by Marc Peyser
When people ask us where we got the idea for a book on the esteemed Roosevelt family, we get a kick out of replying with the honest-to-goodness truth: from a children’s book called What to Do About Alice? Written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, it was a gift to our young daughters—and a revelation to us. We had read about and studied the Roosevelts over the years, but we knew almost nothing about the high-spirited “guttersnipe” who drove her presidential father to distraction. She was so naughty, so funny—and so unlike that other Roosevelt woman we knew. Or was she? The more we delved into Alice’s story with our own girls, the more we discovered remarkable parallels between her and Eleanor, starting with their common birth year (1884) and including their heartbreaking childhoods, philandering husbands, and, of course, a shared address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. With all the books written about the Roosevelts, surely someone had explored the overlapping lives of these extraordinary first cousins. When we found that no one had, we decided to take the plunge. And here we are, five years later.
We owe an enormous debt to the countless dedicated professionals working in libraries and research institutions who assisted us. The Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Columbia University Library, and the Courtauld Institute of Art were all welcoming and invaluable sources of information.
In a moment of true serendipity, Liz Perelstein gave us our first introduction to the Oyster Bay Roosevelts, which allowed us to begin researching the various branches of the family tree. Several Roosevelt family members and friends shared their invaluable recollections with us. In particular, Stacy Cordery, Kermit Roosevelt, Nina Roosevelt Gibson, Curtis Roosevelt, Eleanor McMillan, Ruth Tankersley, and Kristie Miller helped us to see past the myths and get closer to the women at the heart of our story.
Beatrice Stein first alerted us to Alice’s connection to her remarkable and largely unknown French nephew, René de Chambrun. Paul Bailey and Linda Lees both toiled countless hours in far-flung research institutions helping us track down some hard-to-find letters and photos. Hal Freedman and Margy Popper not only volunteered to read our first complete draft; they devoured and dissected it with the kind of care and comprehension any writer would cherish.
We are grateful to Nan Talese for taking a chance on us, and we are enormously indebted to our brilliant, patient, and wise editor, Ronit Wagman. And when this whole project was still just a half-baked idea, Richard Pine at Inkwell Management listened to it, painstakingly shaped it, and found just the right place to publish it.
Last, we have to thank our families and friends, who suffered through years of Roosevelt-laden dinner conversations and did their best to at least seem interested. Through our years in the greater Newsweek family, we were lucky to befriend a few successful authors, and to a person they made us believe that our project would someday join theirs on the bookshelf. In our determination to tell this story as accurately and completely as possible, we were always guided by the spirit of Thomas J. Dwyer, whose love of history informs every page of this book.
NOTES
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Abbreviations
CUOHP Columbia University Oral History Project.
LOC Library of Congress.
FDRL Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y.
TRB Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace.
TRC Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
CHAPTER 1: ORPHANS
1. Levy and Russett, Extraordinary Mrs. R, 245.
2. Patricia Peabody Roosevelt, I Love a Roosevelt, 218.
3. “Hearing Set for 2 Men Accused of Having Signs at Mrs. Roosevelt’s Rites,” Poughkeepsie Journal, Nov. 14, 1962.
4. The Reverend Gordon Kidd, oral history interview, June 7, 1978, FDRL.
5. Lash, Eleanor: The Years Alone, 271.
6. Corinne Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt, Aug. 1, 1888, TRC.
7. ARL, interview by Henry Brandon, May 25, 1967, LOC.
8. Edmund Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, 240.
9. Anna Bullock to Corinne Roosevelt, Feb. 1884, TRC.
10. TR diary, Feb. 14, 1884, TRC.
11. Sewall, Bill Sewall’s Story of T.R., 47.
12. Teague, Mrs. L, 22.
13. Ibid., 13.
14. Ibid., 5.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., 18.
17. Ibid., 10.
18. Joseph Alsop, I’ve Seen the Best of It, 30.
19. “The Week in Society,” New York Daily Tribune, Nov. 25, 1883.
20. “Chimes at Calvary,” New York Evening Telegram, Dec. 1, 1883.
21. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:62.
22. Eleanor Roosevelt, Autobiography, 9.
23. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 5.
24. Anna Gracie to Corinne Roosevelt, (n.d.), TRC.
25. Anna Gracie to Anna Roosevelt, June 6 (no year), TRC.
26. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 31.
