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SPEAKER: When President McKinley got shot in 1901, 42-year-old Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest president ever. And the country would never be the same. America was modernizing, and Teddy Roosevelt was the right man to lead the United States into the 20th century. Teddy's energy was legendary. And he didn't let up as commander in chief.

Domestically, TR promoted the idea that government should aggressively look out for the little guy. He tried to curb the power of corporations. He protected consumers with new regulation of food and drug safety. And he conserved millions of acres of wilderness for public use. The whole package was known as the Square Deal.

Internationally, he pumped up America's influence. Roosevelt oversaw the building of the Panama Canal and declared the US was the policeman of the Western hemisphere. He traveled abroad and even won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the end of a war between Russia and Japan. But most important was the way Roosevelt did his job.

He developed his own policies. And if Congress didn't agree with him, he appealed directly to the public for support or simply signed an executive order to put his policies into place. He wasn't squeamish about using his power. TR thought the president should do anything the nation required unless forbidden by the Constitution or the law. He was an activist like this country had never seen. And that's why they call him the first modern President.

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