A hundred years before Joe Biden became the first sitting president to visit the Amazon rainforest while dodging reporter questions, Teddy Roosevelt nearly died on his own, much more daring expedition.
While 81-year-old Biden took a helicopter ride, the 55-year-old two-term Republican toured uncharted territory, contracted malaria and was nearly bitten by a venomous snake that latched onto his leather boot.
Roosevelt had just suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2012 elections and was looking for adventure. His third-party “Bull Moose” run ended in the defeat of his successor and the election of Woodrow Wilson.
Restless and ready for the challenge regardless of the risk, Roosevelt contacted Brazilian authorities to propose an expedition.
He eventually teamed up with native Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon and undertook a 2,500-mile trek. Not everyone in their traveling party returned alive.
‘I have lived and enjoyed life as much as any other nine men I know. I have had my full share, and if it is necessary for me to leave my bones in South America, I am perfectly ready,” Roosevelt told his friends.
Rough riding: Former President Teddy Roosevelt braved an Amazon probe after his defeat in the 2012 election
The months-long adventure would involve toil, triumph and betrayal, which stood in stark contrast to Biden’s four-hour visit to the region Sunday to promote conservation.
(Biden, 81, reeling from his own party’s defeat in the November election, took a 57-minute helicopter ride, visited a museum and delivered remarks to a group of reporters. The sound of maracas played by indigenous tour guides drowned out a shout a question as he walked away on a dirt path).
The Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition involved 100 men, who traveled the unexplored river of doubt by canoe, barge and steamboat during the treacherous journey, sometimes on foot and on horseback, according to one detailed look back at the 2023 Smithsonian Magazine during the epic expedition.
They spent more than two months traversing a swamp and then switched to leaky canoes for the river descent, punctuated by rapids.
Sometimes they ate spider monkeys and turtles for sustenance when supplies ran low. “The fresh meat was very acceptable to all,” wrote naturalist George Cherrie.
Like Biden, Roosevelt brought family along for support.
His son Kermit came to partially care for his 54-year-old father at his mother’s request.
Biden had granddaughter Natalie and daughter Ashley in tow for one of his last foreign trips as president.
Biden was accompanied on his trip by a team of armed Secret Service agents, plus his longtime press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre and communications director Ben LaBolt, as well as advisers.
TR had a team of indigenous and mixed African and European ‘hinterland dwellers’ to take the lead. Some of them also carried weapons, which played a role in a tragic twist.
“They were expert rivermen and men of the woods, skilled veterans of wilderness work,” Roosevelt said. ‘They felt just as at home with a stick and paddle as with an ax and machete.’
Their skills were needed when emergencies occurred. They had to stop repeatedly to get their bearings on the winding river en route to Manaus, where Biden stopped on Sunday.
They faced dangerous rapids. Kermit developed boils on his thighs. They had to carry canoes over rough terrain and try to lower them into rapids.
At one point, the former president’s son had to cling, exhausted, to a capsized canoe. One skipper, Antônio Simplício da Silva, was presumed drowned. His body was never found.
Jungle love: President Joe Biden delivered remarks to the press after visiting the Museu da Amazonia in Brazil
Trek: Biden walked along the museum paths. He previously toured the area by military helicopter
Roosevelt and Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon undertook the expedition
The expedition used dugout canoes and animal transport. Roosevelt eventually developed an infection. One team member shot and killed another team member
Rubber Room: The Amazon acts as a carbon sink for the planet and is home to a wealth of species
The trip took the former president to the heart of the Amazon
‘This morning we are confronted with our first serious accident! The two old large canoes that form the larger of the two balsas broke loose last night and were crushed on the rocks!’ wrote Cherrie, who accompanied Roosevelt.
Newly encountered indigenous tribes were a concern. A dog guarding their encampment was found killed by poisoned arrows. Mosquitoes, ants and dwindling supplies posed risks.
Roosevelt grumbled about the threats to his son in the lead canoe and the slow pace of progress amid Rondon’s meticulous scientific mapping. “Great men don’t worry about small details,” he said, using a phrase that Donald Trump sometimes likes.
A rower, Julio de Lima, who had been stealing supplies, eventually shot and killed another member of the party, Manoel Vicente da Paixão. The group captured his rifle and left him in the jungle.
The men came across the body “where the murderer had entered the woods after committing his dastardly act,” Cherrie wrote. in his diary.
Roosevelt had cut his knee and had other health problems. He dramatically told Rondon: ‘The expedition cannot be delayed. On the other hand, I can’t go any further. Go on and leave me!’ He developed a fever and bizarrely began reciting Coleridge’s poem ‘Kubla Khan’. During the trip he would have to undergo surgery on his leg. Roosevelt, who enjoyed going on safari and, as president, enjoyed walking around Rock Creek Park in Washington DC, developed an abscess on his right buttock and was unable to sit.
Finally, on April 26, they reached the confluence of the Castanho and Aripuanã rivers.
Rondon renamed the River of Doubt after his research partner Roosevelt River, a name that still exists today.
Roosevelt completed his excursion in May by doing something Biden didn’t risk in the jungle: holding a press conference. “We have put a river almost a thousand kilometers long on the map,” he told reporters. “It’s the largest tributary of the largest tributary of the most beautiful river in the world.”