Theodore Roosevelt Jr. used to play a game with his children at the family home in Oyster Bay, N.Y.

He would start them at Point A and tell them to go to Point B — in a straight line.

The kids had to go over physical obstacles, not around them. This was the famed straight-line march.

That sums up how Roosevelt handled the many challenges in his life. He didn't just face them. He embraced them. And he went over them, not around.

It's too easy to say Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) would be a success in anything he tried. Yes, he was born into a wealthy and well-connected New York family.

But Roosevelt — T.R. to his friends, Teddy to the millions who voted for him — was a famously larger-than-life man. He sought the biggest challenges of his time. And he left his stamp on the nation and the world.

He was successful at so many things: police chief, governor, president — plus conservationist, historian, author and soldier.

"He really had a sense of what this country could aspire to. It was the right attitude at the right time," said Craig Haffner, an independent producer of a slew of biographies for the History and A&E channels.

As a child, T.R. suffered from terrible bouts of asthma that would leave him wheezing for hours, days, even weeks. Doctors could do precious little in those days for asthmatics. One theory had it that nicotine would relieve the symptoms. So 8-year-old Teddy had fat cigars stuffed in his mouth when his attacks came on.

His father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., finally came to the conclusion that Teddy held the key to his own health. What followed was a strict regimen of exercise — and lots of it.

Growing Up

We'll never know if this really beat the asthma or if he simply outgrew it. But T.R.'s love of the physical and nature only grew throughout his life. And a scrawny, sickly kid turned into a hale and hearty man.

What's more, Roosevelt learned that the answers to his problems were within himself. And he gained the confidence to do anything he set his mind to. This life-changing lesson empowered T.R. to a lifetime of awe-inspiring achievements.

While his presidency from 1901 to 1909 was T.R.'s apex, the pivot of his career came years earlier as a state senator from Manhattan's "silk stocking" district.

This is where Teddy learned how to work a political machine and showed the stuff he was made of, says Paul Grondahl, an Albany, N.Y., historian and author of "I Rose Like a Rocket: The Political Education of Theodore Roosevelt."

"The Republicans had something T.R. called the spoils system — cronyism, corruption," Grondahl said.

In what seemed an act of career suicide, Roosevelt faced down these all-powerful abusers of the system.

"He would stand on the floor of the assembly in debate. People would heckle him. But he would say, 'My colleague so-and-so is taking bribes from such-and-such corporation,' " Grondahl said.

What good did that do? It brought that dark business into the bright glare of daylight.

And it got Roosevelt appointed to a committee to oversee New York City-related issues.

Once again, he faced down the system's worst abusers. T.R. launched a probe into the city's notoriously corrupt criminal justice system. "You could get a nice cell in jail, get released early or even avoid jail entirely — for a price," Grondahl said.T.R. got noticed.

While still in his 20s, he was elected minority speaker in the New York state Senate. "And he's getting a lot of press attention as a possible candidate for governor," Grondahl said. "All within three years."

Then came gloom. His young wife died after giving birth in 1884. His mother died within 24 hours.

Devastated, 26-year-old T.R. quit politics. He retreated to the Dakota Territories, where he bought a ranch and raised cattle. Amid that comeback, the brutal winter of 1885 wiped out his herd.

This was his rock bottom. He had lost his wife, his mother, his career in Albany and most of his inheritance in the Dakotas.

So harkening back to lessons learned in his childhood, T.R. found the answer in himself.

He re-entered politics.

He got creamed in his bid for mayor of New York. "But he showed the Republican Party that he was back, serious and ready to pay his dues," Grondahl said.

After a stint as Civil Service commissioner, he was named New York City's police commissioner in 1895. This seemed a sure path to failure. New York's "finest" was one of the most corrupt forces in the nation.

Now it went up against T.R.

Roosevelt was "an iron-willed leader of unimpeachable honesty, (who) brought a reforming zeal to the New York City Police Commission," says the NYPD's historical records.

First among his reforms, T.R. built new rules of discipline for the force.

He also established procedures to identify criminals, using a method that was the precursor of fingerprinting. And he oversaw the recruitment of 1,600 officers who won their jobs on merit, not payoffs or political connections.

And how do you make sure your officers, in a historically dishonest police force, are working their beat?

The commissioner would simply go for a walk late at night or in the early morning. Any officer who wanted to play hooky would know he was taking a risk.

"He would go out disguised and found cops in brothels or dead drunk," Grondahl said.

His high-profile success caught the eye of President McKinley, who named him assistant secretary of the Navy. With the secretary largely absent, T.R. effectively was in charge and prepared the Navy for the Spanish-American War.

When that war broke out in 1898, T.R. resigned his office to join the Army. He helped organize the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment.

This motley band became known as the Rough Riders. They famously charged San Juan Hill — going over it, not around.

But history will best remember Theodore Roosevelt for two crowning achievements. First, as the man who helped usher the U.S. onto the world stage. Second, as a trustbuster and an advocate for a "square deal" for every American.

As our 26th president, T.R. was a real internationalist.

"His vision of America was that of an economic and social force so great that it could not avoid influencing the world," Haffner said.

America would have to meet this challenge head-on, not go around it.

Roosevelt's efforts to push America onto the global front met resistance at home. Then, as now, many were isolationists.

"We were digesting a huge influx of European and Asian immigration," Haffner said. "The idea of getting more involved with foreigners didn't sit well. 'We have enough problems right here,' a lot of people said."

Soft And Clear

Roosevelt aimed straight for that international stage anyway as he made sure, as he put it, to "speak softly and carry a big stick."

His approach helped mediate the Russo-Japanese War and landed him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.

T.R. again took on the most powerful men in the U.S.: the trusts. Some of America's biggest industries — including railroads, steel and oil — operated as near monopolies.

As you'd expect, the powerful few squeezed all they could from their position. Roosevelt said enough.

"T.R. was not a socialist as we know the phrase," Haffner said. "But he knew the country couldn't thrive if the bulk of the people were oppressed by these trusts."

BY DONALD H. GOLD