President Teddy Roosevelt Attends BCTD Legislative Conference

July/August IBEW Journal

Delegates to the Building and Construction Trade’s annual Legislative Conference in Washington D.C., in April found themselves wondering if their eyes were playing tricks on them when they encountered President Teddy Roosevelt walking the halls of the conference center and greeting everybody he met. But when the always enthusiastic president, dressed in his hunting attire, shouted out his trademark words: "Bully!" and "dee-lighted to meet you," they immediately took to him as if he were a long lost friend.

TR was actually actor Jim Foote, who’s been playing the 26th president at gatherings and functions for 25 years. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s staff brought the actor to the annual Legislative Conference hoping he might add a bit of informative entertainment between work sessions. Everybody who saw Teddy wanted to shake his hand and have their picture taken with the greatest hunter-conservationist who ever occupied the White House. Foote also gave a rousing speech to a group of BCTD representatives, drawing on his subject’s historical writings and reiterating his support for America’s labor unions and the labor movement. TR was a true progressive and a friend to organized labor and working people.

In addition to setting up a booth at the conference, where hundreds of new members signed up, the TRCP introduced a video preview of its new hunting and fishing TV show, "Life in the Open." The BCTD is the show’s lead sponsor and it will begin airing nationwide on the Outdoor Life Network in October.

During the conference, TRCP’s Fred Myers ran a seminar for BCTD representatives that covered a number of topics including how the trades and TRCP are working together to guarantee us all places to hunt and fish. He outlined how locals can get involved with TRCP to raise money for causesthey want to support using hunting, fishing and outdoor gear available through TRCP.

Ken Barrett, host of "Life in the Open," spoke about growing up in a family of strong union supporters and members who were dedicated followers of the labor movement and its many achievements. He thanked the BCTD for its support of the show and for giving him the opportunity of a lifetime.

Seventy percent of all BCTD members hunt and fish, so it wasn’t surprising that a number of representatives who attended the seminar shared hunting and fishing stories of their own with Barrett while others offered up ideas for future shows, along with invitations for him to join them in the field. One very enthusiastic recording secretary and business representative was heard saying to Barrett, "I was watching (Outdoor Life Network) the other night and I saw you hunting antelope on the Charlie Russell Refuge, in Montana. When the ads came on and one said the show is being sponsored by the Building and Construction Trades … I about fell off the couch! I immediately and began calling my friends and fellow workers. I think it’s the best thing our leaders have done for us in a long time. Most of us hunt and fish; it’s something we really care about, and it’s nice too know our leaders recognize that fact."

That kind of enthusiasm and recognition of the BCTD’s and TRCP’s mutual commitment to America’s hunting and fishing traditions goes to the very core of our partnership. So if you haven’t joined TRCP already, please do so today. Membership is FREE! All you have to do to join is to go to www.trcp.org or call toll free 1-877-770-8722. Only by working together can we guarantee ourselves and future generations good places to hunt and fish.

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very property which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."

—Theodore Roosevelt