosevelt, his arms clasped over the brake handle andthe dire impact of the influenza on our people might have his chin on his wrist continued to sit on the observationbeen a much shorter one, with much less dead. He certainly platform and watch the steel rails recede towards the infinitywould have marshaled all of our great resources, asked for where parallel lines meet. An hour later, a member of thethe advice and the assistance of the prominent folks at the vice-presidential party looked for him and found the doortime, would have directly appealed to the people of this blocked by a colored Pullman porter. country, would have counted on our spirit. He was a man of action and deeds as well as words."The Governor don\'t want to see nobody for a while," he said apologetically. Later the train stopped again, thisSO, WHAT WOULD THEODORE ROOSEVELT time at Medora. Roosevelt mounted a horse and rode byDO? WELL, I THINK WE WOULD KNOW WHAT himself into the broken contours of the Bad Lands" (Pringle,THEODORE ROOSEVELT WOULD HAVE DONE!Theodore Roosevelt, pp. 73-74; Di Silvestro, Theodore11 THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST CAPTURED ROOSEVELT\'S Roosevelt in the Badlands, pp 255-256).HEART & SOUL, HE TRULY LIVED THE "STRENUOUS Theodore Roosevelt made one last trip to the Badlands,LIFE" IN THE OLD WEST; THE EXPERIENCES SHAPED stopping in Billings, Montana on October 6, 1918, to make aHIS LIFE, HIS CHOICES, HIS ACTIONS, AND THUS REMAINED SO speech on behalf of Republican senatorial and congressionalUNTIL THE END OF HIS LIFE.candidates. A few old friends were able to see and meet with him this last time, for Roosevelt was by then a shatteredRoosevelt had met Pat Garrett at a dinner in12 ROOSEVELT WOULD HAVE COME THROUGH FOR man. He had reached 60, the age that he had told Joe FerrisAMERICA AS WELL AS FOR HIMSELF IN ALMOST ANY 35 years earlier that he had hoped to reach hale, hearty and able to accomplish all of the adventures he had wanted toSan Antonio (he had joined the Texas RangersCRISIS - BY HIS ACTIONS, HIS HISTORY, WE KNOW do, and "be prepared for anything after that" (Di Silvestro,sometimes after shooting down Billy the Kid) andWHAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE.Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands, p.51). And now he was in visibly ill health, the result of a disastrous trip down thethe two men became fast friends. It was Roosevelt\'s western experiences - in 11 months "River of Doubt" in the Amazon, various other ailments,over four years, from 1883-1887, that shaped and molded and the emotional impact of the death of his youngest sonmade man, an American legend, and a president, whomhis character, an experience that was indeed a pathway to Quentin, just three months earlier, shot down and killedif he were alive today would have taken this pandemicthe presidency of the United States, so for this writer, it is by the Germans in the World War I that was still wagingbull by the horns, fought it tenaciously and with the spiritperhaps fitting to let Theodore himself have the last words:in Europe. He had recently left the hospital to go on thisinbred in him. As he was so involved, so willing to roll arduous journey but was still able to have one last get- up his sleeves and take action, whether taking charge of"There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at together and reminisce with some old Badland friends. his health, whether being self-reliant but ever so willingfirst, ranging from Grizzly Bears to \'mean\' horses and to work with, listen to and cooperate with others, beinggunfighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually Then he returned home, to die from heart failure in hisunafraid to deal with whatever came his way, whether aceased to be afraid. Most men can have the same experience sleep just three months later, on January 6, 1919. mad marquis, rustlers, warring Japanese and Russians, orif they choose. If it had not been for my years in North greedy businessmen and corrupted politicians - and yes,Dakota, I never would have become President of the United It is a bit hard to write a conclusion to the story of a man,being willing and so eager to fight for his country, puttingStates" (Ward and Burns, The Roosevelts, An Intimate who while coming from wealth, was essentially a self- together by mainly his initiative that "Cowboy Regiment"History, p.35). Western Trading Post TVas seen on theCowboy ChannelMonthly Auctions,Check Website for Schedule46 August 2020'