An Autobiography · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt.
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Theodore Roosevelt
major
Also known as Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Colonel Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Mr. Roosevelt, Dear Mr. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Sagamore Hill, one Theodore Roosevelt, young Theodore Roosevelt, Dear Col. Roosevelt, Dear Theodore
Roosevelt presents himself as a man who began as a nervous, asthmatic child and deliberately remade himself through boxing, ranch work, and public office. The book's central tension is between his restless ambition and the political machines, like Senator Platt's, that he must work with or against. His account of leading the charge up San Juan Hill and his fight to clean up New York's game wardens show a man who measures himself by action, not position.
Narrator (I)
major
Also known as Unknown, yourself, I—both, myself, your, I., mine
This first-person narrator speaks of his younger self with curious detachment, as though the sickly boy were an ancestor rather than the same person. That boy, bullied on a stagecoach ride to Moosehead Lake, resolved to learn boxing rather than accept helplessness. The narrator's habit of turning humiliation into resolve is the engine of the whole book, and it makes even his early failures feel like deliberate preparation.
Woodrow Wilson
supporting
Also known as Mr. Woodrow Wilson, Mr. Wilson, Wilson, President, President Wilson
Wilson enters the narrative as a rival whose inauguration Roosevelt had wished well, only to be accused of distorting what the Progressives actually said about monopoly and big business. Roosevelt challenges him to answer yes or no rather than take refuge in evasive rhetoric. The clash matters because it defines Roosevelt's own position: regulate corporations, abolish monopoly, and refuse to let a president misrepresent his opponents.
Senator Platt
supporting
Also known as Senator Platt, Meanwhile Senator Platt, Senator O. H. Platt, Platt, Mr. Platt
Platt controls the Republican organization through contributions distributed to districts where they are most needed, rarely demanding explicit pledges in return. Roosevelt describes this as a system of quiet obligation rather than open corruption, which makes it harder to fight. Their relationship tests whether an honest governor can use a machine without being used by it, and Platt's methods shape Roosevelt's education in practical politics.
Senator Quay
supporting
Also known as Senator Quay, Quay
Quay appears as part of the senatorial wall Roosevelt faces, a reminder that control of Congress often means stopping things rather than starting them. Roosevelt admits he could not push through the legislation he wanted in those four months, but he could keep his opponents from undoing what he had already won. The standoff shows the limits of executive energy against entrenched Senate power, and why Roosevelt valued allies like Lodge who understood both foreign policy and naval efficiency.
Mike Costello
supporting
Also known as Mike Costello, Mike, Costello
Costello is devoted to the organization that gave him his chance, and Roosevelt grows to like him and his cronies during his first winter in politics. Their friendship is tested when Roosevelt backs a nonpartisan method and the first real row in the organization breaks out. Costello matters because he shows that machine politics is made of loyal, likable men, not caricatures, which complicates Roosevelt's reforming instincts.
Leonard Wood
supporting
Also known as General Wood, Major-General Leonard Wood, Leonard Wood, Wood, Accordingly Wood, Colonel Wood, Leonard Wood Major-General
Wood is the professional soldier Roosevelt turns to when the volunteer cavalry must be forged from scratch, and the two men work in close harness through the Cuban campaign. Their partnership rests on mutual respect between a regular officer and an amateur who insists on sharing every hardship. Wood's steady competence gives the Rough Riders their spine, and his later rise keeps him a recurring figure in Roosevelt's public life.
Senator Hanna
supporting
Also known as Senator Hanna, The Senator
Hanna is the seasoned organization man, master of patronage and convention arithmetic, who views Roosevelt with a mixture of admiration and unease. Their relationship is one of practical alliance shot through with mutual suspicion, each needing the other while distrusting the other's instincts. His presence in the narrative marks the moment when Roosevelt must learn to work within, and sometimes against, the party machinery that made him.
Joe Murray
supporting
Also known as Joe Murray, Joe, Joseph Murray
Murray rises from barefoot immigrant boy to leader of a Tammany gang, then swings his followers to the Republicans out of sheer personal vengeance. He becomes Roosevelt's early political mentor, teaching by example the value of a man who keeps his word and never forgets a slight. Their friendship grounds Roosevelt's understanding that character, not party label, is the true currency of politics.
