It has been estimated that more than five million Polish citizens were mercilessly killed in Poland during World War II. Approximately three million of the victims were also Polish Jews, whose lives were unnecessarily taken away in the Holocaust. However, the number is merely an estimation, and the loss of life could be much higher.

SEE ALSO: 10 Plans Hitler Would Have Put In Motion If The Nazis Had Won

Many Jewish people were forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto, which was the largest of its kind in German-occupied Europe during the Second World War. The ghetto was established by the German authorities in 1940 and imprisoned more than 450,000 Jews, who either passed away due to squalid living conditions or were later deported to concentration camps and mass killing centers.

10 Relocation to the Ghetto

The fate of Jewish people in Poland was sealed when Ludwig Fisher, the Governor of the Warsaw District, signed the official order to create a Jewish district, known as the Warsaw ghetto, on October 2nd, 1940.

Every Jewish resident living in the city was ordered to relocate to the district by November 15th, 1940, and the ghetto was sealed on this date. Consequently, 113,000 gentile Poles were required to resettle to the Aryan district of the city, with an estimated 138,000 Jews moving to the ghetto from various districts across the Polish capital.

In less than six months, 360,000 Jewish residents of Warsaw were living in the ghetto, and another 53,000 from the western and eastern districts were resettled here. 4,000 German Jews were also transported to the ghetto at the start of 1941.^[1]

9 The Living Conditions

Due to the low standards of accommodation within the ghetto and the density of its population, the living conditions were rather difficult for its inhabitants. On average, 7.2 people shared a room, and residents were only allowed to bring their bedclothes and minimal personal belongings with them. Residents, therefore, endured great poverty, with only a small percentage of the population receiving regular employment. Consequently, many residents attempted to trade on the streets to secure some form of income.^[2]

8 Malnutrition

If struggling with poor living conditions wasn’t enough, the German administration chose to deliberately send limited food supplies. As a result, many of the residents were struggling with starvation from the start of the ghetto’s life. The average Jewish person living in the ghetto reportedly survived on only 800 calories per day, and many children tragically starved to death.

Children were mainly responsible for smuggling food from the Aryan side, as they could escape through holes in the wall or via underground passageways. However, as its inhabitants were struggling with malnutrition, a lack of healthcare and overpopulation, it didn’t take long for people to fall victim to typhus, which is a group of infectious diseases. Tragically, between 1940 and mid-1942, an estimated 83,000 Jews passed away from starvation and disease.^[3]

7 The Ghetto Wall

As residents were required to live on 180 grams of bread, 1kg jam, ½ kg of honey and 220 grams of sugar per month, smuggling was the only option for survival in the ghetto. To prevent Jewish residents from smuggling food, the German authorities erected a wall across all sides of the ghetto. They also installed fixed wire and placed broken glass onto the top of the wall to prevent people from breaking out. However, many Jews were undeterred, which led to the authorities building the wall much higher. If a person was found to be smuggling, they were shot at the central lockup located on Gesiowka Street.^[4]

6 Morning Funeral Carts

When a resident from the Warsaw Ghetto passed away, their families would reportedly place their loved one’s body in the street, as it would be picked up by a morning funeral cart that made its rounds every day. As the families were struggling with next to no employment and malnutrition, they had no other option but to strip the clothing off their deceased relative’s body, so they could sell their items and survive ghetto life.^[5]

5 Deportation to Treblinka

In July 1942, Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsfuhrer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), ordered for Jewish people living in the ghetto to be resettled to extermination camps. The residents were, however, told they would be transported to a work camp, but it didn’t take long for them to learn that the deportation would lead to their death.

Two months after Himmler gave the order, 265,000 Jewish people were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka, an extermination camp. Another 20,000 residents were also either transported to a forced labor camp or were murdered during deportation.^[6]

4 Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB)

Following the deportation process, approximately 55,000 to 60,000 Jewish people continued to live in the Warsaw ghetto. The small group of people left behind chose to form various underground self-defense units. For example, they started the Jewish Combat Organization, also known as ZOB, who smuggled a small supply of weapons from anti-Nazi Polish people.

