About Kurt Skinner

As an ICBM launch officer stationed at Minot AFB, North Dakota in the late 1990s, my unit, the 91st Missile Wing, was preparing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Colonel Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” victorious capture of San Juan Hill in the 1898 Spanish American War. The 91st MW nickname of “Rough Riders” was in honor of North Dakota’s proud Badlands connection to Theodore Roosevelt (he famously declared that he would “never have became President were it not for his time spent in North Dakota.”) I met Roosevelt’s great-grandson, Tweed Roosevelt, during his visit to our unit that year and I was hooked. I commenced on a study of this great American life that, 20+ years on, has led to a bookshelf full of TR writings and biographies, and a fascination with his “strenuous life” well lived that has continued to inspire me to this day.

A retired military officer-turned high school U.S. history teacher, I’m a life-long student of history. My students would testify to the fact that it’s important for me to “get it right” as regards historical accuracy. Theodore Roosevelt’s presence looms large in my daily routine as I co-host a weekly podcast about Theodore Roosevelt called Talk About Teddy. I enjoy researching the veterans stories of Colonel Roosevelt’s bond of brotherhood with his Rough Rider regiment after war, and post articles on the Theodore Roosevelt Center website. I am a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association and The American Legion Colorado Post 209.