In light of current events, National Geographic asked me to virtually revisit Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which I wrote about for National Geographic Traveler several years ago.

For this new story, I gathered Native American, Black, and National Park Service perspectives, and spoke to the author of a new book on Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy.

I’ve always greatly admired Theodore Roosevelt. But as I explain in the article, he was a complex man who held some troubling views.

An excerpt:

It’s easy to become enthralled with the 26th president of the United States, particularly if you love the outdoors he helped preserve. So several years ago, when I visited North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park to research a story for National Geographic Traveler, I couldn’t help but fall under his spell, just as I was enamored by the landscape he cherished.

Then, in June of this year, Roosevelt found himself suddenly under scrutiny. The precipitating event was the decision by the American Museum of Natural History in New York to remove a bronze statue of Roosevelt, which depicted him on horseback, towering above a Native American and an African man. The statue, unveiled in 1940, was undoubtedly racist. Even Roosevelt’s great-grandson agreed it should be taken down.

The statue was commissioned decades after Roosevelt’s death; he, of course, had nothing to do with it. But the questions arose, and they were good questions. The statue was racist. What about the man?

READ THE ARTICLE