After two years he was nominated for the vice-presidency. The New York "bosses" were glad because they knew that as president of the Senate he could do very little to disturb them. But he had set a good example, and the great man who brought notice of his nomination said, "There is not a young man in the United States who has not found your life and influence an incentive to better things and higher ideals." He made a whirlwind campaign. He spoke for eight weeks, in twenty-four states, traveling more than twenty thousand miles, making nearly seven hundred speeches to three million citizens. [Sidenote: =Succeeds McKinley=] In just six months President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became President. [Sidenote: =How he had risen to high office=] =190. At Height of Ambition.= The young man who had made himself strong, who cherished the memory of his father and mother, who had taught the mission class while in college, who had joined the Republican Club against the advice of his friends, who had fought against spoilsmen in state and national politics, who battled for the right of children to a breathing place in New York City, who had led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, who had stood as governor of New York against wrongdoing in high as well as low places, who was made Vice-President against his will, for the good of his party, now stood at the height of political power in America. The people loved him so well that they called him to be President a second time; and that, too, by the largest majority ever given to any President. He was the youngest President ever elected. [Sidenote: =Square deal, his motto=] His motto as President was "a square deal for everybody." He did many wonderful things as President: he stopped men from stealing public lands in the West; he built great dams in the dry regions to hold the water for raising crops; he established national parks containing millions of acres of woodland; he kept millions of acres of coal lands from falling into the hands of private companies; he established fifty-one national reservations where birds might nest and live protected from harm. How he did enjoy saving what nature had given men! [Sidenote: =A great writer=] Down to his time, Roosevelt was the most learned man ever President. He knew more subjects and knew them better than most men. He was a great writer. For a long time he thought that writing was to be his career. It turned out to be only a small part of his crowded life, yet he wrote over thirty books--more than any other President. [Sidenote: =Roosevelt's books=] He wrote histories, books on hunting, essays on American life and ideals, and lives of famous men. His story of his own life is well known. In his book, "The Strenuous Life," he tries to rouse other people to as active and fearless a life as he himself lived. He wrote always in vigorous, stirring language. Nearly every one agrees that Roosevelt's books alone would have made him famous.