Go West Mr. President : Theodore Roosevelt's Great Loop Tour of 1903

In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a grand tour of the mid-West and Western states, being careful not to call it a campaign tour, although he intended to seek re-election the following year. Roosevelt was adamant that his speeches be devoid of any partisan rhetoric, nor would he meet solely with Republican office holders in the various cities and towns he visited. He would happily shake hands with a Democratic mayor or senator just as he would a Republican. His speeches, which he wrote himself, covered subjects of good citizenship, a square deal for every man, a strong navy, and the positive aspects of the recent irrigation bill he signed into law. From the Roosevelt Arch in Yellowstone to the cliffs of Yosemite, his grand tour of the west at the turn of the century influenced his second term and the shaping of the American west--and is now the stuff of legend.