Theodore Roosevelt received his Congressional Medal of Honor on Tuesday, Jan. 16. It was scheduled to be presented to his family at around 10:45, in the White House by President Bill Clinton during his last week in office. "Vernon third grade school teacher will not get his wish," said Dr. John A. Gable, executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Mr. Siegelman had been campaigning to have President Clinton come to Sagamore Hill for the presentation.

Dr. Gable, who will be at the White House with 15 members of the Roosevelt family and Lawrence Budner, TRA president said while the family intends to give the medal back to the White House, it will be displayed at Sagamore Hill before that.

Dr. Gable said of Mr. Siegelman's efforts: "It was a real campaign. It was a good experience for the Superkids. I'm going to write them a letter," he said. "Maybe they'll see the medal when it's at Sagamore Hill."

"Those kids know a lot. I've spoken to his kids. They know a lot of facts about TR. Mr. Siegelman bounds around the classroom. It's fun, that's what's important," said the Hofstra University history professor.

Dr. Gable is "dee-lighted" with what has happened. "It's a great thing to do something for TR that he couldn't do for himself, and it's very hard to find that," said Dr. John Gable.

"I never thought it was a possibility until they repealed the statute of limitations on giving medals, four years ago. The past isn't over," he said.

Mr. Siegelman has been in contact with the key players in the event. He spoke to Jim Foote, TR impersonator and Newsday journalist Bill Bleyer who told him over a week ago that Mr. Clinton would do the presentation at the White House.

Knowing the approximate time of the event, Mr. Siegelman has scheduled a visit with his class at the Vernon Library. He hopes to see the presentation videotaped live on C-Span.

"They said it should happen on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at 11:40, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House."

Still, Mr. Siegelman mused, "He (Clinton) makes so many trips to New York and now, since his wife is a New York state senator and they have Lazio out of the way, it would have been nice to do it at Sagamore Hill.

"This really is the last minute. I wonder what finally pushed him to present it. I'm hoping it was one of my letters. Last week I sent home a letter to my kids parents saying. 'Please call, fax or send overnight letters to the president, and five parents did!

"I'm sure John Gable worked on it too."

He said he asked some parents to videotape the ceremony to be broadcast on C-Span.

The medal was earned in 1898, 103 years ago, more than a century, said Mr. Siegelman.

President Bill Clinton signed a bill on Thursday, Nov. 12, 1998, authorizing the awarding of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Theodore Roosevelt for his heroic actions in Cuba during the Battle of San Juan Hill, a key conflict of the Spanish-American War. Originally, the army refused to agree to changing their original decision, not to give TR the medal.

"The army finally approved it in the spring of 2000 and then Mr. Clinton, probably because of Lazio (running against Mrs. Clinton for the senate seat) and the November election didn't present the medal. TR deserved credit, but, better late than never," said Mr. Siegelman.

President Roosevelt did not receive his MOH after the Spanish defeat, when he angered the Secretary of War Russell A. Alger by sending him a telegram and a letter urging him to immediately send home the US troops who were ravaged by tropical diseases. TR himself contracted malaria, which plagued him thereafter.

He even foreshadowed the medical enemy in the war, telling his men that "They must be ready to face fever exactly as they were to face bullets.

Dr. John A. Gable, executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, in an article in the VFW magazine of June/July 1998 entitled 100 Years Late, wrote: "General William R. Shafter, then commanding general on Cuba, leaked these messages to the press, infuriating both Alger and President William McKinley. Alger was subsequently forced to resign from the Cabinet after an investigating commission exposed his incompetence at the War Department.

"Nonetheless, Alger prevented award of the MOH to Roosevelt even though General "Fighting Joe" Wheeler had recommended him for the medal."

Dr. Gable said the army was not happy that congress repealed the statute of limitations on awarding the MOH in 1996. Now all veterans, living or dead can appeal. Many MOHs were denied, especially to African-Americans, he said.

When Paul McHale put in for the MOH for TR, with 160 co-sponsors from both sides of the house, the TRA joined the effort along with sponsors Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and representatives Paul McHale (D. Pa.) and Rick Lazio (R- Brightwaters).

An African-American soldier was scheduled to share the limelight with TR. Andrew Jackson Smith, a color sergeant, who carried the regimental flag, after it was dropped by fallen soldiers, in the Battle of Honey Hill, in 1864, in South Carolina during the Civil War. He waited longer than TR for his medal. (The event will happen after we go to press.)