Mr. Grosvenor
supporting
Also known as Mr. Grosvenor
Grosvenor appears in the thick of the fights Roosevelt wages in the House, one of the men whose votes and arguments determine what survives the gauntlet of Congress. He represents the practical ally, neither saint nor obstructionist, whose support must be earned measure by measure. His presence reminds the reader that even a forceful president depends on the slow, contested labor of the legislature.
Congress
supporting
Also known as Congress
Congress is less a single actor than a shifting field of allies and opponents, from loyal friends like Lodge to wary adversaries across the aisle. Roosevelt's account dwells on the men who could be convinced by argument and those who could not, and on the difference between party loyalty and national interest. The institution embodies the friction between executive energy and legislative caution that defines his presidency.
Mr. Gorman
supporting
Also known as Mr. Gorman, Apparently Mr. Gorman
Gorman stands among the opposition, a skilled legislator whose priorities clash with Roosevelt's reform agenda. Their contests over tariffs and policy expose the gap between the president's progressive aims and the entrenched interests of the Senate. He matters as a foil, the kind of opponent whose resistance tests and tempers Roosevelt's resolve.
Hell Roaring Bill Jones
supporting
Also known as Hell Roaring Bill Jones, Bill Jones, Bill
Hell Roaring Bill Jones belongs to the reckless riders and ranch hands Roosevelt knew during his Little Missouri years, when the unfenced cattle country still belonged to longhorns and cowpunchers. His world of stampedes, quicksand river crossings, and blinding blizzards was already being broken up by homesteaders and roving sheep bands. He matters because he embodies the free, hardy West Roosevelt loved even as he accepted its passing as a national necessity.
William Jennings Bryan
supporting
Also known as Mr. Bryan, Bryan
Bryan stands as Roosevelt's great political rival, a man whose agrarian crusades and moral fervor defined the era's battles over money, empire, and the common man. Where Roosevelt prized vigorous national action and orderly reform, Bryan channeled the raw discontent of farmers and laborers against entrenched wealth. Their contest shapes the middle of the autobiography, framing Roosevelt's own emergence as a progressive force.
Admiral Dewey
minor
Also known as Dewey, Admiral Dewey
Naval hero of the Spanish-American War and later political figure.
Abraham Lincoln
minor
Also known as Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln
Historical president referenced as a model and touchstone.
George W. Perkins
supporting
Also known as Mr. George W. Perkins, Mr. Perkins, Perkins, George W. Perkins
Perkins moves between the counting-house and the campaign trail, a Morgan partner who became one of Roosevelt's trusted political allies. His presence embodies the uneasy alliance between big business and progressive reform, a tension Roosevelt never fully resolved. He matters because he shows how Roosevelt's coalition reached into boardrooms as well as tenements, unsettling friends and enemies alike.
Seth Bullock
minor
Also known as Seth Bullock, Seth
Sheriff and friend from Roosevelt's Dakota Territory days.
Jacob Riis
supporting
Also known as Jacob Riis, Jake Riis
Riis, a Danish immigrant turned reformer, brought Roosevelt face to face with the city's darkest corners and its most vulnerable inhabitants. Their partnership joined Riis's unflinching documentation of misery to Roosevelt's appetite for administrative action. He matters because he represents the era's conscience-driven journalism and the alliances that turned Roosevelt's police work into a broader crusade for social justice.
Sir Horace Plunkett
minor
Also known as Sir Horace Plunkett, Plunkett, Dear Sir
Irish agricultural reformer and correspondent with Roosevelt.
Henry Cabot Lodge
supporting
Also known as H. C. Lodge, Senator H. C. Lodge, Senator Lodge, Lodge
Lodge, a patrician scholar-politician, shared Roosevelt's faith in vigorous nationalism, naval power, and Anglo-Saxon destiny. Their bond blended personal warmth with strategic partnership, each reinforcing the other's ambitions in Washington. He matters because he gives Roosevelt a trusted ally and mirror, helping to shape the ideas and alliances that carried him from reformer to statesman.
John Hay
minor
Also known as John Hay
Secretary of State under Roosevelt and McKinley.
