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Historical Valentine’s Day Thought

[ 19 ] February 14, 2013 | Erik Loomis

You know who had the worst Valentine’s Day in history? Theodore Roosevelt.

The second worst Valentine’s Day might go to the entire Bolivian nation.

Comments (19)

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  1. Hogan says:
    February 14, 2013 at 9:54 am

    Bugs Moran has to be up there somewhere.

    Reply
  2. rea says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:01 am

    Riichard II, James Cook, and the Orange Free State also had bad days . . .

    Reply
  3. c u n d gulag says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:11 am

    Too bad there was no Pele back then to distract the warring countries.

    Thankfully, in modern times, there’s Professional Football (Soccer) for nations to fight proxy wars with.

    Reply
  4. Halloween Jack says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:12 am

    Teddy needs a hug.

    Reply
  5. Bill Murray says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:22 am

    I think St. Valentine his own bad self might have something to say here, also Richard Coeur-de-Lion and finally Dolly the Sheep

    Reply
  6. McKingford says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:35 am

    Oscar Pistorius’ Valentines Day isn’t shaping up too well…

    Reply
  7. JKTHs says:
    February 14, 2013 at 10:51 am

    TR had a good October 3 though.

    Reply
  8. creature says:
    February 14, 2013 at 11:27 am

    Kinda makes the Valentine’s Day dumping by a girlfriend back in ’05 pale in comparison to all these events! Now, I’m happily married, and she’s ‘living’ in Texas. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?

    Reply
  9. Randy Paul says:
    February 14, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    As for the wounds still running deep, I went to see Evo Morales speak at Cooper Union in July 2007. For the duration of his speech there was a Bolivian naval officer in dress whites standing behind him at attention. Not sure what to make of it, but it looked like a message was being sent.

    Reply
    • Chester Allman says:
      February 14, 2013 at 2:11 pm

      What does a Bolivian navy officer do with his or her time? (Other than standing around for public presentations). Is there a Bolivian naval academy?

      Reply
      • Chester Allman says:
        February 14, 2013 at 2:17 pm

        Okay, to answer my own question:

        In addition to the vast Lake Titicaca, Bolivia has 5,000 miles of navigable rivers which require patrolling. The navy intercepts smugglers, delivers supplies to remote rural areas and rescues people and livestock during floods. Life is not dull, according to Captain Ramiro Pardo, a commander at San Pedro de Tiquina.

        Sailors helped archaeologists explore the lake for Inca ruins, for example, and when Fifa, world football’s governing body, briefly banned high-altitude football matches – a threat to Bolivia’s mountain stadiums – the navy staged exercises on Andean peaks to show Fifa’s health concerns were groundless.

        I’m reading Battle Cry of Freedom right now, and just finished the part about Grant’s army-navy force trying to hack its way through the overgrown rivers and swamps around Vicksburg, a long way from the open sea. So it’s not impossible to imagine.

        Reply
  10. mijaba says:
    February 14, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    Not as bad as Alice Roosevelt, I’d say.

    Reply
  11. Bruce Vail says:
    February 16, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    As someone with several TR biographical books on my shelf, I wonder whether a lot of TR’s enduring popularity has to do with the numerous poignant and well-documented stories of his personal life, rather than his accomplishments as a political figure.

    I think it was Edmund Morris who pointed out that TR was our first modern president in the sense in that he was the first to effectively harness the mass media to his own ambition.

    Reply

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