06/04/2026
in 1903, Theodore Roosevelt stood at Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, Illinois — and used the moment to say something he believed to his core.
Roosevelt noticed that the guard around Lincoln's tomb was made up of African American soldiers, and it moved him. He had served beside Black troops at Santiago in Cuba five years earlier, and he never forgot it. Standing there, he said: "A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterward. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have."
That phrase — the square deal — became one of the defining ideas of his presidency. It wasn't a promise that everyone would succeed. It was a promise that everyone would get a fair chance and an honest hand: no crookedness in the dealing.
There was real weight in saying it on that spot — Lincoln's tomb, in Lincoln's hometown, with Lincoln's legacy of union and freedom all around. Roosevelt was placing his own creed in that long line, and tying it directly to the men who had earned it under fire.
It was the next-to-last day of a 14,000-mile journey. Of all the hundreds of things he said on that tour, these are among the words best worth remembering.
