Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States.
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the powerful United States Navy battle fleet that completed a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907 , to 22 February 1909 , by order of United States President Theodore Roosevelt . Russo-Japanese War . The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth , mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt . 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 . United States presidential election, 1908 . Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt , honoring a promise not to seek a third term , persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft , his close friend and Secretary of War , to become his successor . William McKinley . However , his legacy was quickly cut short when he was shot on September 6 , 1901 by Leon Czolgosz , a second-generation Polish-American with anarchist leanings ; McKinley died eight days later , and was succeeded by his Vice President Theodore Roosevelt .