When the Nazis stepped inside the ghetto on January 18, 1943, to prepare another group of residents for transfer, they were ambushed by the ZOB unit. The fighting between the Nazis and ZOB lasted for many days until the Germans withdrew. Consequently, deportations from the ghetto were suspended for a few months.^[7]

3 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Himmler made the decision to send SS forces and other collaborators into the district on April 19, 1943, with the aim of liquidating the ghetto using tanks and heavy artillery. Despite being outnumbered by weapons and manpower, hundreds of resistance fighters, who had a small number of weapons, fought back against the Germans for almost a month.

The Germans, however, destroyed every bunker in the ghetto block by block, which led to either the capture or killing of thousands of residents. The Nazis had taken full control of the Warsaw ghetto once again by May 16th, and chose to blow up Warsaw’s Great Synagogue as a symbolic act. It is believed an estimated 7,000 Jewish people lost their lives during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The remaining residents were then transported to either labor or extermination camps.^[8]

2 Irena Sendlerowa

Irena Sendlerowa, a Polish social worker, was responsible for saving the lives of more than 2,500 Jewish babies and children from Nazi extermination camps. She was a member of Zegota, which was a secret organization created by the Polish government, which was in exile in London. She arranged for a group of social workers to smuggle the babies and children from the Warsaw ghetto to safety between 1942 to 1943. She then changed their identities and placed them with families across Poland.

As Irena worked in the Warsaw health department, she was authorized to enter the ghetto, and she and her team would help the children to escape by hiding them in ambulances, transporting them through underground passageways, walking them through sewer pipes or would wheel them out on a trolley in a box or suitcase.

Conscious to reunite children with their parents once the war was over, she noted the names of every child on cigarette papers, which she wrote down twice for security. She then sealed the notes in a glass bottle and buried it in a colleague’s garden. The bottles were dug up once WWII had come to an end to reunite children with their parents, but many of them had sadly lost their lives in concentration camps. Irena was deservedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and 2008, after gaining much support from prominent figures at the International Federation of Social Workers.^[9]

1 Preservation of the Warsaw Ghetto

In honor of the hundreds of thousands of people who lived in the Warsaw ghetto, a boundary marker was built along the border of the former Jewish district in 2008 and 2010. It was installed from the gates of the ghetto, along the wooden footbridges across the Aryan streets, and the buildings that housed its residents.

Four notable residential buildings still stand to this day, which can be found on 7, 9, 12 and 14 Prózna Street, which have remained mostly empty since the end of WWII. The street is also a prominent location for the annual Warsaw Jewish Festival. There are also preserved fragments from the ghetto wall, which are situated on 62 Zlota Street, 55 Sienna Street, and 11 Waliców Street.^[10]

About The Author: Elisabeth Sedgwick is an English freelance writer. You can view her growing portfolio at clippings.me/elisabethsedgwick

Before the 1969 Apollo 11 mission put U.S. astronauts on the moon, hundreds of missions preceded it. The whole reason for the space race was for both sides, with tensions high due to the Cold War, eager to test missile capability and distance via space exploration. While the U.S. was the first to land a man on the moon, the Soviets were the first to put a living creature into orbit and the first to put a human into space, which they did in 1961.

But before man was sitting in a rocket, all manner of other living creatures were forced to take the lead. The U.S. favored chimpanzees for their close genetic structure to humans, but the Soviets preferred dogs. Some 36 different dogs were used over a 15-year period, and many of them died or have been forgotten by history: these are 10 of their stories.

Related: 10 Historical First Images Captured Of Space

10 Dezik, Tsygan, and Lisa

It’s important to remember that in the 1950s, neither the Soviets nor the U.S. spaceflight teams knew if life even could survive in space, nor did they know for sure that firing something into orbit, let alone it coming back safely, was possible.

By the dawn of the ’50s, the Soviets were already playing catch up. In 1948, three years before Russian testing on live animals began, their American rivals successfully launched a rhesus monkey named Albert into sub-orbital space, followed by three others and a mouse, all of which died.

