Doll, Theodore Roosevelt: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

In 1898, Theodore Roosevelt resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to accept command of the First U.S. Volunteer Calvary, more commonly known as the Rough Riders. Led by Colonel Roosevelt, the unit garnered more publicity than any other during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt’s war hero image helped him become governor of New York in 1899 and vice president under William McKinley less than two years later when they defeated the Democratic ticket of William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson. Just six months into his second term, McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became president. In 1904 he ran for a full term in his own right defeating Democrat Alton Parker. The Republicans capitalized on Roosevelt’s fame as a war hero and images of him as a soldier appeared on many artifacts in both his vice presidential and presidential campaigns. This cloth doll depicts Roosevelt in his Rough Rider uniform.

Materials, dates and provenance

• associated person: Roosevelt, Theodore
• Object Name: Doll
• Physical Description: textile (overall material)
• general subject association: Political Campaigns
• used: Political Campaigns
• ID Number: 2015.0200.040
• accession number: 2015.0200
• catalog number: 2015.0200.040
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.