Theodore Roosevelt shot in a Milwaukee hotel during a campaign tour

Historical Context Note

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On the 14th of October 1912, Theodore Roosevelt (27th October, 1858 - 6th January, 1919) was shot by John Schrank, a saloonkeeper. Roosevelt was on the campaign trail in Milwaukee, seeking re-election as President with his breakaway Progressive Party, (popularly known as the Bull Moose Party). Roosevelt was on his way to make a speech when he was shot, but the bullet didn't prove fatal and lodged in his chest after passing through his metal spectacle case and the folded papers of his speech. Roosevelt insisted on taking the podium despite his injury, and spoke for over an hour before going to hospital. Famously he opened his speech with the declaration 'Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a…

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11016 Theodore Roosevelt shot in a Milwaukee hotel during a campaign tour 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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