Now It's History

What Theodore Roosevelt learned in the Badlands

When the New York Times published its annual list [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/travel/places-to-travel-destinations-2026.html] of “52 Places to Go” in 2026, traditional travel destinations like Los Angeles, Bangkok, Memphis, Big Sur and Iceland were included. But so was Medora, North Dakota — in the heart of the state’s Badlands. That is where — on July 4, 2026, more than 107 years since Theodore Roosevelt died —the nation’s 26th president will finally be honored with a presidential library [https://www.trlibrary.com]. It will also be the day the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary. In my podcast with TR Library CEO Edward O’Keefe, we explore why the library is sited in North Dakota and how the Badlands helped shape TR’s character and career. Ed is also the author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created A President [https://www.amazon.com/Loves-Theodore-Roosevelt-Created-President/dp/B0CLHHCVS1/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=189438416314&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.U427spP3KhSmcFv_IRUWxzwr0cls4-uDAGdhQLH2ywhBgqoQmmqnQ97Rz1R83p4ohDfQm9Svsn4jo1HmFG-p2HIivR6FAdO9mbptrvPC7Gs2KnhvC04-izpnn9jX5JG7tyjKq1qlhRTkw3qdRYl0OPqSreZJNFq384jYX2BrqhJKpVFEeZrfUG700FXgbfnhHTgZsvAXA11PuG-MNLXuMma7OavyXV3jSwV2fUi6FLo.0NA3q86aJdG6CIEAwhsH_M1QI00a09_GSaf-MXcDRLQ&dib_tag=se&hvadid=792860483026&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9004509&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=7869284724882417496--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7869284724882417496&hvtargid=kwd-2265650576520&hydadcr=2223_13831042_2447921&keywords=the+loves+of+theodore+roosevelt&mcid=28d35290bf0532e2908f7549964229e5&qid=1774380326&sr=8-1]. [https://www.amazon.com/Loves-Theodore-Roosevelt-Created-President/dp/B0CLHHCVS1/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=189438416314&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.U427spP3KhSmcFv_IRUWxzwr0cls4-uDAGdhQLH2ywhBgqoQmmqnQ97Rz1R83p4ohDfQm9Svsn4jo1HmFG-p2HIivR6FAdO9mbptrvPC7Gs2KnhvC04-izpnn9jX5JG7tyjKq1qlhRTkw3qdRYl0OPqSreZJNFq384jYX2BrqhJKpVFEeZrfUG700FXgbfnhHTgZsvAXA11PuG-MNLXuMma7OavyXV3jSwV2fUi6FLo.0NA3q86aJdG6CIEAwhsH_M1QI00a09_GSaf-MXcDRLQ&dib_tag=se&hvadid=792860483026&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9004509&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=7869284724882417496--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7869284724882417496&hvtargid=kwd-2265650576520&hydadcr=2223_13831042_2447921&keywords=the+loves+of+theodore+roosevelt&mcid=28d35290bf0532e2908f7549964229e5&qid=1774380326&sr=8-1]He talks in this conversation about the profound influence several women had on Roosevelt, including his mother, two wives, two sisters and his irrepressible daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth. More than most of the presidents of the early 20th century, Roosevelt feels relevant to our time. He presided over the country in an era of extreme inequality in wealth, when immigration stirred controversy and when a muscular foreign policy and the Monroe Doctrine were in the news. As Doris Kearns Goodwin has written, TR took hold of the “bully pulpit” [https://www.nowitshistory.com/p/what-lincoln-would-tell-trump] of the presidency, building a strong relationship with journalists that helped him shape the messages he shared with the nation. No longer was the president a distant, dignified figure far away from the lives of most Americans. He now would become a flesh-and-blood personal leader who played a prominent role in the everyday lives of most people and whose idiosyncrasies would become the topic of talk around the dinner tables of families from coast to coast. One of the unforgettable scenes in Ed’s book recounts TR’s first bison hunt in the Badlands, in September, 1883. After days of looking, he and a hunting partner came across the “great beasts.” Roosevelt aimed for the largest animal’s shoulder but instead hit its ribs, and it galloped away. His partner managed to intercept the buffalo. TR fired again and missed. “As I urged the horse still closer — for it was very dark — the bull turned... and charged me,” Roosevelt wrote. “The lunge of the formidable looking brute frightened my pony, and as he went off he threw up his head and knocked the heavy rifle I was carrying against my head with such force that it gave me a pretty severe cut on the crown, from which the blood poured over my face and into my eyes so that it blinded me for the moment.” Then the “infernal beast escaped after all.” As with other reverses in his life, Roosevelt didn’t let this defeat deter him. He kept hunting and returned to New York with the head of a bison and other mounted creatures he would install in Sagamore Hill, his summer home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. On February 14 of 1884, TR suffered the unimaginable loss of his wife Alice and his mother on the same day in the same house in New York City. To cope with his grief, he journeyed later that year to the Badlands, where the epic scale and beauty of the landscape soothed Roosevelt’s mind. So did the women around him, including his childhood friend, second wife and future First Lady, Edith Kermit Carow. Ed O’Keefe, who was born in North Dakota, explains in our conversation how this mix of influences helped mold one of America’s most distinctive presidents. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe [https://www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

