Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to fly in an airplane.

Famous Figures

O n October 11, 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt took to the skies above St. Louis, Missouri, aboard a Wright Company aircraft. This unprecedented event, which took place roughly 19 months after Roosevelt left office, made Roosevelt the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. The decision to fly was off the cuff: Roosevelt was visiting Missouri to support state Republicans in their election campaign when he was invited to hop aboard the airplane by aviator Arch Hoxsey. He initially declined, but then changed his mind and climbed aboard. The plane took Roosevelt to "a height of less than one hundred feet," according to a New-York Tribune article, and covered 3 miles over the span of 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Roosevelt was described by a reporter from the United Press as having "defied death" in front of 10,000 breathless onlookers, and emerged saying, "That was the bulliest experience I ever had."

Teddy wasn't the only Roosevelt to make aviation history. In 1932, his fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt flew from New York to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to accept the party's presidential nomination. FDR later became the first president to fly on a plane on January 13, 1943, when he flew to Morocco to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The journey was more than 15,000 miles total, as the plane made refueling stops in Trinidad, Brazil, and the Gambia on the way. The president would have normally taken a boat, but doing so was far too risky given the German submarine activity in the Atlantic Ocean at the time.

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By the Numbers

Letters written by Teddy Roosevelt during his life

~150,000

Age Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest U.S. president

Did you know?

Teddy Roosevelt ran for president as a member of the Bull Moose Party.

While serving as president from 1901 to 1909, Theodore Roosevelt was a member of the Republican Party. But in 1912, he ran for president once again — this time as a member of the Bull Moose Party. Back in 1909, Roosevelt handed the presidential reins over to successor William Howard Taft, despite being eligible to seek a second full term. But Roosevelt quickly became disillusioned by Taft's performance, and challenged Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination. Though Roosevelt was unsuccessful in securing the nomination, he persisted and formed a new Progressive Party, which was nicknamed the Bull Moose Party after Roosevelt quipped to a reporter that he was "fit as a bull moose." On Election Day, Roosevelt and Taft both lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, but Roosevelt made history by finishing second as an independent. His 88 electoral votes are still the most votes ever won by a third-party presidential candidate in the U.S.

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