This tool is donation based and free. 🙏 We're looking for donations to keep it running — $360/year covers our server costs.

$18 of $360 · 5%
Donate
This fact check is over a month old. Newer information may be available — consider rechecking.

Teddy Roosevelt Facts: Cousin of Franklin, National Parks, and Health

“Franklin and Teddy were cousins. Teddy was a Republican even though he had poor health, but kept up a vigorous lifestyle like Franklin, he was an avid sportsman. He is credited with creating our national parks, like Yosemite. He fought in the Spanish American War. Since Franklin D is more recent we know more about this also awesome president.”
Partially True
Confidence: High Checked on June 24, 2026

Summary

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt were indeed fifth cousins. Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican, suffered from health problems yet led an active, athletic life and served in the Spanish‑American War, and he greatly expanded the national‑park system, though Yosemite National Park was created before his presidency. The statement mixes accurate facts with the incorrect claim that he created Yosemite.

Recheck this fact Runs a fresh check with up-to-date sources

Sources 60 searched

neh.gov
en.wikipedia.org
  • Roosevelt family - Wikipedia

    Two distantly related branches of the family from Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York, rose to global political prominence with the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) and his fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), whose wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was Theodore's ...

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt - Wikipedia

    Roosevelt's father died in 1900, distressing him greatly. The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became US president. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model.

fdrfoundation.org
  • The Roosevelts At Harvard – The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation

    It makes the case that Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt had far more in common with one another than their contemporaries or my forebears ever understood, that it was the similarities and not the differences between them that meant the most to history. As we say in the film, they belonged to different parties and overcame different obstacles. They had very different temperaments and styles of leadership. But both were children of privilege who came to see themselves as champions of the workingman — and earned the undying enmity of many of those among whom they’d grown to manhood.

constitutioncenter.org
  • 10 facts about young Franklin D. Roosevelt | Constitution Center

    1. Young Franklin was an only child of very wealthy parents; he grew up on an estate in New York’s Hudson Valley. 2. How was young Franklin related to President Theodore Roosevelt? It’s a bit complicated. The men were fifth cousins, so they had the same great-great-great-great-grandparents.

millercenter.org
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt: Life Before the Presidency | Miller Center

    At Harvard, Roosevelt threw himself into a wide array of extracurricular activities, helping his social standing but hurting his grades, which were mostly average. After receiving his undergraduate degree in 1903 he returned for a year of graduate work; more important, he became editor of Harvard's student newspaper, the Crimson. While at Harvard, FDR apparently declared himself a member of the Democratic Party, although he remained fond of then-President Theodore Roosevelt.

brainly.com
history.com
  • 10 Things You May Not Know About the Roosevelts | HISTORY

    It seems like every day there is a new report tracing the genealogical roots of the American presidents: Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush were seventh cousins (four times removed), and Jimmy Carter and George Washington were ninth cousins (six times removed). No president, however, can boast as many commander-in-chief connections as Franklin Delano Roosevelt who, by blood or marriage, was related to 11 other former presidents: John Adams, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft and, of course, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR’s fifth cousin.

This fact check is free and donation-based. $1 powers ~30 fact-checks.

Donate $1 to support fact-checking

Check another fact