Happy Birthday, Mr. President

By: Carol Silva

Happy Birthday, Mr. President, Happy Birthday to you!

No, it's not Marilyn Monroe, singing to her buddy President Jack Kennedy. It's Oyster Bay, Long Island, and really the WORLD, singing today, to Long Island's only President (so far!) Theodore Roosevelt!

Today is the 150th Anniversary of the birth of the President who lived in Oyster Bay. And this weekend, they threw one heck of a birthday for ol' TR in Oyster Bay.

It started Saturday with this parade through the village. The parade stepped off at the beautiful TR statue in front of the Boys & Girls Club. It moved up South Street, towards the restaurant Wild Honey. "Back in the day," that building was TR's summer White House office - the place he'd conduct business durng the summers, when he'd leave Washington for his summer family home at Sagamore Hill.

 

What's great about a day in Oyster Bay is that you are walking (or marching) down the very same streets that one of the greatest Presidents ever strolled.

It was the kind of parade TR would have loved. Full of bag pipers, marching bands - including from Oyster Bay High School, historic reenacters and kids, and kids, and kids!

And why is the 26th President of the United States so highly regarded? The man behind (and IN) Mount Rushmore believed we needed to preserve and protect America's natural resources - largely through our national parks. Mr. Roosevelt helped to make America a national power by funding our US Navy. And the once sickly little boy became an American hero when he grew up to be a great outdoorsman, but one who legend has it, protected a baby bear when his Mama Bear had been shot. Toymakers capitalized on the story with the "Teddy Bear."

So thanks, Colonel, for coming to Long Island, and reminding us that it really is one of the greatest places in the world. And Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Mr. President, Happy Birthday to you!