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What do you know about Theodore Roosevelt?

You probably know him for his appearance on Mount Rushmore.

I bet you can also recall in your mind his broad, toothy smile, his full cheeks and round spectacles.

You might remember him as a rough

writer, a hero of the Spanish-American War, and you surely know that the teddy bear was named after him.

But what do you know about his politics? Teddy Roosevelt was an accidental president,

rising to the office after the assassination of William McKinley. But he held the vice presidency

as a sort of political quarantine.

His fellow Republicans thought Roosevelt was too radical, too independent, too progressive.

So they put him where he'd have no power, no voice, and no effect, the vice presidency.

He remained there only six months before a madman's bullet put him into the highest office in the land.

The next 20 years became the bulk of what's now known as the Progressive Era,

a period of political reform that sought to fight corruption, corporate power,

dangerous consumer goods and labor conditions, and the decay of democracy.

Roosevelt was at its vanguard.

On today's Saturday matinee,

we're sharing the first episode from a five-part series

on the Progressive Era

...