27. Anna Gracie to Corinne Roosevelt, June 6 (no year).
28. TR to Anna Roosevelt, Sept. 20, 1886, TRC.
29. Teague, Mrs. L, 5.
30. Anna Roosevelt Cowles, unpublished memoir, 3, TRB.
31. “Elliott Roosevelt Mad,” New York Herald, Aug. 18, 1891.
32. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:68.
33. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 41.
34. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 17–18.
35. Anna Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, TRC.
36. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 13.
37. ER, interview by Mary Hagedorn, CUOHP, Jan. 18, 1955.
38. Teague, Mrs. L, 154.
39. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 35.
40. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 65.
41. Ibid., 11.
42. Teague, Mrs. L, 42.
43. Eleanor Roosevelt, Autobiography, 19.
44. Teague, Mrs. L, 109.
45. Ibid., 51.
46. Teague, Mrs. L, 18.
47. Helen Roosevelt Robinson, oral history, interview conducted by William Savacool, Dec. 8, 1955, CUOHP.
48. Hagedorn, Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill, 38.
49. Edith Roosevelt to Emily Carow, n.d., TRC.
50. Teague, Mrs. L, 30.
51. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:75.
52. Elliott Roosevelt to ER, Oct. 9, 1892, FDRL.
53. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 29.
54. Ibid., 15–16.
55. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 44.
56. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 59.
57. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 27.
58. ER to Elliott Roosevelt, n.d., FDRL.
59. TR to Anna Roosevelt, Aug. 18, 1894, TRC.
60. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:87
61. Ibid., 88.
62. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 13.
63. Ibid., 35.
64. Corinne Robinson Cole, interview by Joseph Lash, April 17, 1967, FDRL.
65. Persico, Franklin and Lucy, 26.
66. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 12.
67. Teague, Mrs. L, 13.
68. Edith Roosevelt to Gertrude Carow, Nov. 4, 1893, TRC.
69. Edith Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, May 18, 1895, TRC.
70. Rixey, Bamie, 76.
71. ER to Aunt Bye, Nov. 15, 1895, TRC.
72. Corinne Alsop diary, 3, TRB.
73. Mrs. Sheldon Tilney, oral history, April 24, 1955.
74. Eleanor Roosevelt, Autobiography, p. 18.
75. Teague, Mrs. L, 155.
76. Collier, Roosevelts, 106.
77. Helen Roosevelt to FDR, Nov. 9, 1897, FDRL.
78. Teague, Mrs. L, 52–53.
79. Ibid., 18.
80. Cordery, Alice, 36.
81. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, Feb. 23, 1898, TRC.
82. Teague, Mrs. L, 57.
83. Ibid., 108–9.
84.
Longworth, Crowded Hours, 26.
85. Ibid.
86. Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield Cowles, oral history interview with Hermann Hagedorn, Dec. 28, 1954, CUOHP.
87. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 35.
CHAPTER 2: HOME ABROAD
1. Edmund Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, 169.
2. Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography, 76.
3. Edmund Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, 171.
4. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 34.
5. www.nps.gov/thri/theodoreRooseveltbio.htm.
6. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 34.
7. Edmund Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, 729.
8. Teague, Mrs. L, 62.
9. ER to ARL, dated only “Tuesday,” FDRL.
10. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 55.
11. Ibid., 58.
12. Ibid., 59.
13. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 81.
14. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 29.
15. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:115.
16. Teague, Mrs. L, 151.
17. “Few Girls So Prominent,” Baltimore Sun, Feb. 26, 1902.
18. “Fair Debutante of the White House,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4, 1902.
19. “White House Ball,” Baltimore Sun, Jan. 4, 1902.
20. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 47.
21. Teague, Mrs. L, 76.
22. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Personal Letters, 1:467.
23. “A Brilliant Gathering Greets Miss Alice Roosevelt,” Washington Post, Jan. 4, 1902.
24. “Miss Roosevelt as She Really Looks—from Photographs Taken a Few Days Ago,” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 27, 1902.
25. “Miss Roosevelt Much in the Public Eye,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 10, 1902.
26. “Miss Roosevelt Names Kaiser Wilhelm’s Yacht,” New York Times, Feb. 26, 1902.
27. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:115.
28. Corinne Roosevelt Cole, interview by Lash, April 17, 1967, FDRL.
29. “Society at Home and Abroad,” New York Times, Dec. 14, 1902.
30. Eleanor Roosevelt, Your Teens and Mine, 48.
31. ARL diary, Dec. 17, 1902, LOC.
32. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 44.
33. Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 2:132.
34. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 44.
35. Ward, Before the Trumpet, 307.
36. Rowley, Franklin and Eleanor, 29.
37. Kleeman, Gracious Lady, 197.
38. Jean Edward Smith, FDR, 32.
39. Sara Delano Roosevelt, My Boy Franklin, 55–56.
40. Ward, Before the Trumpet, 307.
41. Ibid., 308.
42. SDR diary, Nov. 26, 1903, FDRL.
43. Ibid., Dec. 1, 1903.
44. ER to SDR, Dec. 2, 1903, FDRL.
45. Town Topics, July 2, 1903.
46. ARL diary, Jan. 27, 1902.
47. TR to ARL, Nov. 19, 1903, TRC.
48. Teague, Mrs. L, 71–72.
49. “Miss Roosevelt Betrothed?,” Baltimore African-American, Feb. 28, 1903.
50. “Alice Roosevelt’s Suitors,” Baltimore Sun, May 4, 1902.
51. ARL diary, May 8, 1902.
52. Hagedorn, Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill, 188.
53. “Miss Alice Roosevelt Not Yet Caught by Cupid,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 19, 1902.
54. Felicia Warburg Roosevelt, Doers and Dowagers, 221.
55. Washington Mirror, June 3, 1905.
56. “Alice Roosevelt and Her Cane,” Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1902.
57. “Public Likes Miss Roosevelt,” Washington Bee, May 28, 1904.
58. “Miss Roosevelt Loses Her Way,” New York Herald, Aug. 19, 1902.
59. “Miss Alice Weeps,” Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1903.
60. TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Sept. 23, 1903, TRC.
61. “An 83-Year-Old Enfant Terrible,” New York Times, Aug. 6, 1967.
62. “President’s Daughter an Enthusiast,” Motor Age, Oct. 6, 1904, 21.
63. Beard, After the Ball, 134.
64. Cassini, Never a Dull Moment, 188.
65. Beard, After the Ball, 172.
66. ER to FDR, Jan. 6, 1904, FDRL.
67. ER to FDR, Jan. 30, 1904, FDRL.
68. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 108.
69. Teague, Mrs. L, 151, 160.
70. Ibid., 36.
71. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 123.
72. Corinne Alsop diary, 37, TRB.
73. Ibid., 36–37.
74. “President Sees His Cousin Wed,” New York Times, June 19, 1904.
75. ARL to ER, n.d., FDRL.
76. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 138.
77. ARL to ER, n.d., FDRL.
78. Eleanor Roosevelt, Your Teens and Mine, 184–85.
79. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 67.
80. Teague, Mrs. L, 72.
81. Pottker, Sara and Eleanor, 112.
82. Teague, Mrs. L, 156.
83. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 140.
84. Pottker, Sara and Eleanor, 113.
85. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 50.
86. Teague, Mrs. L, 156.
87. Cordery, Alice, 101.
88. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Nicholas_Longworth.
89. Teague, Mrs. L, 76.
90. Town Topics, Feb. 11, 1904.
91. Cordery, Alice, 100.
92. Martin, Cissy, 93.
93. Cassini, Never a Dull Moment, 190.
94. Ibid., 199.
95. Cordery, Alice, 107.
96. ARL diary, May 1, 1904.
97. Cassini, Never a Dull Moment, 200.
98. ARL diary, May 1, 1904.
99. Cassini, Never a Dull Moment, 188.
100. TR to George von Lengerke Meyer, Feb. 6, 1905, in Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 4:1115.
101. TR to John Hay, April 2, 1905, in Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 4:1156.
102. TR to ARL, May 27, 1903.
103. Bradley, Imperial Cruise, 244.
104. Ibid., 260.
105. Teague, Mrs. L, 98.
106. Ibid.
107. Ibid.
108. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 71.