Dezik and Tsygan were selected as the first Soviet space dogs, and they traveled 68 miles high on August 15, 1951 (beating the American monkey Yorick by a month), returning unharmed. Continuing from this success, the Soviets sent Dezik up for a second flight, this time pairing her with a dog named Lisa. This one, however, ended in disaster as both dogs died when the module crashed. Not wanting to lose both of the first dogs in space, Tsygan was swiftly retired and adopted by a Soviet physicist.^[1]

9 Bolik and ZIB

All the dogs used by the Soviets were strays, usually picked off the streets of Moscow and kept in a compound, where they were trained and prepared. For every dog that took part in a mission, there were countless others that either died during training, escaped, were used as backups for Earth-based control groups during missions, or simply weren’t up to scratch.

Although the training and preparation varied depending on the mission, the dogs were generally placed on centrifuges to prepare them for the high speeds. They were also put in cages getting progressively smaller and smaller to prepare them for the cramped, motionless conditions of space flight.

All of this was too much for Bolik, who, just a month after the failure of the Dezik and Lisa mission, ran away a few days before his scheduled flight. The craft and equipment had been designed around Bolik’s size and weight, and no other dog on site would suffice. Luckily for the Soviets, they found a stray running around outside their compound. Untrained but the perfect dimensions, she was dubbed ZIB: an acronym for the Russian translation of “replacement for missing Bolik.” Thankfully, this mission was successful, and the untrained, unsuspecting ZIB returned safely.^[2]

8 Laika

On November 3, 1957, the first celebrated achievement on either side occurred when the Sputnik 2 Soviet spacecraft was fired into space. It was planned to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, so pressure was high, and deadlines were short…and on board the craft was poor little Laika.

The tight deadline imposed by the Soviet Premier meant that the flight couldn’t account for a return, so everyone knew going in that Laika (translated as “Barker”) would not be coming back. The plan was to complete multiple orbits of the planet and then crash back to Earth, with Laika expected to run out of oxygen after seven days and die painlessly.

For PR reasons, this was how her fate was recorded for some time, but now we know that she actually died just hours into the mission after temperatures rose to unexpected levels inside the craft during launch. A cruel and tragic way to go, but she became a hero in her time as the first living creature to fly into orbit. Her legacy lives on today, and she is honored in various monuments, in the Cosmonaut Space Museum in Moscow, and in popular culture all over the world.^[3]

7 Bars and Lisichka

Riding high on the success of the Laika mission (from a technical perspective), the Soviet spaceflight team was still remorseful over the dog’s fate. No other mission before it was a suicide mission like Laika’s. They made improvements to the capsule, making it capable of returning from orbit, thus ensuring the same thing never happened again.

Bars and Lisichka were selected for this test mission, which launched in the summer of 1960. The latter of the two, Lisichka, was a favorite of Sergei Korolev—the lead rocket engineer and spacecraft designer for the Soviets (LINK 11). However, the preparation, training, and design of the craft would all be for nothing, in the swiftest failure of the spaceflight missions. Just 28 seconds into launch, the capsule exploded, killing both dogs. Much more work was apparently needed.^[4]

6 Belka and Strelka

Three years later, the Soviet spaceflight team was scurrying around the streets of Moscow once again, looking for new candidates for its next mission. This time the hope was to send living organisms into orbit and have them come back alive.

The dogs chosen were Belka and Strelka (“Whitey” and “Little Arrow”), who were accompanied on Sputnik 5 by 40 mice, 2 rats, a rabbit, and some fruit flies and plants. On August 19, 1960, the launch occurred and went off without a hitch. After 17 orbits, they returned to Earth as intended, completely unharmed, becoming the first living creatures to reach orbit and return safely. Their success was reported worldwide, and both dogs retired and never flew again. A gigantic propaganda success, Soviet Premier Krushchev gifted a puppy of Strelka to the American First Lady Jackie Kennedy during the height of the Cold War, who grew up to have puppies with an American dog: a true Cold War romance.^[5]

5 Pchelka and Mushka

During the space race, advancements, targets, and technology were kept secret from the public on both sides to keep their enemies from gaining the upper hand or profiting from their hard work. This was evidenced in the Pchelka (“Little Bee”) and Mushka (“Little Fly”) mission, which launched in December 1960. It was the first mission for Pchelka, but Mushka had played an important role in Laika’s flight three years earlier, acting as her control group on Earth.

