MUST SEE: The Moment Actual Rough Riders Escort Trump's Motorcade to the Teddy Roosevelt Library
President Donald Trump visited the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Wednesday and received a memorable welcome courtesy of the Rough Riders.
The 26th president’s new library is set to open on the Fourth of July in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Despite being a New Yorker by birth and spending a considerable portion of his early career in politics there, Roosevelt had a love of the great outdoors. He sought refuge in the Dakota Badlands territory in 1884 as he grieved the death of his first wife and his mother, who died on the same day.
Wednesday saw the 45th and 47th president pay his respects to the life of the 26th president, delivering a dedication address with the Rough Riders behind him after they escorted his motorcade to the grounds.
President Trump’s motorcade receives an escort to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library from the Rough Riders! 🐎🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/y5VVkAV9Mv
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2026
The Rough Rider reenactors recreated the unit Roosevelt once led in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, fighting in Cuba. This was the First Volunteer Cavalry, which Roosevelt eagerly joined, resigning his post as assistant secretary of the Navy upon the outbreak of war that year.
The fame he garnered leading these men would carry him to the governorship of New York shortly after the war, and the vice presidency under President William McKinley when he secured his second term.
A tragic turn of events thrust Roosevelt into the spotlight of the nation’s highest office in September 1901, when McKinley was assassinated.
In his dedication message, Trump remarked, “Theodore Roosevelt reminds us all that to be a great nation, and to be a free nation, we must have courage. Without courage, you have nothing.
“As T.R. once put it, ‘Freedom is not a gift that lasts long in the hands of cowards.'”
Trump called the quote “a great statement,” to the applause of the crowd.
.@POTUS: “Theodore Roosevelt reminds us all that to be a great nation, and to be a free nation, we must have courage… As T.R. once put it, ‘Freedom is not a gift that lasts long in the hands of cowards.'” pic.twitter.com/yixw6oF8mo
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2026
Roosevelt was the embodiment of a masculine force directing the country.
Despite growing up sickly, with eyesight problems, he built himself physically, enjoying wrestling and boxing.
He served his country willingly in 1898 against the Spanish, even trying to serve again in the Great War after the United States entered in 1917, despite being 58 years old.
In office, he became known as the “Trust Buster,” going after monopolies like those in the railroad industry.
In October 1912, while delivering a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was shot in an assassination attempt, astonishingly finishing the 90-minute speech before going to a hospital.
He was unapologetically bold in his maneuvers, a standard our current president upholds.
Freedom is a gift, and one that only the bold can defend.
Shirking our responsibilities to this great nation by being cowardly, timid, and avoidant of conflict only disgraces the memory of men like Roosevelt who came before us.
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