Did anyone watch "The Roosevelts" last night on PBS?

[kentuck]

Did you see the part where Teddy went up the River of Doubt and almost died? He wanted to take the morphine to end his life but his son, who was on the journey, stopped him.

Then, near the end, they show him after his youngest son was killed in battle and he looked depressed. He told his wife that his home was the best place in the world. Then the cameras showed his small night table beside his bed with his medicines. Then they said he went to sleep and never woke up.

Were they trying to suggest that he took his own life??

[TwilightGardener]

1. He apparently had health problems--he just wore out really fast.

I don't think he was necessarily suicidal in South America, he was going to OD on morphine because he was whacked out with malaria and held up the party. I didn't think they were implying he killed himself when he died.

[Historic NY]

2. Official records say he died of a blood clot that

traveled to his heart. He led a strenous life not including injuries he sustained in foolish exploits. He went blind in left eye after boxing with an aide. He was also profoundly deaf in his left ear probabply the result of a botched surgery.

He looked like he was 75 when he was just 60.

[underpants]

3. Yes I saw it -Best Ken Burns in a long time but I didn't catch that element

the whole thing is fascinating to watch. Why the #^(k George Will is on there I do not know.

[kentuck]

10. Yes, a very good series....

I had not known of the connection between FDR and TR except that they were distant cousins. FDR ran as a Democrat, even though TR was his hero and even though his district in NY was primarily Republican?

Also, TR's daughter by his first marriage, Alice Longsworth, was quite an interesting story, I thought.

TR's sons in WWI was something I had not read about.

[underpants]

15. I didn't know how connected they were either

I understood that yeah they were cousins and that's about it. In reality TR was basically his mentor and role model. Amazing how many things from my youth I have found out to be completely false.

From last night FDR is up to 5 positions that TR once held and we know there is a 6th. The night before - FDR really stepped up to the plate for TR in the libel trial.

[Tom_Foolery]

4. That trip up the River of Doubt would make a great movie on its own. n/t

[SheilaT]

6. There's an entire book on that

particular adventure. River of Doubt by Candice Millard. I haven't read that one yet -- it's on my very long list of must reads -- but I have read her second book, Destiny of the Republic which is about the assassination of Garfield. That book is incredibly good. She's currently working on something connected to Roosevelt, I think the assassination attempt on him in 1933. I will buy it as soon as it comes out.

She takes relatively obscure events in our history and writes an entire fascinating book. I look forward to reading everything she ever writes.

[Tom_Foolery]

7. Thanks for the heads-up...

I look forward to reading her work.

[area51]

11. The book "River of Doubt" is very good.

Just my 2¢.

[philosslayer]

14. HA... I'm reading it now

Its good. Candice Millard also wrote a book about the assassination of James Garfield. I highly recommend it.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. He played a full game of hardball for 62 years, that's for sure.

I didn't notice the medicines on the night table, though.

[Warpy]

8. Quite probably

There were no treatments for depression except opiates and those had been declared illegal. Rich men could get friendly doctors to prescribe them from several different pharmacies and no one was checking the records of prescribed drugs back then.

Whether he took an extra large swig of the tincture of morphine to try to numb out or whether it was intentional, no one will ever know.

ETA: he spent much of his adulthood trying to repudiate his youth as a weakling when it came to team sports. He abused his body for 40 years, at least. He undeniably had plenty of reasons to have morphine on hand besides trying to numb psychic pain. He just had access to much more of it than was afforded ordinary people.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. No. He died of a pulmonary embolism...

...by every account I've read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Death

On the night of January 5, 1919, he experienced breathing problems. He felt better after treatment from his physician Dr. George W. Faller and went to bed. Roosevelt's last words were "Please put out that light, James" to his family servant James Amos. Between 4:00 AM and 4:15 AM the next morning, Roosevelt died in his sleep at Sagamore Hill from a blood clot detaching itself from a vein and entering his lungs. Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archibald telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." Woodrow Wilson's vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, said that "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_embolism

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). PE most commonly results from deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in the deep veins of the legs or pelvis) that breaks off and migrates to the lung, a process termed venous thromboembolism (VTE). A small proportion of cases are caused by the embolization of air, fat, or talc in drugs of intravenous drug abusers or amniotic fluid. The obstruction of the blood flow through the lungs and the resultant pressure on the right ventricle of the heart lead to the symptoms and signs of PE. The risk of PE is increased in various situations, such as cancer or prolonged bed rest.

[markpkessinger]

16. One of my grandmothers die of that . . .

. . . at the age of 52. And just two years ago, and acquaintanc -- a friend of a friend -- died at 35 of a pulmonary embolism.

[area51]

12. Supposedly Theodore Roosevelt wanted national health insurance.

http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/08/national_health_care_debate_ha.html

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. No

They talked about how he fully planned to be the Republican nominee in 1920.

As someone said, "Death had to take him while he was asleep. If he was awake there would have been a fight"

[markpkessinger]

17. My favorite mental image from "The Roosevelts" so far . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025553704