After a successful launch and a day in orbit, an error occurred during reentry when rockets failed to switch off as planned and the capsule veered off target. Rather than allow it to land in foreign hands, the spaceflight team made the decision to self-destruct the capsule, killing both dogs. While happy to go worldwide with their successes, the Soviets still valued their secrecy first and foremost.^[6]

4 Shutka and Kometka

The very next flight was another failure. Launched on December 22, 1960, the dogs Shutka and Kometka (“Joke” and “Little Comet”), accompanied by mice, were scheduled to complete an orbital flight but only got as high as 133 miles before the upper stage rocket failed. Two ejection seats were fitted in the event of a disaster, but they were unable to deploy them, trapping the two dogs inside. The crew attempted to self-destruct the capsule, but this also failed to work, so they rushed to the craft.

It crashed 2,175 miles away, still within Soviet borders, sitting in a snowdrift in -42-degree-Celcius (-45-degree-Fahrenheit) temperatures. Unable to disarm the backup self-destruct mechanism (which had a 60-hour timer) due to the freezing temperatures and fading light, they were forced to wait until morning. The glass on the capsule was frosted over, and no signs of life were detected inside. However, as the sun rose the next day, the scientists heard dogs barking and disarmed the mechanism, pulling the dogs out of the module. Miraculously, they were unharmed, albeit in shock.

Both dogs fully recovered, but with the Soviets banning Korolev from telling the story of their survival publicly, they were forgotten. Thankfully, they were both retired, and Kometka was even adopted as a pet by Oleg Gazenko—a leading scientist who selected the dogs for many of the missions— and living a long and deservedly more relaxed life.^[7]

3 Chernushka

To double up on research, the trend had been for the Soviets to use two dogs in missions, but with technology and understanding improving, they switched just one dog: a subtle hint that their intentions and future plans were changing. Behind the scenes, officials began setting their eyes on the first human spaceflight, but further tests were required.

Having tested their equipment and technology, as well as the effects of space, on small living creatures in tiny capsules, now the question was whether a craft large enough to fit a human could produce the same results. Test dummies were sent to find out, but the need for a living creature to test for livability meant the dogs’ missions weren’t over yet. Chernushka (“Blackie”) completed one orbit in March 1961 and returned safely. It was the first flight of its kind, and the success of which ramped up the plans for the first human flight the following month.^[8]

2 Zvezdochka

The final test flight before Yuri Gagarin’s planned mission was one of the most important tests the Soviet team had yet undertaken. A failure here would result in a launch delay or disaster for Gagarin. After the Chernushka mission, one final success was required for the spaceflight team to be satisfied everything was safe enough for Gagarin.

The dog selected went through the usual training; however, there was one issue: its name. The dog was called Udacha, which means “luck,” which Gagarin insisted on changing. Gagarin was extremely superstitious, and many of his rituals on his launch are still carried out today by Russian cosmonauts. The team was happy to go along with this and allowed Gagarin to rename the dog Zvezdochka (“Starlet” or “Little Star”). Whether this superstition had anything to do with it or not, the mission was another success, returning the dog unharmed back to Earth.^[9]

1 Veterok and Ugolyok

For many, Gagarin’s flight marked the end of the space race. The Soviets had roundly beaten the Americans at every major hurdle along the way. But over in the USA, JFK swiftly changed the goalposts, publicly setting his country’s sights on the moon. Not to be outdone in this propaganda war, the new race began, but this one would require more time in space than any of the Soviet’s previous tests.

At this point, the record for continuous time spent in space (without death) was just five days, but it would certainly take longer than that to get to the moon and back. So in 1966, Veterok and Ugolyok were selected in what was to be the final dog-space mission. They were launched aboard a new craft and flown in orbit for a whopping 21 days before returning to Earth and landing safely. The dogs were paraded on television for a while and went on to live long ordinary lives. Ugolyok produced a litter of six puppies, and Veterok befriended a scientist working on the spaceflight team and lived to old age.^[10]

The 1990s had a wide array of musical acts. The beginning of the decade saw the decline of hair bands and the entrance of grunge music, which would dominate until the mid-1990s. With the new millennium on the horizon, pop music was king. The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and NSYNC controlled the charts.

