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Theodore Roosevelt was an energetic and dynamic leader who gave the nation a
square deal. During his presidency to a position of internatio nal leadership.
The president saw himself as a man of the middle who would meditate the
struggle between capital and labor. He said that business must be protected
against itself and he tended to favor regulatory commissions that provided
nonpartisan supervisi on by experts of business practices. As president he
succeeded in getting additional authority over the railroads for the interstate
commerce commission. He was also instrumental in the passage of the meat
inspection act and the pure food and drug act. Ro attitude toward the poor and
towards the labor movement was that of an enlightened conservative. He
supported many labor demands such as shorter hours for women and children,
employers' liability laws and limitations on the use of injunctions against
workers in labor disputes.
Roosevelt intervened in the war betwwen Russia and Japan. He invited the
Russian and Japanese governments to send peace commissioners to America where a
peace treaty was sighned in 1905. The following year the president was awarded
the nobel peace prize.
People had wanted a canal connectiong the Atlantic and Pacific for hundreds
of years. A French company, which went bankrupt, had started the pro ject.
The company sold the panamanian rights to build the canal to the United States
government. Colombia, whose territory included Panama, didn't agree to the
terms offered by the Uninted States. Ro did not think much of he of Latin
Americans to begin with. He called he colombians "foolish and homicidal
corruptionits." The Roosevelt administration supported a revolt by the
Panamanians against Colombia. The new country of Panama signed a canal treaty
favorable to the United States in 1903. The Pana ma canal was completed August
15, 1914.
President Theodore Roosevelt died at Sagamore hill, his home at oyster bay,
New York, on January 6, 1919.