@Lustig Andrei,
I agree with the image portion of that. I've read a biographer who posits, not unreasonably, that he was always privately embarrassed that Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. had not taken part in the American civil war. His mother was Martha Bulloch of a prominent Georgia family, and his father had promised her that he would not take up arms against her brothers. One of her brothers has been the Confederate naval officer who, as envoy in England, had arranged the construction of CSS
Alabama in Liverpool. A younger uncle had served with Raphael Semmes on board
Alabama. His two uncles remained in Liverpool after the war to avoid prosecution. Although they might eventually have returned to Georgia, they made Liverpool their home. Theodore, Jr. visited them there more than once, and he engaged in hero-worship of his younger uncle. His father honored his promise to his mother, and never wore the uniform. He organized the allotment scheme which allowed soldiers to send their pay home to their families, and toured the armies encouraging the men to sign up.
He was, as most people are, complex. After Cuba, it is noteworthy that he never attempted to use the big stick he carried. I think his actual experience of war changed his attitude completely. He spent much of his life proving that he was as big and bad and tough as any man, and i suspect that it was only late in life that he learned what a hollow exercise that is.