[Theodore Roosevelt, full-length portrait, seated in rocking chair, facing left, by large globe]

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Theodore Roosevelt sits full length in a rocking chair, turned to the left, with a large globe at his side, a pose that signals the world-facing outlook he brought to the presidency. The photograph belongs to the National Photo Company Collection, a commercial archive of images made in Washington in the first decades of the twentieth century, and the record dates it to about 1908, the final full year of his term. Roosevelt, who had taken office after William McKinley's assassination in 1901, was known for his interest in foreign affairs and in the United States as a rising naval and diplomatic power, and the globe in the frame fits that reputation. Portraits of presidents from this era were often staged to convey character and purpose as much as likeness.

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