On this episode of Our American Stories, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president in American history when he took office in 1901. He is remembered for trust-busting, conservation, and the phrase “carry a big stick.” But before all of that, he was a young man in mourning.

After the sudden death of his wife and mother on the same day in 1884, Roosevelt fled west to the Dakota Territory, seeking solitude, purpose, and renewal on the frontier. Roger McGrath and Michael Blake tell the story of Theodore Roosevelt in North Dakota, and how the hardships of ranch life helped forge one of America’s most consequential leaders.

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