MBM Donation of the Day: Radian Raptor Limited Edition

Bruce Williams, Revere’s Riders President, has donated a Radian Raptor Veterans Day 2020 Limited Edition AR-15 charging handle to the Marty Brown Memorial™ series of charitable events. The charging handle is engraved with a famous quote from the 26th President of the United States:

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

–Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Roosevelt first used this phrase publicly at the Minnesota State Fair in 1901 when he was Vice President under William McKinley. The phrase described his foreign policy viewpoint of negotiating peacefully but ensuring a strong backup position should things go wrong. This policy ultimately became known as “Big Stick Diplomacy“.

Roosevelt famously embraced a “strenuous life” as a personal effort to reverse a sickly childhood which included debilitating episodes of asthma. Teddy or “TR” as Roosevelt was commonly known, went on to a life spanning political offices including New York State Assemblyman, President of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of New York State, Vice President of the United States, and President of the United States; conservation efforts including the establishment of the United States Forest Service, creation of five new National Parks, and 18 National Monuments; Roosevelt was an avid hunter and during a Smithsonian Institute sponsored expedition to Africa, his group procured approximately 11,400 animals including specimens from insects and moles to hippopotamuses and elephants all of which were sent back to the Smithsonian for mounting and display. The Smithsonian would donate duplicate specimens to other museums throughout the country.

In 1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roosevelt was shot with the bullet penetrating his steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page copy of his speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt went on to give the 90 minute speech, with blood seeping into his shirt. His opening comments to the audience were:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”

–Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

A later x-ray would show the bullet lodged in Roosevelt’s chest muscle; doctors concluded it would be less dangerous to leave the bullet there than attempt to remove it. Roosevelt carried the bullet in his chest until the day he died.