William Loeb Jr.
supporting
Also known as William Loeb , Jr., Loeb, Mr. Loeb
Loeb served at Roosevelt's side through the crowded years of governance, managing correspondence, schedules, and the endless demands of office. His loyalty and efficiency freed Roosevelt to act boldly in the arenas that mattered most. He matters because he embodies the unglamorous infrastructure of leadership, the trusted aide without whom Roosevelt's restless energy could not have been sustained.
James R. Garfield
minor
Also known as James Garfield, Jim, Garfield, Mr. Garfield, James R. Garfield, Mr. James R. Garfield
Secretary of the Interior under Roosevelt.
Gifford Pinchot
supporting
Also known as Gifford Pinchot, Pinchot
Pinchot was already head of the Forestry Bureau when Roosevelt became President, and he stayed through the whole term as the directing force in conservation work and a counselor on most internal affairs. Roosevelt credits him with leading, and for a vital stretch embodying, the fight to preserve the forests through use rather than lock them away. His fearlessness, tireless energy, and single-minded devotion make him the indispensable ally in the book's central argument that the nation's resources belong to all the people.
William McKinley
supporting
Also known as President McKinley, McKinley, President, Mr. McKinley
McKinley stands behind Roosevelt's account as the man whose assassination lifted him into the presidency, and as a label critics try to pin on him as a pale copy. Roosevelt rejects the comparison outright, saying he was concerned not with following or not following footsteps but with confronting the new problems that arose. The McKinley years also frame the party's drift into the hands of conservatives and reactionaries, the very forces Roosevelt spends his presidency pushing against.
Grover Cleveland
minor
Also known as Grover Cleveland, President Cleveland, President, Ex-President Cleveland, ex-President Cleveland
Former president and political opponent of Roosevelt.
Senator Cushman K. Davis
minor
Also known as Senator Cushman K. Davis, Senator Davis
Minnesota senator and chairman of Foreign Relations.
Maroquin
minor
Also known as J. M. Maroquin Vice President, Maroquin, President Maroquin
Colombian vice president during Panama Canal negotiations.
General Reyes
minor
Also known as General Reyes of Colombia, Colombia
Colombian general and diplomat in canal talks.
William Howard Taft
supporting
Also known as Mr. Taft
Taft enters the autobiography as the man Roosevelt handpicked to carry his legacy forward, a trusted lieutenant in the administration's work. The passages here are largely genealogical, tracing Roosevelt's own Dutch, Quaker, and Scotch-Irish roots rather than Taft's role, but his presence hovers over the later chapters as the heir whose divergence from Roosevelt's progressive course becomes one of the book's quiet tensions. He matters because the story of Roosevelt's public life cannot end without him.
Mrs. Roosevelt
minor
Also known as Mrs. Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt's wife, mentioned in domestic contexts.
Lieutenant A. L. Mills
minor
Also known as Lieutenants A. L. Mills, Mills
Officer in the Rough Riders regiment.
F. H. Newell
minor
Also known as Newell, F. H. Newell, Mr. F. H. Newell, Mr. Newell, Frederick Hayes Newell
Chief of the Reclamation Service under Roosevelt.
Richard Parr
minor
Also known as Richard Parr, Parr
Associate in New York police and political circles.
Yankee Sullivan
minor
Also known as Yankee Sullivan, The Yankee
Notorious boxer and figure in New York's underworld.
Mr. Quigg
minor
Also known as Mr. Quigg, Quigg
Political journalist and associate in New York politics.
General Shafter
minor
Also known as General Shafter
Commanding general in the Spanish-American War campaign.
King Calahan
minor
Also known as King” Calahan, Calahan
Cowboy and ranch hand in the Dakota Badlands.
Mr. Morton
minor
Also known as Mr. Morton
Political figure and governor of New York during Roosevelt's career.
Sampson
minor
Also known as Sampson, Brigadier-General Sam Young, General Young
Naval officer in the Spanish-American War.
Ben Butler
minor
Also known as Ben Butler, Ben
Civil War general and political figure referenced in context.
Billy the Kid
minor
Also known as Billy the Kid, Bill
Outlaw mentioned in relation to Western lawlessness.
Secretary Alger
minor
Also known as Secretary Alger of the War Department, Alger, Secretary Alger, General Alger, R. A. Alger
Secretary of War during the Spanish-American War.
