Past Annual Meetings
2020 Washington, DC
The 2020 TRA Annual Meeting, Symposium and Gala Cocktail Reception was held in Washington, DC at Theodore Roosevelt Hall in the National War College (NWC) on Fort Leslie J. McNair and at the Washington Navy Yard on October 23-24, 2020.
Watch panel recording aired on American History TV on C-SPAN3
Watch all the panels from the 2020 TRA Symposium
2019 LONG ISLAND, NY
The 100th TRA Gala Dinner and Symposium was held at Long Island University’s Tilles Center and The Mansion at Glen Cove. The theme, Theodore Roosevelt, the Navy and the Rise of the U.S. as a World Power, featured several captains from our ship, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), and other renowned speakers covering the history of TR and the Navy and its role in making the U.S. a world power. The new documentary on TR Island was well received by attendees. Our Gala Dinner included several awards including our TRA Medal of Honor Awardee and Keynote speaker, Admiral James G. Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and one of America’s leading strategist on foreign policy.
2018 New York, NY
The 99th TRA Gala Dinner weekend at the Harvard Club of New York City celebrated TR as a master communicator addressing his various constituencies, including Capital Hill and the public. The Symposium had several experts examining how Theodore Roosevelt essentially invented the application of public relations to the promotion of his ideals and his presidency. At the Gala Dinner, talk show host Conan O’Brien, who trained at Harvard’s Lampoon and has studied TR closely, focused his entertaining keynote talk on TR’s use of humor, on those who skewered him, and on what he thought about being skewered.
2017 New York, NY
The 98th TRA Annual Meeting was a very special event that took place at the Harvard Club of New York City. It was a celebration both of Theodore Roosevelt’s time as Police Commissioner of New York and of the modern-day police who have followed in his footsteps. Our Gala Fundraising Dinner on Saturday, October 28, was held in the storied Harvard Hall, where TR himself frequently dined, and which is now surrounded by many Theodore Roosevelt historical artifacts.
2016 Oyster Bay, NY
The 97th TRA Annual Meeting kicked off with a well received symposium at the beautiful Glen Cove Mansion Hotel & Conference Center in Glen Cove, NY. TRA members heard about Theodore’s devotion to birds, his ambivalence about the first primaries in the 1912 presidential race, how the cause and effect of his asthma have been misunderstood for years, and, of course, his profound attachment to Sagamore Hill. Our gala fundraising dinner was hosted at Sagamore Hill NHS where we celebrated both Theodore Roosevelt and the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. Guests were given a private tour of Theodore’s newly renovated home while enjoying a beautiful sunset before dinner in a tent under the stars on the lawn. Our keynote speaker, Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, reminisced about his 35 years of service. Congressman Steve Israel, U.S. representative for the district, shared his thoughts on TR. We honored the Rose Awardee Helen Roosevelt for her outstanding service to the TRA. And Captain Craig Clapperton of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), our favorite aircraft carrier, presented the Junior Officer of the Year Award.
2015 Boston, MA
The 96th Annual Meeting took place in Boston and was in celebration of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. Saturday's Symposium focused on the Journal and its forty years of publication. We gathered an impressive lineup of speakers for this event. Both the Symposium and our Fundraising Dinner were held at the beautiful, historic Algonquin Club. The program began on Friday morning with a reception and viewing of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection hosted by the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. On Friday afternoon we honored four dedicated police officers at the Boston Police Awards ceremony at Faneuil Hall. Our Fundraising Dinner on Saturday night included presentations of several awards, and a keynote address by former Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, III, who was the lead police official during the tragic Marathon bombing.
2014 New York, NY
Our 2014 Annual Meeting took place on October 24-25 in TR’s hometown, New York City, with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns as our special guest. There was a brief video presentation of the seven-part, fourteen-hour film The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and remarks from Mr. Burns. In addition, guests had the opportunity to participate in a question and answer period with the filmmaker. Our host for the event was the stately and elegant University Club of New York, right in the heart of midtown Manhattan.
2013 Buffalo, NY
Hosted by the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site and held at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. The conference theme, Relevant Reflections, set the tone for presentations by a stellar group of national and international historians and authors. While marking the centennial of Roosevelt’s autobiography and drawing on his words, five critical topics were explored from both Roosevelt’s vantage point as well as from today’s perspective. These five issues are: immigration and urban poverty, race and social inequities, environmental conservation, big business and labor, and the role of the U.S. in global affairs. Highlights included a luncheon address by E. J. Dionne, Jr., syndicated columnist of the Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Gala Dinner featuring Pulitzer-Prize winning American biographer, historian, and political commentator Doris Kearns Goodwin.
2012 Chicago, IL
Attendees were treated to an array of special events during the 93rd Annual Meeting weekend. Centennial Celebration of 1912 Progressive Party Convention was the focus for the Symposium, held at the beautiful Union League Club of Chicago. An in-depth review of that convention was given by noted author Dr. Sidney Milkis and an examination of TR’s 1912 acceptance speech, considered one of his finest, by Professor David Zarefsky, while noted author, Louise Knight, spoke about Jane Adams, Hull House founder and champion of women’s rights during that era. Historian John Gurda gave a chilling account of the assassination attempt on TR’s life in Milwaukee. The Annual dinner included a special tribute and thank you to Wallace Dailey who retired as curator for the Theodore Roosevelt Collection. A lifelong enthusiast of Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. Senator Ken Conrad (D-ND) was the keynote speaker and recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Medal of Honor for his long and exemplary career as a public servant both in North Dakota and in the United States.