Theodore Roosevelt: The Protestant President Who Protected an Antisemite with Jewish Police Officers
Jul 7, 2025
09:29
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On this episode of Our American Stories, President Theodore Roosevelt is known for his many accomplishments: the Panama Canal, his wartime service, and national parks… but there’s one forgotten story that deserves to be remembered as well. As an icon of the Protestant elite, Roosevelt was an unlikely ally of the waves of impoverished Jewish newcomers who crowded the docks at Ellis Island — and he stood up against antisemitism in his city in an astonishing way. Here to tell the story is Arizona State history professor Andrew Porwancher, author of American Maccabee: Theodore Roosevelt and the Jews.
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