brasil

Reverência, mestre!

Bain's caption on the negative says "Roosevelt at Rio Janeiro."

Former President Theodore Roosevelt, at age 55, defeated in his 1912 attempt at election for a third term as the candidate of the Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party, in 1913 sailed for Brazil to embark on his life's last great adventure, exploring the uncharted rain forest via the River of Doubt. Marked by poor planning, inadequate equipment, and a surfeit of bad luck, the expedition was harrowing, to put it mildly, and TR nearly died (as in fact some in the party did) -- but ultimately in 1914 he and his son, Kermit, and others in the party made it back to the embrace of civilization. (And the River of Doubt now bears the name Rio Roosevelt.) Roosevelt lived to write a book about his ordeal, "Through the Brazilian Wilderness." The story has recently been updated and retold in a gripping bestseller (2005) by Candice Millard -- "The River of Doubt; Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey," a book that comes highly recommended by its many readers, myself included. Another Bain/LOC photo of Roosevelt in Rio Janeiro: A Bain/LOC photo of Mrs. Roosevelt in Rio:

Thanks for the information about the trip, Wystan. Next time we update the records for these images, we'll add the 1913 date.

To the left of TR is the doctor Oswaldo Cruz, important physician against the yellow fever in Brazil.

I like that vehicle!