109. Ibid., 78.
110. Bradley, Imperial Cruise, 254.
111. Cordery, Alice, 130.
112. Bradley, Imperial Cruise, 245.
113. Cordery, Alice, 133.
114. Ibid., 135.
115. FDR and ER to SDR, June 22, 1905, FDRL.
116. Pottker, Sara and Eleanor, 137.
117. ARL to ER, Dec. 5, 1905, FDRL.
118. “Miss Alice Roosevelt’s Engagement Announced,” New York Times, Dec. 14, 1905.
CHAPTER 3: DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
1. “The President a Guest at Longworth Dinner,” New York Times, Feb. 16, 1906; “Mr. Longworth a Busy Man Two Days Before Wedding,” Washington Post, Feb. 16, 1906.
2. “Miss Roosevelt Goes Back to Washington,” New York Times, Feb. 1, 1906.
3. “10,000 Wedding Invitations,” Baltimore Sun, Jan. 19, 1906.
4. “Miss Roosevelt Climbs Rope Ladder to Liner,” New York Times, Jan. 31, 1906.
5. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 111.
6. Ibid., 110.
7. “Ohio Senate Divided,” New York Times, Feb. 16, 1906.
8. “Rehearse Wedding,” Boston Daily Globe, Feb. 16, 1906.
9. “Longworth Gets Wedding License,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb. 16, 1906.
10. Cordery, Alice, 144.
11. “Wit and Oratory Flow from Fingers of Mutes,” New York Times, Feb. 9, 1906.
12. “Girls Cheer Wedding,” New York Times, Feb. 18, 1906.
13. Gould, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 69.
14. Wister, Roosevelt, 87.
15. Teague, Mrs. L, 84.
16. “Roosevelt Coat of Arms on the Wedding Dress,” New York Times, Feb. 4, 1906.
17. Ibid.
18. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 154.
19. Teague, Mrs. L, 128.
20. David R
oosevelt, Grandmère, 98.
21. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 151.
22. Ibid., 163.
23. Ibid., 165.
24. James Roosevelt, My Parents, 25.
25. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 162.
26. Pottker, Sara and Eleanor, 162.
27. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 134.
28. Clara Longworth de Chambrun, Making of Nicholas Longworth, 184.
29. Ibid., 193.
30. Teague, Mrs. L, 138.
31. “Where Alice Roosevelt Will Live After Her Marriage,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan. 28, 1906.
32. Teague, Mrs. L, 137.
33. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 134.
34. Teague, Mrs. L, 139.
35. Teichmann, Alice, 70.
36. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 137.
37. Cordery, Alice, 188.
38. “Princess Alice Is Vote-Getter,” Weekly Sentinel (Ft. Wayne, Ind.), Nov. 7, 1906.
39. “Helping Her Husband,” Washington Post, Nov. 5, 1906.
40. Cordery, Alice, 180.
41. “Helping Her Husband,” Washington Post, Nov. 5, 1906.
42. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 148.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid., 149.
45. “Women in the Picture,” Washington Post, June 18, 1908.
46. “Alice Compelled to Remove Merry Widow,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 1908.
47. Butt, Letters, 327.
48. Teague, Mrs. L, 140.
49. Ibid.
50. ER to Isabella Ferguson, Jan. 8, 1909, FDRL.
51. ARL to ER, Dec. 23, 1907, FDRL.
52. Grenville Clark, Roosevelt Memorial Issue, Harvard Alumni Review, April 28, 1945.
53. Persico, Franklin and Lucy, 73.
54. Davis, FDR, 246.
55. Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 174.
56. Ibid., 171.
57. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 80.
58. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, 178.
59. Howe to FDR, July 1912, FDRL.
60. Alter, Defining Moment, 38; Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 150.
61. Steinberg, Mrs. R, 82.
62. Rollins, Roosevelt and Howe, 59.
63. Butt, Taft and Roosevelt, 840.
64. “Roosevelt to Make a Statement To-day,” New York Times, Feb. 25, 1912.
65. “My Hat’s in the Ring,” Associated Press, Feb. 22, 1912.
66. ARL diary, Feb. 16, 1912, LOC.
67. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 186.
68. ARL diary, Feb. 15, 1912, LOC.
69. Ibid., Feb. 16, 1912.
70. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 192.
71. ARL diary, Feb. 21, 1912, LOC.