When presidents become monarchs

Through his books and podcasts, constitutional law professor Corey Brettschneider [https://substack.com/profile/20138685-corey-brettschneider] has been a keen observer of how presidents can overturn constitutional safeguards — and how citizens can work together to restore them. I asked Corey where we are on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a normal U.S. government, 5 representing a constitutional crisis and 10 being the end of democracy. His answer: we’re between a 7 and an 8 — in grave danger of losing our 250-year-old democratic form of government. I hope you will listen to our conversation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe [https://www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Albert Einstein made history — and then went sailing

Sailing a small boat confidently takes knowledge of how tides and currents, winds and waves can shape your course. So who would have been better than Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of the 20th century, at piloting a small boat — his 17-foot craft, the Tinef (Yiddish, for junk) — in the waters around Long Island Sound? It turns out that the creator of the Theory of Relativity wasn’t a very good sailor, and had to be rescued numerous times, as Steve Israel writes in his compelling new spy thriller, The Einstein Conspiracy. [https://theodoresbooks.com/search?q=einstein%20conspiracy] In August, 1935, the New York Times ran a front-page story headlined: “Relative Tide and Sand Bars Trap Einstein; He Runs His Sailboat Aground at Old Lyme.” Einstein’s sailing problem is far from the only part of Steve Israel’s new book that is based in fact. There really were plots by the Nazis to kill Einstein; there was a substantial pro-Nazi movement in 1930s America, including Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, where one street was named after Adolph Hitler. Crucially, Einstein not only sailed in the waters around Nassau Point on Long Island’s north fork. It was there that he wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning that the Nazis were working on the physics involved in creating a uniquely powerful bomb. That gave FDR the impetus to launch the Manhattan Project that developed atomic weapons. As Steve notes on the back cover of the book, he is the only member of Congress to retire to open an independent bookstore, Theodore’s, in Oyster Bay, Long Island. In my conversation with Steve, he explains how running a bookstore influenced the writing of his new book. I hope you enjoy the conversation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe [https://www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Democracy and the Dems

On so many levels, U.S. democracy is being tested and so is the party named for it. The Democrats are facing tough choices on how to respond to the second Trump presidency, around the upcoming prospect of a government shutdown as well as next year’s midterm elections. It was a great pleasure to chat today with one of the most insightful scholars of democracy and my colleague at New America, Lee Drutman [https://substack.com/profile/603707-lee-drutman]. Lee is the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America [https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Two-Party-Doom-Loop-Multiparty/dp/0190913851]. His previous book, The Business of America is Lobbying won the 2016 American Political Science Association's Robert A. Dahl Award, given for "scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy." He writes Undercurrent Events [https://leedrutman.substack.com/] on Substack. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Now It's History is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe [https://www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Is there a Nobel Prize in Trump's future?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nowitshistory.com [https://www.nowitshistory.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] From the Alaska summit to the White House visit of European leaders, the extraordinary events of the last week have been a “masterclass in manipulation,” according to Frida Ghitis. The object: to persuade President Donald Trump to back one side or the other in Russia’s war against Ukraine. We hope you’ll listen to this podcast conversation between Richar…