When They Ask Me - Why Teddy Roosevelt??

On October 14, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when the patron of a local saloon shot him in the chest (apparently Wisconsin was a battleground state in 1912, too). Although the bullet was lodged firmly in his chest, the president did not cough up blood, so he decided that the wound was not a pressing issue. He proceeded to deliver his 90-minute speech, at one point saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”

Now if that isn’t the most boss thing a president has ever done, I don’t know what is. After reading this, I did a little searching and discovered some early indications that Roosevelt would grow up to be the one and only Bull Moose. Photos from as early as 17 years of age show Roosevelt sporting some of the most manly sideburns in our nation’s history.