Roosevelt Battle Flag
As he was finishing the final leg of his campaign tour for President on the Progressive Party ticket, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt found himself campaigning in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912. As he was leaving the Gilpatrick Hotel, Roosevelt handed a piece of memorabilia to an onlooker: a red handkerchief with the candidate’s likeness, promoting his candidacy for the Presidency. As Roosevelt climbed into a waiting automobile, he turned and waived to the crowd. At that moment, John Schrank, a crazed bartender who had been stalking Roosevelt for weeks, fired at point blank range into his chest. Luckily, Roosevelt’s wadded up 50-page speech and spectacle case was in his inside coat pocket, which slowed the bullet down and saving his life.
Even though he was wounded, Roosevelt urged officials to continue onto the Milwaukee Auditorium, where he was to give a speech. As he began, he showed the crowd the blood-stained shirt and stated that he had been shot. He proclaimed, “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose”, a nickname for which Roosevelt and his political party was associated with. X-rays later revealed that the bullet had not penetrated his inner chest wall, saving his life. While the site of the assassination attempt, the Gilpatrick Hotel, is no longer standing, a marker within the Hyatt Regency lobby marks the event. Schrank remained incarcerated in Wisconsin for the rest of his life, but when on his way to trial, when asked if he was an avid hunter, Schrank smirked and replied, “Only Bull Moose”.
