Upon the expiration of his term Roose velt went immediately on a big game hunting excursion through Central Africa. From 1909-14 he was contributing editor of the "Outlook," in which journal he commented on national and international affairs. In 1910 he was special ambassa dor of the United States at the funeral of King Edward VII.
Upon his return from Africa and Eu rope Roosevelt became con'ainced that the Republican 'Party was falling into the hands of reactionaries. The Republican National Convention, Chicago, 1912, brought on a crisis in which the Liberal or Progressive Republicans demanded Roosevelt's nomination. There was bitter dispute over the seating of certain dele gates, but William H. Taft was nominated for the presidency. Owing to a belief that certain rulings of the Chairman were unparliamentary, the Progressive Repub licans felt that they were not bound by the vote. This gave birth to what was known as the Progressive or Bull Moose Party, which six weeks later met in Chi cago and nominated Roosevelt for the presidency on a new party ticket. The platform adopted stressed many of the liberal doctrines which Roosevelt had ad vocated during his career and some to which he gave personally only reluctant assent. The chief planks in the platform were direct primaries, conservation of natural resources, woman suffrage, the initiative, the referendum and the recall of judicial decisions. Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey, was nominated by the Democratic Party which resulted in an intensely bitter three-cornered fight. At the election on Nov. 5, Wilson was elected by 6,286,000 votes out of 15,310,000. Roosevelt received 4,126,000 and Taft 3,483,000.
Although many of the Progressives felt that they had formed a new permanent political party, Roosevelt did not share their views, for in 1916 he gave his un qualified support to Charles E. Hughes, the Republican candidate for the presi dency. In 1913 Roosevelt went to South America where he delivered a series of addresses, and in 1914 explored a tribu tary of the Madeira river, in Brazil, for a distance of 600 miles. Fever contracted during this expedition led to physical troubles which finally ended in death. The year 1915 is memorable in his life because of a law-suit brought against him by William Barnes, Jr., of Albany, N. Y., charging Roosevelt with libel. The verdict was in favor of the defendant.
The Progressive Party in 1916 nomi nated Roosevelt for the presidency which he declined almost immediately, in order to throw his personal influence in favor of Hughes against Wilson.
During the World War, 1914-18, Roosevelt spoke and wrote incessantly on the duty of America to take a more posi tive stand in the conflict. He offered to raise and equip an army division or sev eral divisions and lead them to France in 1917, but the offer was declined by President Wilson.
Roosevelt died unexpectedly Jan. 6, 1919. Since his death all partisan feel ing toward him has passed away, and he is now recognized as one of the greatest leaders of the United States, certainly the most versatile man America has pro duced. He was apparently impulsive in his utterances, but when his conclusions were examined, almost invariably they were found to rest upon sound erudition and had been reached by sustained and consecutive thought. His reading was unusually extensive, and his personal friendship with statesmen, scientists and eminent thinkers and writers of many lands made him familiar with the best and most advanced contemporaneous thought of the world.
Besides a multitude of magazine and newspaper articles he wrote the following volumes: "Winning of the West" (1889 96) ; "History of the Naval War of 1812" (1882) ; "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman" (1885); "Life of Thomas Hart Benton" (1886) ; "Life of Gouverneur Morris" (1887) ; "Ranch Life and Hunting Trail" (1888) ; "History of New York" (1890) ; "The Wilderness Hunter" (1893) ; "Amer ican Ideals and Other Essays" (1897) ; "The Rough Riders" (1899) ; "Life of Oliver Cromwell" (1900) ; "The Strenu ous Life" (1900) ; "Works" (8 Vols., 1902) ; "The Deer Family" (1902) ; "Out door Pastimes of an American Hunter" (1906) ; "Good Hunting" (1907) ; "True Americanism"; "African and European Addresses" (1910) ; "African Game Trails" (1910) ; "The New Nationalism" (1910) ; "Realizable Ideals" (the Earl lectures, 1912) ; "Conservation of Woman hood and Childhood" (1912) ; "History as Literature, and Other Essays" (1913) ; "Theodore Roosevelt, an Autobiography" (1913) ; "Life Histories of African Game Animals" (2 vols., 1914) ; "Through the Brazilian Wilderness" (1914) ; "America and the World War" (1915) ; "A Book lover's Holidays in the Open" (1916) ; "Fear God, and Take Your Own Part" (1916) ; "Foes of Our Own Household" (1917) ; "National Strength and Inter national Duty" (Stafford Little Lectures, Princeton Univ., 1917) ; "Theodore Roose velt's Letters to His Children" (1919).