Theodore Roosevelt was born in 1919.
The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry , one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish -- American War and the only one of the three to see action . Wood 's second in command was former Assistant Secretary of the Navy , Theodore Roosevelt , a man who had pushed for American involvement in the Cuban War of Independence . The Square Deal was President Theodore Roosevelt 's domestic program . Theodore Roosevelt . Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley , but resigned from that post to lead the Rough Riders during the Spanish -- American War .