But many of the most popular songs—songs that ruled the radio—had dark, somber stories behind them. Here’s a look at songs you know by heart but had no idea were written in the depths of despair.

Related: 10 Tragic Events That Created Iconic Pieces Of Pop Culture

9 “Under the Bridge”
Red Hot Chilli Peppers

The second single from the band’s 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Under the Bridge” is easily one of the most famous and beloved Chili Peppers songs, but its funky beat and catchy hook can easily mask the pain behind the lyrics.

Lead singer Anthony Kiedis wrote the song during a period of sobriety. He’d struggled through a heroin and cocaine addiction and penned the poem after a day of rehearsals where his bandmates were still smoking marijuana.

His feelings of loneliness made him reflect on his past drug use and darker days when he would buy drugs under a bridge in L.A., even though it was right in the middle of gang territory.^[1]

9 “No Rain”
Blind Melon

The uptempo, catchy track, complete with the iconic bee girl video, is full of happy vibes, right? Nope. Bass player Brad Smith wrote the breakthrough hit, but it definitely wasn’t coming from a place of happiness.

He wrote the song based on the perspective of his girlfriend at the time, who was depressed. Smith said that she slept during the day and complained when there was no rain. After penning the piece, he realized it wasn’t just about her—he shared the same feelings of despair.

The band was no stranger to depression. Their lead singer Shannon Hood struggled to cope with his own demons and died of a drug overdose in 1995.^[2]

8 “Zombie”
The Cranberries

The Irish rock band rose to fame in 1994 behind their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? Smack dab amid grunge and Britpop, The Cranberries were unique. Lead vocalist Dolores O’Riordan’s melancholic voice, complete with lilts and yodels, exuded emotion, and the band’s catchy tunes easily landed them on the Billboard Hot 100. Their second studio album, No Need to Argue, featured the hit song “Zombie.”

O’Riordan penned the song following the IRA-linked bombing in England that killed two small boys in 1993. She made it clear to the band that she wanted the music to sound edgy and angry to express her frustration. The distorted guitars and hard drums appealed to audiences who were in the throes of a grunge renaissance. The song quickly gained airplay and made the album No Need to Argue the band’s best-selling one.^[3]

7 “Don’t Speak”
No Doubt

The ska-punk band from Orange County featured Gwen Stefani as the platinum blonde, red-lipped bombshell lead singer. By the time Tragic Kingdom was released in 1995, the band already had two albums under their belt, but neither had been big performers. Maybe that was because Stefani had a limited role in the writing process for the first two but took center stage on the band’s third album.

She penned “Don’t Speak” about her breakup with bassist Tony Kanal. Stefani had plans to marry Kanal, but he dashed those hopes when he ended their relationship. Stefani was devastated and put pen to paper to cope with her despair. The song about their breakup and how much it hurt Stefani played out again and again as the band gained more fans and had to answer questions about it in interviews. While it was brutal at the time, both Stefani and Kanal say it helped them cultivate the friendship they have today.^[4]

6 “3 AM”
Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty was all over the radio in the mid-1990s. Their songs were overplayed to the point of nausea. But while the band was mainstream darlings of radio, they also had a great talent in singer/songwriter Rob Thomas. His emotional deliveries, combined with touching lyrics, made for some superb performances.

While “3 AM” was an uptempo song, a close listen to the lyrics reveals Thomas’s heartbreaking truth. He wrote the song about his mother’s battle with cancer when he was only a teenager. In an episode of VH1’s Storytellers, Thomas tells the audience no one really knew it was about his mother but instead thought it was about a lost love.

Thomas described it as a “weird time” trying to care for himself and his mother and wondering why she was always tired and slept all the time.^[5]

5 “The Freshman”
The Verve Pipe

From the band’s second studio album Villians came one of their only hits. “The Freshman” was a slow, gentle, and moody song. It reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1997 and garnered a place in history for the band.

