structural:scholar_edition
Persona and masculinity

Dalton says Roosevelt is remembered as "one of the most picturesque personalities who has ever enlivened the landscape". His friend, historian Henry Adams, proclaimed: "Roosevelt, more than any other man... showed the singular primitive quality that belongs to ultimate matter—the quality that medieval theology assigned to God—he was pure act". Cooper compared him with Woodrow Wilson, highlighting their roles as warrior and priest. Dalton stressed Roosevelt's strenuous life. Brands calls Roosevelt "the last romantic ", viewing his romantic notion of life as emerging from his belief in physical bravery as the highest virtue. Henry F. Pringle, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Theodore Roosevelt (1931), stated the "Roosevelt of later years was the most adolescent of men."

Roosevelt as the exemplar of American masculinity has become a major theme. He often warned that men were becoming too complacent, failing in their duties to propagate the race and exhibit masculine vigor. Historian Serge Ricard noted that Roosevelt's advocacy of the "Strenuous Life" made him an ideal subject for psycho-historical analysis of aggressive manhood in his era. He promoted competitive sports for physically strengthening American men and supported organizations like the Boy Scouts, to mold and strengthen the character of American boys. Brands shows that heroic displays of bravery were central to Roosevelt's image:

What makes the hero a hero is the romantic notion that he stands above the tawdry give and take of everyday politics, occupying an ethereal realm where partisanship gives way to patriotism, and division to unity, and where the nation regains its lost innocence...

In 1902, Théobald Chartran was commissioned to paint Roosevelt's presidential portrait. Roosevelt hid it in a closet before having it destroyed because it made him look like a "meek kitten". Roosevelt instead chose John Singer Sargent to paint his portrait.