TR Vs. Other Presidents

Mental Floss Presents: The Quest for the North Pole

Theodore Roosevelt revered Abraham Lincoln so much that, during his second inauguration, he wore a ring containing a lock of Lincoln’s hair. His feelings toward other presidents, however, were a little less warm and fuzzy. TR thought William Howard Taft was a “puzzlewit,” Woodrow Wilson was a “lily-livered skunk,” and Benjamin Harrison was a “cold-blooded, narrow-minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid old psalm-singing Indianapolis politician.” And these weren’t even necessarily his sworn enemies—in fact, he was sometimes campaigning for them. How did Roosevelt juggle this lack of faith in his contemporaries with the knowledge that he often needed them in order to effect change on a national level? Letting off steam through dazzlingly creative insults, for one thing. Find out more in this week’s episode.

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