Revisiting the tangled legacy of Theodore Roosevelt National Park At his namesake park in North Dakota, reconciling the president’s conservation successes with his racist views.

“The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian,” Roosevelt declared in an 1886 speech. “The truth is, the Indians never had any real title to the soil,” he wrote three years later in The Winning of the West. How do we reconcile such wisdom with such ignorance? India walai meri comment ko upwards Arrow bagair nahi Nilaigai.... Baki kch kameenai hotai hai Jai Hind.... #IndianLivesMatter

As monuments come under scrutiny across the country, so too do the places named for conservation’s long-enshrined heroes. I recalled my travels in North Dakota. Had I missed the full story? By emphasizing Theodore Roosevelt the conservationist, had I lost the opportunity to present a more complete portrait of the man—and the land preserved in his name?

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