16. The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelt’s Life
A stunned Milwaukee audience processed what Teddy Roosevelt had just told them about his having been shot, and gaped at the sight of the bloodstained shirt beneath his unbuttoned vest. The former president then topped his previous statement with an even more memorable one: “it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!” Teddy Roosevelt then demonstrated what had saved his life that day, when he pulled out a hefty fifty-page speech from his coat pocket, that was pierced through with a bullet.
He continued: “Fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet—there is where the bullet went through—and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best“. Just about any other candidate – except maybe Andrew Jackson – would have keeled over in shock or at least bid the audience adieu before rushing to seek medical care. Not Teddy Roosevelt.