January 27

"Is America a weakling, to shrink from the work of the great world powers? No! …Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes and rejoices as a strong man to run a race."

Theodore Roosevelt, 25^th President, 1901-1909

- apparently from a letter to John Hay, written June 7, 1897. John Hay was Ambassador to Great Britain and Roosevelt was Secretary of the Navy under president William McKinley. Hay was actually from Illinois and studied law in Abraham Lincoln's law office and had been Lincoln's secretary during his presidency. Under McKinley the United States began exert more influence on the international stage, driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny", which held that the United States needed to expand its influence so as to not be dominated by or surrounded by European territories. Roosevelt became McKinley's Vice President in 1901 and shortly thereafter became President when McKinley was assassinated. Roosevelt most certainly advocated and greatly expanded the influence of the United States.