THEODORE ROOSEVELT 421 politiciaiis — disappointment. From 1889 to 1895 he was a member of the United States Civil Service Conmiission ; from 1895 to 1897 president of the New York Board of Police Com- missioners ; in 1897 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy — all of which positions he filled with great efficiency. While in the Navy Department he secured from Congress a large appropriation for target practice which made the navy ready for effective service during the Spanish-American War. Thus Theodore Roosevelt, more than any other man, contrib- uted to the success of this war ; and no man profited more by it ; for at its close he was chosen by the republicans as the one man who could be elected governor of New York. At the be- ginning of the war he resigned his position as Assistant Secre- tary of the Navy and organized the First Volunteer Cavalry, known as the Rough Riders. Realizing his own ignorance of military tactics, Mr. Roosevelt wisely insisted that Leonard Wood be the colonel of the regiment, while he took the position of lieutenant-colonel; but as in politics so in war, Roosevelt rapidly learned the game. He fought the battles of Las Guasimas, June 24, 1898, and San Juan Hill, July 1, and on July 8, Wood having been promoted to brigadier-general, he was appointed colonel. Of all war literature none is more interesting than Mr. Roosevelt's account of his actual fighting in the field. As a soldier he **made good** in the sense that politicians use that term. He was the most advertised man in the United States. He came back from the Spanish- American War much as Napo- leon returned from Egypt ; and from that day to this he has occupied more space in the papers than any other man in the United States. In the fall of 1898 he was elected governor of New York, op- posed by the politicians, but favored by the people. As gov- ernor he was singularly successful and showed the masterly political tact that crowned him with success in after years. At the National Convention of the Republican Party in 1900, Mr. Roosevelt was one of its most conspicuous figures, and not a few men of his party advocated his nomination for the presidency. But it was said that he was untried, too
