President McKinley's assassination brought the 43-year-old Roosevelt a challenging presidency, which included persuading Congress to curb competition-stifling corporate trusts, monopolistic transcontinental railroads, and unhygienic food industries. He also faced labor and racial strife. Abroad, the American presence in Cuba and the Philippines brought criticism, the Russo-Japanese conflict threatened major power shifts in the Far East and Europe, and a politically and financially fraught decision on the Central American canal route, Panama or Nicaragua, loomed large.