"Bully!"

Due to a change in schedules, I am going to get to teach the class on the American Presidency. I am thrilled beyonds words. (The Latin will have to wait--but that's ok--I have the children to teach!). One of very favorite Chief Executives was the swashbuckling Teddy Roosevelt. Born on the eve of one war (1858) and at the close of another (1919), TR seized the "bully puppet" with the same enthusiasm he did in every other aspect of his life.

My favorite TR story has to do with his approach to college at Harvard. Apparently then (as now), it was actually fashionable to make c's or lower grades. To earn good marks was considered almost unacceptable --good grades reflected an unfashionable measure of hard work.
TR was appalled by this approach and openly chastised his peers for this approach. To this future President of the United States, hard work was everything, an integral part of his "strenuous life."