Crowds flocked to see Teddy Roosevelt on a whistle-stop tour in 1914

Yahoo

19-04-2025

Former President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt did a whistle-stop tour of Schuylkill County towns in October 1914.
After arriving in Tamaqua on October 26, he journeyed to Pottsville, where he spoke at the Hippodrome Theater.
After that, he made brief stops in Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Ashland, Mount Carmel and on to a speaking engagement in Williamsport.
He was not running for president, but campaigning for John Robert Jones, a Schuylkill County Republican running for a second term in the House of Representatives.
Initially serving as vice president, Roosevelt became president after William McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. He was elected president in 1904 and served until 1909.
A Republican, he split with the party and ran unsuccessfully for president as the Progressive Party candidate in 1912.
As much a folk icon as a politician, Col. Roosevelt was accorded hero status for leading the Rough Riders in the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
His foreign policy, often referred to as 'speak softly and carry a big stick,' was popular with the American public.
Referred to as Colonel post-presidency, he was given what the Pottsville Republican called a 'royal welcome' when he arrived at the Reading Railroad Station in Pottsville.
'Here comes the Colonel,' the crowd shouted as the train bearing a huge banner arrived just before 1 p.m.
He shook hands with people in the crowd and, when he tipped his hat, a huge cheer erupted.
With Col. Daniel Nagle, a Civil War veteran, Teddy rode to the Hippodrome in an open car as thousands lined the streets.
An immense crowd cheered him as he arrived at the Hippodrome Theater, which was on East Market Street.
'I have come to your state to speak for decency and honesty in public life,' he said. 'I am glad to come here and speak for Mr. Jones, who led the fight for decency and righteousness in the last session of the legislature.'
Jones supported the Corrupt Practices Act, which would have made public the names of donors to political campaigns. It was not adopted.
Roosevelt also asked for support of Gifford Pinchot, a conservationist who was the Progressive Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 1914. Pinchot, who accompanied Roosevelt on his tour, would later become governor of Pennsylvania.
The Pottsville Republican pulled no punches in its opposition to Roosevelt's progressive philosophy.
While acknowledging he was in 'a hot bed of admiration,' the Republican said Roosevelt was in a community that was in no way sympathetic to his current political interests.
'If Theodore Roosevelt were himself a candidate for office on the Republican ticket, he could go from the county with an almost unanimous vote,' the Republican reported in an editorial. 'But he is wrong in this particular campaign, and in his heart he must know that he is wrong, unless he has been firmly converted to the cause of Democracy.'
A Pottsville reception committee met Roosevelt in Tamaqua. Its members included Dr. Francis Boyer, chairman, Nathan S. Beddall, S. S. Weiss and E. G. Underwood.
Upon arriving in Tamaqua, 10-year-old Thelma Reiner presented the former president with a bouquet of American Beauty roses. The girl and her family rode on the special train with Roosevelt to Pottsville.
Roosevelt waved to his hat at a Tamaqua crowd that was curb-to-curb on Broad Street.
'It was his hat, a large round-brimmed black hat with several dinges in the crown that challenges your attention when your eyes wander from the good natured face of the former president,' a reporter wrote. 'He gives you the impression of a powerful and wonderful quickness and alertness, seemingly conscious of what is doing on all sides of him,' the reporter continued. 'You are impressed that he is a leader and a fighter, his huge shoulders well thrown back, and his feet planted firmly apart.'
Roosevelt was 60 years old when he died in his home on Oyster Bay, New York, on Jan. 6, 1919.