How would the US Navy and the wider country change if Theodore Roosevelt died in the Spanish-American War?
Short answerThe Navy loses a crucial advocate, while Roosevelt becomes an unusually powerful national martyr and military icon.
NotesIf Theodore Roosevelt died in the Spanish-American War, the US Navy would lose its strongest advocate and receive less funding. His battlefield death could also give him a place in American public memory comparable to Nelson's in Britain. The imagined commemorative culture includes repeated films about his life and political demands for unusually prominent national recognition. These predictions concern the possible remembrance of a dead war hero. The United States could celebrate him more intensely while building the navy he supported less aggressively.