Yes he was, in every leadership position he held. He was a member of the New York legislature, commissioner of police for NYC, assistant secretary of the Navy at the beginning of the Spanish-American War, second in command of the Rough Riders in Cuba, governor of New York, vice-president, then President of the US for 8 years.
He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and recipient of the Medal of Honor, the only president to have these dual honors.
He was particularly good as commissioner of police in NYC. He revamped the department, made promotions based on merit, prowled the streets at night to catch sleeping cops, and really started the police on the road to serving the people instead of sucking off them.
And here's a quote:
"With all my heart I believe in the joy of living; but those who achieve it do not seek it as an end in itself, but as a seized and prized incident of hard work well done and of risk and danger never wantonly courted, but never shirked when duty commands that they be faced. And those who have earned joy, but are rewarded only with sorrow, must learn the stern comfort dear to great souls, the comfort that springs from the knowledge taught in times of iron that the law of worthy living is not fulfilled by pleasure, but by service, and by sacrifice when only thereby can service be rendered."
'The Great Adventure', Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
