From Tragedy to Triumph... Twice!!

“I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Teddy Roosevelt suffered a broken heart on February 14, 1884. No, not because someone had refused his Valentine’s Day card or a bouquet of flowers he had sent, but rather because his young wife and his mother had both died on the same day.

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, Teddy’s young bride, succumbed to Bright’s disease (a kidney ailment) just two days after giving birth to their first child, a daughter named Alice. A few hours earlier, in the same house, his mother – Martha “Mittie” Bulloch Roosevelt – lost her battle with typhoid fever.

The grief-stricken future president placed a large X over the date in his diary and wrote the following words: “The light has gone out of my life.” By the end of the year, Roosevelt had left his position in the New York state legislature and headed west to the Dakota territories, seeking solace as a rancher and a sheriff for two years while his sister Bamie raised his infant daughter.

When a blizzard wiped out his prized herd of cattle in 1885, Roosevelt returned to New York City and resumed both his political career and his parental responsibilities. In 1895, he was named police commissioner of NYC, and two years later, President William McKinley appointed Roosevelt to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt resigned the post in 1898 to form the Rough Riders and fight in the Spanish-American War.

His famous charge up San Juan Hill made Roosevelt a national hero and helped him win the race for governor of New York later that year. When McKinley ran for re-election in 1900, he chose Teddy to be his running mate. Just six months after being sworn in as vice-president, Roosevelt was elevated to the presidency when McKinley was assassinated.

I share the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s tragedies and triumphs to show that he had a soft heart but not a soft head. Yes, his heart was broken by the dual deaths of February 14, 1884, but he managed to recover from them because of his strong mind and character.

I have no idea whether Teddy Roosevelt was a Christian, but as believers we have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to help us deal with the storms of life. As Horatio Spafford wrote in “It Is Well with My Soul”…

When peace like a river, attends my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, You have taught me to know
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And has shed His own blood for my soul.

In case you don’t know the back story to that great hymn, Spafford was a very wealthy lawyer who lost his fortune in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the recession of 1873. Later that year, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England where they were to assist with D.L. Moody’s upcoming evangelistic crusade.

Before Spafford could join them, their ship went down in a storm and all four of his daughters perished. Weeks later, as Spafford’s ship passed over that same spot, he penned his immortal hymn of steadfast faith amidst incalculable grief.

My friend, if Teddy Roosevelt and Horatio Spafford can recover from tragedies like those, we can too. Not in our own power and resources, but in God’s.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.” Psalm 46:1 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President