Theodore, Teddy or simply TR The youthful New Yorker uplifted the bar His sense of himself often blurred into parody He made of the prez a prestigious celebrity He sought a canal but Colombia resisted Some rebels revolted when TR insisted Once Panama's rulers had well settled in TR had his treaty: "Let construction begin!" He tackled the moguls, the heads of the trusts With monopoly lawsuits, their combines to bust First target was Morgan's vast railroad domain The arrogant Pierpont protested in vain Teddy’s great passion was wild conservation Of forests and wetlands from rank desolation When Congress, hard lobbied, restricted his power He saved dozens more at the ultimate hour Taft ought to have been but a federal judge His duties as prez always felt like a trudge Till egotist Teddy broke sweet William's heart And tore the Republican party apart Wilson had long been a Princeton professor, Of logical eloquence one proud possessor He tended to reckon in airy abstractions People, to him, were too often distractions When Europe alarmingly fell into war Prez Wilson declared "We're a neutral, not more" But sitting aside in due course lost its charms And second-term Wilson exhorted: "To arms!" Long had he dreamed of a world federation Humanity grounded on legal foundation At Paris he argued for bold innovation A club of the peaceful, a true League of Nations At home he bent effort promoting the League On travels cross country he courted fatigue His resonant voice was reduced to a croak Till outside Pueblo he suffered a stroke The silence of Wilson advantaged his foes Against the war's treaty as one they arose All Wilson's success they contrived to unmake And vetoed the League as a fatal mistake