Teddy was one of those Very Incredibly Interesting Folks. An honest man, a racist, a dedicated champion of the people, and a war-hawk jingo. He lived his life thumping his chest and was only broken when war took his son. Decades of rough living and the only thing that could break him was love
He was probably about average in terms of racism for his time period - and somewhat less racist than many politicians in power at the time. But that's damnation by faint praise as much as anything.
Explanation: In a rather famous incident, Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest just before he was to give a speech to a waiting crowd while running on the Progressive Party ticket during the 1912 presidential election. Instead of canceling the speech or going off to the hospital immediately, he hung around and gave an hour long speech to the waiting crowd before getting medical attention.