The lyrics, written by the singer Brian Vander Ark, tell the tale of a girl who has an abortion and is so distraught over it that she commits suicide. Part of the tale is autobiographical as Vander Ark says that both he and another guy were dating the same girl, and she got pregnant by one of them. No one knew who the father was, and the girl ended up getting an abortion. After that, he took a bit of poetic license and added the suicide part to build on the tragedy.^[6]

4 “Santa Monica”
Everclear

The alt band Everclear had a slew of hits in the 1990s, and their poppy, sunny song “Santa Monica” seems like any other feel-good tune until you take a closer listen. Written by frontman Art Alexakis, it’s inspired by traumatic events in his life.

When Alexakis was a teenager, his brother died of a heroin overdose, and just a short time later, his girlfriend committed suicide. Alexakis was so distraught that he jumped off the Santa Monica Pier, intending to kill himself.

Alexakis’s personal tragedies inspired many of the lyrics on Everclear’s albums. He dealt with his own drug addiction, abandonment from his father, and even a rape in his childhood through his music. While the videos and sounds are upbeat and sunny, the underlying dark themes were common on Everclear’s albums.^[7]

3 “Today”
Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins kind of squeaked through the 1990s as an “in the middle” band. They weren’t exactly grunge but weren’t pop or rock, just something in between. Known for songs with elaborate string sections and Billy Corgan’s unique vocals, The Smashing Pumpkins toured their way onto the charts.

“Today,” the second single from their 1993 album Siamese Dream, seems almost hopeful. With song lyrics like “Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known,” the song is far from the positive message first alluded to. In fact, Corgan wrote it during one of his darkest periods. A time when he regularly thought about killing himself.^[8]

2 ; “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
The Offspring

The California punk band was never known for its hard-hitting songwriting. In fact, they were more known for their catchy riffs, goofy music videos, and satirical take on white suburbia. With songs like “Why Don’t You Get a Job” and “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy),” The Offspring was looking for laughs instead of taking a stand.

That changed when it came to their third single released off their 1998 album, “Americana. “The Kids Aren’t Alright” is perhaps the closest thing to social commentary from the band. While the other songs are jokey and lighthearted, “The Kids Aren’t Alright” delves into the darker side of everyday America.

Written by lead singer Dexter Holland after a visit back to his hometown, he noticed many former friends and acquaintances were suffering and falling on hard times. There were suicides, drug addictions, and job losses that didn’t coincide with the sunny futures everyone talked about growing up. Holland wanted to highlight this illusion and show that kids were really struggling, even in America.^[9]

1 “Alive”
Pearl Jam

No ’90s list is complete without mentioning one of the surviving, iconic Seattle-based grunge bands. Pearl Jam was well known around their hometown, but it wasn’t until their debut album Ten came out in 1991 that they became a household name. Behind Eddie Vedder’s emotional deliveries, Pearl Jam topped the charts with hit after hit.

The debut single “Alive” almost seems like an uplifting song at first—until you dive into the lyrics. Written by Vedder, “Alive” tells the story of a young boy who finds out his father is actually his stepfather. His real father is dead. Based on Vedder’s own chaotic childhood, the song confronts this truth and how Vedder tries to deal with it.

These days, Vedder says the meaning of the song changed slightly. The “I’m still alive” chorus now has a positive spin—it’s a celebration—he is indeed still alive.^[10]

Happy Fourth of July from  To mark the great occasion, here is a fascinating presidential list. Theodore Roosevelt (TR) is unquestionably one of history’s most interesting characters. And there is no shortage of available information about his life. In his book “Mornings on Horseback” David McCullough wrote, “The volume of published work one must become familiar with when dealing with even one part of such a life as Theodore led is almost overwhelming.” So much has been written about TR it seems there is little to be said that hasn’t been thoroughly covered; however, because we have come to view him as such a heroic figure, several tragic facts about his life that have been pushed to the background. Herein I have chosen to elaborate on ten heartbreaking episodes in TR’s life.

