“...and he had spent almost his entire adult life trying to be worthy of a famous last name.”
I recall a story about Teddy Roosevelt when he was a rancher in North Dakota. Three men had taken some cattle and Roosevelt went down the river in a row boat to capture them. He finally caught up to them and got the draw on them.
I don’t recall exactly how it went, but it was three(?) days that they had to walk back to the ranch. To make sure they didn’t escape, Roosevelt stayed awake the entire time and reciting (or reading??) a book.
When he turned them over to the Sheriff the sheriff said “Why did you go to all of the trouble? You should have just killed them when you found them?
Roosevelt said something like “Well, I thought that might ruin my chances when I run for mayor.” (Or governor or whatever.)
Shoot - I should have looked it up first. It was boat thieves. Here’s the full (and accurate) story:
https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/roosevelt-pursues-boat-thieves.htm