Teddy Roosevelt impersonator highlights Heritage Museum opening Saturday

Teddy Roosevelt is returning to Montana, and it’s just in time for the season-opening day of the Heritage Museum.

The man who later became the 26th president serving 1901 to 1909 lived in the Badlands of Montana between 1884 to 1887.

On June 1, Arch Ellwein of Sydney will impersonate Roosevelt, the progressive reformer who sought to move the dominant Republican Party into the progressive camp. 

Roosevelt distrusted wealthy businessmen and dissolved 44 monopolistic corporations as a “trust buster.” Roosevelt took care, however, to show that he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle, but was only against corrupt, illegal practices.

Ellwein, 56, will portray Roosevelt at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Heritage Museum and then again at 7 p.m. at Troy Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall.

Ellwein has read and researched Roosevelt extensively.

“The guy transcended politics,” Ellwein said of Roosevelt. “He might be the last president to give politics a good name. I’ve done about 1,600 performances since 1996. Roosevelt was really quite sentimental. Perhaps, even more so than a woman. Quite an author, Roosevelt wrote 35 books. Even Mark Twain didn’t write that many books.”

Ellwein’s performance of Roosevelt comes to the Heritage Museum via the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau program. Entitled “A Visit with Teddy Roosevelt,” the program will be in the Beebe Room of the Heritage Museum. The presentation is free and open to the public. Partial funding for the Speakers Bureau program is provided by a legislative grant from Montana’s Cultural Trust and from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Even Roosevelt’s critics admired the man who charged up San Juan Hill, defied the party “bosses,” built the Panama Canal, defined conservation and won a Nobel Peace Prize. 

As Roosevelt, Ellwein will talk of his experiences in Montana as a rancher and sportsman. Following his “press conference” the actor/ historian will come out of character for further discussion.

Ellwein, a Montana native, has toured 16 states portraying Theodore Roosevelt, a well-known radio broadcaster in northeastern Montana and North Dakota before retiring.

The museum will open at 10 a.m. June 1, and programs, demonstrations and activities will start soon after. 

The cookhouse will be serving burgers, cold drinks, pie and more.  A complete schedule of events and times will be available on the website. 

For more information, call Laurie Mari at The Heritage Museum at 293-7521.