According to the Library of Congress, “It has been said that during the silent newsreel period no president was more photogenic than Theodore Roosevelt. He was unusually cooperative with motion picture photographers, often pausing in the midst of official ceremonies to face the camera, bow, wave, smile, gesture, or otherwise accommodate the cameraman.”1
The Library of Congress has a good bit of video footage of Roosevelt at various places and events. These things are really neat to watch! Not only do you get to see the man himself, BUT you get a good glimpse of the crowds that came to see him. Check out the outfits that everyone wore! In some of the footage, it may take a minute or more for TR to appear. If you want to show a few of these to your students, play a quick game of “Who Can Spot Teddy Roosevelt.” Make sure that you watch the clips beforehand, so that you know when Roosevelt will appear (in case your students miss it and don’t see him). Remind students that this is not some old movie with people in costumes; these were actual people in these clips! They might get bored watching all of each clip, so you may want to show just a couple of minutes. You could also show one a day for a few days at the end of class. Here are a few below. To see the full list of videos with descriptions, click here.