7 Theodore Roosevelt 7Theodore Roosevelt photographed in Colorado in 1905. Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
government’s fi rst true regulatory agency. Also in 1906,
Roosevelt pressed Congress to pass the Pure Food and
Drug and Meat Inspection acts , which created agencies to
assure protection to consumers.
Roosevelt’s boldest actions came in the area of natural
resources. At his urging, Congress created the Forest
Service (1905) to manage government-owned forest
reserves. Simultaneously, Roosevelt exercised existing
presidential authority to designate public lands as national
forests, setting aside almost fi ve times as much land as all
of his predecessors combined.
The end of Roosevelt’s presidency was tempestuous. His
already strained relations with Republican conservatives