11. Teddy Roosevelt went on safari, ran for president again, and went on another big game trip
Upon leaving the White House Teddy Roosevelt went to Africa on the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition, a safari seeking specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. They collected nearly 11,500 specimens, either by killing or trapping, including more than 500 big game animals. He then traveled through Europe, lecturing and finally delivering the acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize he had been awarded years before, for mediating the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War. Returning to the United States, Roosevelt became disenchanted with his successor, William Howard Taft, and decided to run against him as a third-party candidate in 1912.
When his Bull Moose Party candidacy failed (he survived an assassination attempt during the campaign), Roosevelt embarked on another expedition, this one to South America, which included an attempt to navigate the recently discovered River of Doubt. Roosevelt wrote a book describing this expedition, during which he nearly died from an infected wound and the effects of tropical illnesses. The book, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, was a critical and commercial success, though some critics doubted that Roosevelt’s party had charted the entire river, which was later renamed Roosevelt River. The trip severely weakened the formerly robust Roosevelt, who died five years later.