Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858–1919) was the nation’s twenty-sixth President of the United States. Born into a wealthy family in New York City, Roosevelt attended Harvard University and then entered into a life of public service, adventure, and scholarship. He was serving in the Department of the Navy in 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out; he quickly resigned his position to form the Rough Riders, a cavalry regiment that he led in the Battle of San Juan Hill. In 1901, while Roosevelt was serving as Vice President of the United States, President William McKinley was shot and killed, making Roosevelt the youngest person to become president at the age of forty-two. He was elected in his own right in 1904. Though he chose not to run for another term in the 1908 election, he did run—and lose—in the 1912 election. He died in January 1919.