How the West Won Teddy Roosevelt

Medora, N.D. — Spend enough time in Medora, an Old West outpost that leans into a Theodore Roosevelt theme with the approximate restraint of a Cracker Barrel decorator, and you’re bound to encounter the quote: “I never would have been president if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota.”

That well-publicized statement by TR, and the history it speaks to, is the bedrock of the region’s claim to his story and to the superhuman trajectory that made him, still, the youngest person ever to assume the presidency.

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Judson Berger

Judson Berger is the managing editor of National Review Online.

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Medora, N.D. — Spend enough time in Medora, an Old West outpost that leans into a Theodore Roosevelt theme with the approximate restraint of a Cracker Barrel decorator, and you’re bound to encounter the quote: “I never would have been president if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota.”

That well-publicized statement by TR, and the history it speaks to, is the bedrock of the region’s claim to his story and to the superhuman trajectory that made him, still, the youngest person ever to assume the presidency.