The Self-Made Man

He was a sickly child. But through sheer will, muscular effort--and a lot of time in the great outdoors--he became a powerful, passionate adult

The young Theodore Roosevelt did not strike most people as promising enough to become one of the nation's greatest Presidents. His august Knickerbocker family had grown rich from generations of shrewd investments in real estate, banking, glass importing and even hardware. But in his youth--and for that matter in his adulthood--T.R. showed very little interest in adding to the family fortune. When Roosevelt was a toddler, his asthma began to overshadow everything he did. As he grew, Theodore was too "delicate" for school--until Harvard he was educated at home--and too weak to stand up to other boys. On doctor's orders his father...

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