Top 10 Fun Facts from US Presidential Inaugurations

10 His Son-in-Law Opposed His Run for The White House In 1912

When TR left the white house after two terms, he believed he left it in the good hands of his former vice president, Howard H. Taft. Roosevelt quickly became disenchanted with his protégée, who was not the man TR thought he was. Taft was ineffective as president particularly, unlike TR, because he avoided conflict and gave in to big business. This, along with the democratic party’s nomination of the college professor, Woodrow Wilson, precipitated TR’s run for a third term in 1912.

While many in the Republican Party supported TR’s bid – he out polled Taft in the presidential election – others opposed his try for a third term, including the husband of his eldest daughter Alice, congressman Nicolas Longworth of Ohio. Though TR understood the political reasons for Longworth’s opposition his daughter Alice, always fiercely independent, supported her father. This caused a problem in the marriage, which was already in trouble because of Nicholas’s philandering.

9 His Sister Was A “Hunchback”

TR’s eldest sibling, Anna, called Bamie, was the rock of the family. She was what is termed an “old soul,” seeming to be grown up from the time she could speak. In fact, TR always referred to her as one of the adults in the family even when she was still a child. Some thought her the brightest of the family and that had she been born a man she would have become president.

Sadly, Bamie was born with several physical problems and she was thought very plain. She suffered from Pott’s disease, a type of tuberculosis that causes “hunchback.” Forced to wear a painful brace and undergo agonizing therapies, she was doted upon by her father. TR adored her and left his first daughter in her care for two years. Devoting much of her life to TR and his family, she did marry late in life and bore a son.

8 He Was Sickly and Nearsighted as A Boy

TR’s reputation for toughness and boldness is the very essence of what Americans think of today whenever his name is mentioned. But he did not come by this reputation easily. During his youth it was doubtful that young Teddy would live a long life, let alone one so robust. At a time when asthma was not well understood TR suffered from frequent and severe attacks. So much so that the family had to plan events around his health (he suffered from frequent colds, headaches, stomachaches and nightmares as well).

In order to deal with his weakness, his father turned part of their Oyster Bay mansion into an exercise room. TR turned his prodigious will toward becoming healthy and became stronger as he grew older. When told by doctors after he graduated from Harvard that he had a weak heart and should live a sedate life, he responded in typical TR style by climbing the Matterhorn.

7 His Father Paid a Substitute for Civil War Service

TR adored and admired his father, Theodore Sr., calling him, “The best man I ever knew.” But his father purchased a “substitute” to take place in the civil war. Theodore Sr. stayed out of the service at the insistence of his southern born and raised wife who had many relatives fighting for the confederacy. Purchasing a substitute was common practice among the rich, but TR knew people would question his father’s courage even though Theodore Sr. did great service for the union. In particular, he created a program to have union soldiers send part of their pay home to family rather than squandering it on gambling, alcohol or other vices.

Many think that TR believed he had something to prove for the family honor and that is why he volunteered so late in life to organize a cavalry unit to serve in the Spanish American War. His heroic actions during the battle for San Juan Hill certainly absolved him personally. He was recommended Medal of Honor at the time, but army politics blocked it. He was awarded the honor posthumously in 2001.

6 He Survived an Assassination Attempt

TR’s reputation for toughness was greatly enhanced by his reaction to an assassination attempt. Preparing to give a speech in the Milwaukee Auditorium as part of his third party run for reelection, TR was shot from 5 feet away by a mentally deranged man. Fortunately, TR had written a 90-minute speech, which was of significance, because the manuscript, tucked inside his coat, slowed the bullet, as did his heavy coat and metal eyeglasses case. The bullet entered his chest without causing major injury.

TR’s toughness showed up when he refused to go to the hospital before delivering the speech. He simply asked the crowd to be quiet for a moment, saying, “I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot.” With blood showing through his shirt he spoke for at least an hour. He then agreed to go to the hospital where it was decided that removing the bullet would be more dangerous than leaving it in. TR carried the bullet for the rest of his life and suffered no significant ill effects from it.

