Editing Jacob Riis (section)

===Theodore Roosevelt===
[[File:Tr - nyc police commissioner 1894 - jacob riis bio - the making of an american - illustration named one was sitting asleep on a buttertub.jpg|thumb|right|Riis walks the beat in New York City behind his friend and fellow reformer, NYC Police Commissioner, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1894 – Illustration from Riis's autobiography)]]

Jacob Riis had both a close friendship and on-going, professional relationship with political figure [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. Their relationship began in 1895 when Roosevelt was appointed as president of the Board of Commissioners of the [[New York City Police Department]]. He asked Riis to show him nighttime police work. During their first tour, the pair found that nine out of ten patrolmen were missing. Riis wrote about this for the next day's newspaper, and for the rest of Roosevelt's term the force was more attentive.<ref name="alland32">Alland, p. 32.</ref> Riis then continued to serve as an advisor to Roosevelt both on the local and eventually federal level.<ref name="SAGE Publications Inc">{{cite book |last1=Lane |first1=James B. |title=Encyclopedia of American Urban History |date=2007 |publisher=SAGE Publications Inc. |location=Thousand Oaks, California |isbn=978-0761928843 |pages=694–685 }}</ref>

Roosevelt was greatly inspired by Riis's work. He personally ensured the closure of the police-managed lodging rooms in which Riis had suffered during his first years in New York. After reading the exposés, Roosevelt was so deeply affected by Riis's sense of justice that he befriended Riis for life, later remarking, "Jacob Riis, whom I am tempted to call the best American I ever knew, although he was already a young man when he came hither from Denmark".<ref>Theodore Roosevelt, ''Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography'' (BiblioBazaar, 2007; {{ISBN|1-4346-0319-9}}), p. 66 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=cuhNr47qfG4C&pg=PA66 Here] at Google Books); [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3335 an earlier edition] also at Project Gutenberg.</ref>

After Roosevelt became president, he wrote a tribute to Riis in the March 1901 edition of ''McClure's'' Magazine. He wrote:

{{blockquote|Recently a man, well qualified to pass judgment, alluded to Mr. Jacob A. Riis as "the most useful citizen of New York". Those fellow citizens of Mr. Riis who best know his work will be most apt to agree with this statement. The countless evils which lurk in the dark corners of our civic institutions, which stalk abroad in the slums, and have their permanent abode in the crowded tenement houses, have met in Mr. Riis the most formidable opponent ever encountered by them in New York City.<ref>Theodore Roosevelt, "Reform through Social Work: Some Forces that Tell for Decency in New York City", ''[[McClure's|McClure's Magazine]]'', March 1901. Reprinted in Judith Mitchell Buddenbaum and Debra L. Mason, eds., ''Readings on Religion as News'' (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1999; {{ISBN|0-8138-2926-7}}), p.&nbsp;187. Available [https://books.google.com/books?id=r2C1a883mswC online] at [[Google Books]] (which inexplicably claims publication by Wiley-Blackwell).</ref>}}

Roosevelt's three-page tribute honored Jacob Riis for his gift of expression and his ability to make others see what he saw and feel what he felt. Roosevelt viewed Riis as a powerful promoter of change who allowed no failure to stop him from seeking reform. As long as Riis continued pursuing useful work, Roosevelt believed he would have no trouble receiving more than enough support.<ref name="Reform through Social Work">{{cite book |last1=Roosevelt |title=Reform through Social Work |date=March 1901 |publisher=McClure's Magazine |pages=252–254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5HSwxcMXIMC&dq=McClure%27s+Magazine+March+1901&pg=RA1-PA384-IA5 |access-date=November 1, 2022}}</ref>

Roosevelt believed society would benefit from more active reformers such as Riis.<ref name="Reform through Social Work"/> In fact, it was in part due to Riis's influence that Roosevelt instituted the White House Conference on Children as a means to aid the children exposed in ''How the Other Half Lives'' and ''Children of the Tenements''.<ref name="SAGE Publications Inc"/>

For his part, Riis wrote a campaign biography of Roosevelt that praised him.<ref>Alland, p. 34.</ref>