Read America's Greatest 20th Century Presidents for Free Online

for a monetary system that could inject liquidity into a panicked market without needing private corporations to do so.  He thus created the National Monetary Council in May of 1908 to look into creating a Federal Reserve.  The Federal Reserve System was finally created in 1913, four years after Roosevelt left office.
     

     
    President Taft
     

Chapter 5: The Bull Moose
     
    Going on Safari
     
    Although Roosevelt had only been elected president once, he had served nearly 8 years and followed precedent by not running for reelection in 1908. Instead, Teddy left the White House for William Howard Taft.  President Taft had won Roosevelt's personal support in 1908, and the former president was happy to vacate the White House to make room for Taft.  This political alliance, however, would break in a big way in 1912.
     
    For the time, though, Roosevelt focused on his first love: nature and hunting.  Instead of simply hunting in the Adirondacks, as he often had, Roosevelt decided to embark on a trip to Africa.  In 1909, immediately after leaving the White House, Roosevelt headed for modern-day Kenya.  His hunting expedition, however, would take him through a great bulk of Africa, as he ventured into the central Congo and up through modern Sudan.  Always the preservationist, Roosevelt collected specimens to bring back to the United States for preservation in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  In the end, this included nearly 12,000 animals and insects, including over 500 big game mammals.  Hunting elephants, rhinos and hippos pleased Roosevelt more than any of the political squabbles he encountered in politics.
     

     
    Roosevelt hunting elephants on safari
     
    As President, Roosevelt had become a life-long member of the National Rifle Association.  Hunting was truly his passion, and he authored many books on the subjects before and after his Presidency, such as Through the Brazilian Wilderness , an account of his zoological trek through Brazil
     
    The Election of 1912
     
    In 1908, Roosevelt toyed with the idea of running for a third term.  He knew he could easily win reelection, but he had pledged not to seek more time as President when he ran in 1904.  He thus opted out and handpicked Howard Taft as his successor, believing him to be a committed progressive.
     
    After his safari adventure, however, Roosevelt toured Europe, where he learned more about happenings in American politics since his departure.  Many progressives contacted him expressing their concerns about the Taft Presidency.  Roosevelt thus opted to return to the United States to figure things out for himself.
     
    By late 1910, Roosevelt revised his opinion on Taft.  He wrote Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, saying “I finally had to admit that he [Taft] had gone wrong on certain points; and I then also had to admit to myself that deep down underneath I had all along known he was wrong.”  Thus, Roosevelt decided to unseat Taft and seek the Presidency himself.  Understanding the gravity of his decision, Roosevelt titled this chapter of his autobiography “Armageddon and Afterward.”
     
    Roosevelt initially hesitated, however.  He opted into the Republican nominating process late in 1911.  Regardless, Roosevelt was able to win nine of the thirteen Presidential Primaries, and it was one of the first elections to use the process to nominate a candidate.  The remaining states, however, continued to allow Republican politicians to decide the fate of their delegates.  As such, Taft now controlled the party's power brokers and was able to narrowly secure the nomination over Roosevelt at the national convention.  Befriending politicians had never been Roosevelt's strong suit.
     
    Roosevelt thus encountered a problem, one that had always plagued his political life: he was broadly popular with the public but was disdained by his fellow politicians, a dilemma that had brought him to the Vice Presidency in the first place. But the former