What Is Woodrow Wilson's Journey To Brazil

By 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt had been out of the White House for four long years, his bid for a surprising third term ended in a defeat to Woodrow Wilson when he is forced to run as a third party candidate and now he's lacking a sense of purpose. He jumps at the opportunity to journey to Brazil as part of a scientific journey of discovery sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. During the planning stages, the trip undergoes changes from one that would be mostly ceremonial in nature for the still greatly admired former President to one of only moderate difficulty, finally becoming an ambitious but arduous exploration of nearly one thousand miles of uncharted Amazonian jungle wilderness. The planning of the trip goes very badly with unnecessary and impractical supplies and various useless modes of transportation due to the many evolutions the trip has undertaken. And yet the selection of members of the expedition may have been even worse than the requisitioning of provisions. One ill-suited but well-meaning individual expected porters to carry him on a chair through the rugged terrain! Once in South America, Roosevelt, his son Kermit, Brazilian expedition leader Colonel Rondon, and the others realize many of the …show more content…
The explorers paid a heavy price losing 3 men and each suffering injury and illness. Roosevelt finally makes his way back to America to a heroes welcome, at times having to convince skeptics that the story of the expedition is not fiction. This most strenuous of Roosevelt's many larger than life exploits is the one that has been hardest on the elder statesmen as he sheds more than 55 pounds. His legendary robust health never does return and it is believed his death five years later at age 60 was hastened by this