USA 250 — North Dakota (part 2)

Last week, we reported on the celebration of our Nation’s 250th Anniversary in North Dakota in our schools, at West Fargo’s Westside Elementary School. It was the first in a series of articles in which American Experiment North Dakota will spotlight happenings of note in North Dakota and notable history which has helped shaped our nation, as we celebrate a nation which has not only been the beacon of freedom to the world, but which has also endured for a quarter of a millennium!

This week, it’s appropriate to remind readers, as we did then, that the highlight of North Dakota’s observance of our nation’s 250th birthday will be the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora on July 4th, the very date on which “our nation’s birth certificate” — the Declaration of Independence — was signed 250 years ago.

Roosevelt was, of course, a native of New York, not North Dakota. Yet, he, himself, is famously quoted as stating that he never would have become President of the United States, had it not been for the time he spent in North Dakota.

A New Yorker discovers “The West”

A sickly child, young Roosevelt endeavored to overcome his weak frame and frail health and, instead, become robust, strong, vigorous, and adventuresome and he succeeded. It was, in fact, traits such as these which later exemplified his public life and image. Those traits, he often reminded others, also exemplified “Dakota” — the cowboys he met, mingled and lived with and the very essence of the land he grew to love.

When tragedy struck “Teddy’s” life as a young man, losing both his wife and his mother on the same day (Valentine’s Day, 1884), he was grief-stricken and thought his life, as he knew it, was over. That brought him west to the frontier and western North Dakota’s badlands, an area which is now home to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the only national park named for a person).

It was in that majestic, rugged terrain that his life was rejuvenated as he tried his hand at cattle ranching, observed life in “the West” and came to befriend, admire and emulate those who lived it. That rugged individualism, optimism and boldness became part of Roosevelt and characterized his public life in the years which followed.

Many good, commendable books and essays have been written about Roosevelt, his unique character and his life — some by North Dakotans who have carefully studied him and have come to admire him.

So how did North Dakota end up with his Presidential Library? We’ll, the story goes that New York had the first opportunity for it. It was, after all, Rosevelt’s home. The problem? … a common one in today’s world, to sum it up in one acronym: NIMBY (Not in My Backyard!). Apparently there were so many objections and hurdles to the process of building the library there that the Roosevelt family was quick to go where they knew they were wanted — North Dakota.

The rest, as the old saying hints, will indeed become history. After the Legislature agreed to a formula which would not simply throw taxpayer dollars at the project but, rather, responsibly help get it off the ground, the wheels began turning. Years later, the project is coming to fruition, as the Library is taking impressive shape and excitement for its opening this summer is growing.

The Nation’s history and the man who changed it, half way through

The timing couldn’t be better. As the nation marks an important historical milestone, North Dakota will mark an important historical figure and adopted favorite son — one who helped shape our nation and its future approximately half its history ago. Both are worthy of note and celebration, as we look back with pride and forward with hope.