5 His Son Kermit Committed Suicide

TR’s second son Kermit, like his brothers, served with distinction during World War I. After the war he founded the Roosevelt Steamship Company; however, Kermit suffered from chronic depression and was an alcoholic. The Great Depression hurt him financially and he added to his woes by having extramarital affairs.

Kermit fell so low that his brother Archie had him confined briefly to a mental institution. By the time the World War II came around Kermit, though unfit for combat, sought a commission and was granted one by President Franklin Roosevelt (his distant cousin). He served in the Aleutians helping to build a local militia to fight the Japanese. Not able to overcome his depression and dependence on alcohol he committed suicide by shooting himself in June of 1943.

4 His Son’s Death in World War I Crushed His Spirit

TR advocated the entry into the First World War very early. He even went to the extreme of calling President Woodrow Wilson a coward for failing to enter the war on the side of Britain and France. He agitated for the war, and when it finally came, he offered his services in raising two volunteer divisions, but Wilson turned him down.

TR was very proud when all his sons volunteered to serve in the military during the great conflict. Yet when his son Quentin was shot down and killed over France, he was crestfallen. He felt guilty that the war he had pushed for had resulted in the death of his own son and his health began to suffer. He would go to the stables where he would look at the horses Quentin loved to ride and say over and over, ““Oh Quenty-quee, oh Quenty-quee . . .” TR was never the same and died six months later.

3 He Never Told His Daughter Anything About Her Mother

Two days after giving birth to their daughter, Alice Lee, TR’s wife Alice died of kidney failure brought on by Bright’s disease – the pregnancy having hidden the presence of the disease. Earlier that same day his mother died of typhoid fever. Roosevelt was deeply in love with Alice and was crushed by her death. He marked a large X in his diary for that day and wrote, “The light has gone out of my life forever.”

Alice Lee was placed in the custody of TR’s sister Bamie until she was three when she went to the home of her father and his new wife. Sadly, TR never told Alice Lee anything about her mother, as he could not bear to speak of her. He tore the pages out of his diary that talked of her and he burned their letters. This surely affected her, as Alice Lee grew up to be a defiant daughter and a flamboyant figure in the Washington political scene.

2 He Would have Committed Suicide

In December 1913 TR, along with his son Kermit, embarked on a journey of exploration in the jungles of the Amazon. He and his party would not be seen again by outside world until the middle of April 1914. In a feat so spectacular that at first it was not believed by American geographers and press, TR’s expedition started at the headwaters of the “River of Doubt” and followed the river for 470 miles where it fed into a tributary of the Amazon River.

During the arduous journey TR became extremely ill, so much so that he became a drag on his party. TR’S ethos as a hunter and soldier was that one man should never endanger the lives of others during warfare or an expedition. When he told his son that he should be left behind in the jungle, Kermit refused to permit it. Seeing the resolve of his son, and knowing that he would insist on carrying out his father’s body if he committed suicide, TR toughed it out and reached the end of the expedition. TR’s accomplishment was confirmed in 1927 and today the river is called “Rio Roosevelt.” Unfortunately the hardship on his body was severe and he was never again physically robust.

1 He Left a Man to Die in the Amazon Jungle

During the River of Doubt expedition one of the crewmembers, Julio, murdered another. TR told the Brazilian leader of the expedition that the murderer must be tracked and killed for the crime. He was told that in Brazil the man was to be tried. TR supposedly retorted, “He who kills must be killed. That’s the way it is in my country.” Without finding the killer, the expedition moved on.

Julio had fled into the jungle after committing the act and dropped his rifle in the thick foliage. The expedition members worried that he might try to enter their camp at night to steal or kill. Three days later, while they were canoeing down the river, they saw Julio standing on the bank begging to be taken aboard. The Brazilian leader told him that it was not possible to stop the canoe and that he should wait for TR. The next three canoes, including the one carrying TR and his son Kermit, passed by the man without saying a word. TR later wrote, “Surely that murderer was in a living hell.”

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About The Author: Mark J. Goodman is a published poet and author. Mark writes about history, politics and religion. He has written an unpublished children’s book, is working on a screenplay and plans to write a book on the history of his family in Louisiana.