Theodore Roosevelt

He first tied the nuptial knot with Alice Hathway Lee of Massachusetts in 1880. They were blessed with a daughter.

The tragic death of his wife on February 14, 1884 led him to remarry in 1886 to childhood friend, Edith Kermit Carow. The couple was blessed with five children.

Since a young age, he was advised to take up a desk job due to his weak heart and poor health conditions. However, he refuted the advice and remained active till the end of his life.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr was born to Theodore "Thee" Roosevelt Sr. and Martha "Mittie" Bulloch in New York City. He was the second of the four children born to the couple.

Nicknamed Teedie, much of his early years were inflicted with illnesses and bouts of asthma attack. However, he was hyperactive as a child and did not let his illness dominate. He trained himself at boxing to enhance physical strength.

He developed a lifelong fantasy for zoology when he was seven. After being homeschooled, he enrolled at the Harvard College in 1876 from where he graduated with a magna cum laude in 1880.

He took admission at Columbia Law School but did not show much interest in legal career. As such, when he was offered a chance to run for New York Assembly, he immediately agreed, dropping out of college in 1881.

He remained a member of the New York State Assembly for three consecutive years, from 1882 to 1884 and was the youngest ever to serve the position. He served various public service positions including captain of the National Guard and minority leader of the New York Assembly.

The tragic death of his mother and wife in 1884 led him to move over to the Dakota Territory. After a brief period of hiatus, during which time he worked as a cowboy and cattle rancher, he returned to politics in 1886.

In 1886, he ran for the New York Mayorship elections as a Republican candidate but lost the same to the Democratic candidate Hewitt.

Unaffected by the loss, he continued to pursue a career in public service. In 1888, he was appointed to the United States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895.

He became president of the board of New York City Police Commissioners in 1895 and during his two-year stint radically reformed the police department, which was considered as one of the most corrupt in America.

In 1906, he became the proud recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to bring an end to the Russian-Japanese War. He is one of the only three sitting American presidents to have won the prestigious award.

In 2001, he was posthumously conferred with the Congressional Medal of Honor. Till date, he is the only president to be honoured with the America’s highest military honor.