Senator Fulton
minor
Also known as Senator Fulton, Fulton
Oregon senator involved in political negotiations.
Big Tim Sullivan
minor
Also known as Big Tim Sullivan, Big Tim
Tammany Hall politician and New York state senator.
Robert J. Wynne
minor
Also known as Robert J. Wynne
Postmaster General under Roosevelt.
Sylvane Ferris
minor
Also known as Sylvane, Sylvane Ferris, the rescued Sylvane
Cowboy and ranch manager in Dakota Territory.
Snyder
minor
Also known as Snyder
Cowboy and ranch hand in the Badlands.
Jack Greenway
minor
Also known as Jack Greenway, Greenway, Jack
Rough Rider and later mining engineer.
Charles J. Bonaparte
minor
Also known as Bonaparte, Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte Attorney-General, Hon., Charles J. Bonaparte, Mr. Bonaparte, Theodore Roosevelt Mr. Bonaparte
Attorney General and Secretary of the Navy under Roosevelt.
James Bryce
minor
Also known as Mr. Bryce
British ambassador and author, friend of Roosevelt.
John Burroughs
minor
Also known as John Burroughs
Naturalist and writer who accompanied Roosevelt on trips.
Mr. McCall
minor
Also known as Mr. McCall
Massachusetts governor and political ally.
Edward J. Bourke
minor
Also known as Edward J. Bourke, Bourke
New York police officer and associate.
Pete Kelly
minor
Also known as Pete Kelly, Peter Kelly, Kelly
Cowboy and ranch hand in Dakota.
George Meyer
minor
Also known as George Meyer, Meyer
Postmaster General and later Secretary of the Navy.
Jap Hunt
minor
Also known as Jap Hunt, Jap
Cowboy and ranch hand in the Badlands.
Bixby
minor
Also known as Bixby
Cowboy and ranch hand in Dakota Territory.
General Sumner
minor
Also known as Sumner, Brigadier-General Sam Sumner, General Sumner
Cavalry officer in the Spanish-American War.
Prouty
minor
Also known as Prouty, Mr. Prouty
Commissioner of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Moyer
minor
Also known as Moyer, Messrs. Moyer
Labor leader in the Western Federation of Miners.
Ulysses S. Grant
minor
Also known as General Grant, the real General Grant, Grant, pony Grant
Civil War general and president, referenced as a historical figure.
James G. Blaine
minor
Also known as Mr. Blaine, Blaine
Republican statesman and presidential candidate.
Richard Croker
minor
Also known as Mr. Croker, Croker
Tammany Hall boss and political adversary.
Haywood
minor
Also known as Messrs. Haywood, Haywood
Labor leader in the Western Federation of Miners.
Morse
minor
Also known as Morse
Political figure in New York state politics.
Mayne Reid
minor
Also known as Mayne Reid, Reid
Author of adventure books that inspired young Roosevelt.
Mike Donovan
minor
Also known as Take Mike Donovan, Mike
Boxer and friend of Roosevelt.
Mr. Odell
minor
Also known as Mr. Odell, Odell
New York governor and political figure.
John Muir
minor
Also known as John Muir
Naturalist and conservationist who camped with Roosevelt.
Herbert Knox Smith
minor
Also known as Herbert Knox Smith, Mr. Smith, Mr. Knox, Mr. Herbert Knox Smith
Commissioner of Corporations under Roosevelt.
Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt
minor
Also known as Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt, Roosevelt
Early ancestor of Theodore Roosevelt mentioned in genealogy.
George William Curtis
minor
Also known as George William Curtis, Curtis, Billy O'Neill
Editor and civil service reform advocate.
August Belmont
minor
Also known as August Belmont
Financier and political figure in New York.
Mayor Chapin
minor
Also known as Mayor Chapin, Chapin, The Mayor
Mayor of New York City during Roosevelt's police tenure.
Costigan
minor
Also known as Costigan, Mr. Costigan
Political figure in New York state.
General Lawton
minor
Also known as Lawton, General Lawton
Army general in the Spanish-American War.
Charles R. Heike
minor
Also known as Charles R. Heike, Heike
Cowboy and ranch hand in Dakota.
Professor Simkhovitch
minor
Also known as Professor Simkhovitch
Academic and friend of Roosevelt.
