Edith Roosevelt

Edith Roosevelt
c. 1903 portrait by Frances Benjamin Johnston
First Lady of the United States
In role September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Ida McKinley
Succeeded by	Helen Taft
Second Lady of the United States
In role March 4, 1901 – September 14, 1901
Vice President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Jennie Hobart (1899)
Succeeded by	Cornelia Fairbanks (1905)
First Lady of New York
In role January 1, 1899 – December 31, 1900
Governor	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Lois Black
Succeeded by	Linda Odell
Personal details
Born	Edith Kermit Carow (1861-08-06)August 6, 1861 Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	September 30, 1948(1948-09-30) (aged 87) Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Youngs Memorial Cemetery
Spouse(s)	Theodore Roosevelt ​ ​ (m. 1886; died 1919)​
Children	Theodore III Kermit Ethel Archibald Quentin
Parents	Charles Carow Gertrude Elizabeth Tyler
Signature

Edith Kermit Roosevelt (née Carow; August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the first lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She also was the second lady of the United States in 1901. Roosevelt was the first first lady to employ a full-time, salaried social secretary. Her tenure resulted in the creation of an official staff, and her formal dinners and ceremonial processions served to elevate the position of first lady.

Early life[]

Edith was born on August 6, 1861 in Norwich, Connecticut, to merchant Charles Carow (1825–1883) and Gertrude Elizabeth Tyler (1836–1895).^[1][2] Gertrude's father Daniel Tyler (1799–1882) was a Union general in the American Civil War.^[1]

Edith's younger sister was Emily Tyler Carow (1865–1939).^[3] Edith also had a brother, Kermit (February 1860 – August 1860) who died one year before her birth.^[4] Kermit, her brother's first name and her middle name, was the surname of a paternal great-uncle, Robert Kermit.^[5] During her childhood, Edith was known as "Edie."^[1]

The girl grew up in a brownstone on Union Square in New York City.^[6] Next door lived Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1858–1919). Edith was best friends with his younger sister Corinne (1861–1933).^[7]

Edith, Corinne, Theodore, and Elliott had their earliest schooling together at the Roosevelt family home at 28 East 20th Street.^[1] Edith later attended Miss Comstock's finishing school.^[6]

Although the two may have had a teenage romance, the relationship faded when Roosevelt went to Harvard University.^[2][7] While at Harvard, he met Alice Lee.^[7] They married in 1880.^[7] Edith attended the wedding.^[6]

Marriage[]

Alice Lee Roosevelt died on February 14, 1884, aged 22, leaving behind a baby daughter also named Alice. Theodore's mother died the same day. Theodore and Edith rekindled their relationship in 1885.^[2] They married in St George's, Hanover Square, London on December 2, 1886, when he was 28, and she was 25. ^[7] His best man was Cecil Spring Rice, who later was British ambassador to the United States during World War I and maintained a close friendship with the couple for the rest of his life.^[8]

After their honeymoon, the couple lived at Sagamore Hill on Long Island, New York.^[7]

Edith and Theodore Roosevelt had a close relationship, but it was evident that Edith was his second wife. His first spouse, Alice, was a pretty woman who died at age 22, so Theodore was able to remember her that way. Many people, including his sisters, were surprised by the announcement of Theodore and Edith's engagement in the New York Times. Demonstrating Theodore's inability to move on from his first wife's death, he called his first daughter “Baby Lee” instead of “Alice.”^[9]

Photograph shows portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt's second wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, standing next to their son, Quentin

Together the couple raised Alice (Theodore's daughter from his previous marriage) and their own children: Theodore (1887), Kermit (1889), Ethel (1891), Archibald (1894), and Quentin (1897).^[7]

In 1888, Theodore was appointed to the United States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895. While Edith supported her husband's decision to accept the position, she lamented that her third pregnancy would detain her at Sagamore Hill.^[10] Kermit Roosevelt was born on October 10, 1889 and three months later Edith moved to Washington with their children.^[10] During this period, Edith and Henry Adams became close friends.^[10]

At Edith's insistence, Theodore did not run for mayor of New York in 1894, because she preferred their life in Washington, D.C., and his job of U.S. Civil Service Commissioner.^[7]

When Theodore became New York City police commissioner in 1895, they moved to New York City.^[1] In 1897, Theodore was chosen as assistant secretary of the Navy, and the family moved back to Washington.^[1]

In 1898, Edith traveled by train to Tampa, Florida to send her husband off to fight in the Spanish–American War.^[2]

Upon his return from Cuba, Edith defied a quarantine to meet him in Montauk, New York, where she assisted veterans at the hospital. In October 1898, when Roosevelt was nominated for the governorship, she helped answer his mail, but stayed off the campaign trail.^[7]

First Lady of New York[]

Edith Roosevelt enjoyed being First Lady of New York. She modernized the governor's mansion, joined a local woman's club, and continued to assist with her husband's correspondence.^[7] While First Lady of the state, Edith began a custom that would continue in the White House — she held a bouquet of flowers in each hand. Edith found shaking a stranger's hand overly familiar and preferred to bow her head in greeting.^[2]

Edith moved back to Washington when Roosevelt won the vice presidency in 1900.^[7]

First Lady[]

Official portrait of First Lady Edith Roosevelt

After President William McKinley’s assassination, Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency, and his wife became first lady.^[7]

With the country in mourning, the new first lady could not do any entertaining. Instead, she focused on how to fit her large family into the White House. Edith eliminated the office of housekeeper, performing the supervisory work herself.^[10]

Edith Roosevelt made a major institutional change when she hired Isabelle "Belle" Hagner as the first social secretary to serve a first lady.^[10][11] Hagner's initial assignment was to plan Alice Roosevelt's debut in 1902.^[10] Edith soon began to rely on Hagner and authorized her to release photos of the first family in hopes of avoiding unauthorized candids.^[10]

Edith built on the first lady's long history of entertaining visitors and made the titular office into the nation's hostess.^[2] She expanded the number of social events held at the White House, ensured her parties were not outshone by the parties of Cabinet wives, and worked to make Washington the nation's cultural center.^[2] The two most significant social events during Edith's tenure as first lady were the wedding of her stepdaughter and the society debut of her daughter, Ethel.^[12]

Edith also organized the wives of the cabinet officers and tried to govern the moral conduct of Washington society through their guest lists.^[12]

Cartoon by Marguerite Martyn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch portrays Edith Roosevelt keeping people away from the president's room after he was shot in October 1912.

Edith is believed to have exerted subtle influence over her husband.^[10] They met privately every day from 8 to 9 am.^[10] The President's assistant, William Loeb, often helped sway the chief executive to Edith Roosevelt's way of thinking.^[10] She read several newspapers a day and forwarded clippings she considered important to her husband.^[2] In a 1933 article in the Boston Transcript, Isabelle Hagner reported that the legislation which created the National Portrait Gallery was passed because of Edith's influence.^[10] Historians believe her most important historical contribution was acting as an informal liaison between Theodore Roosevelt and British diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, a link which gave the President unofficial information about the Russo-Japanese War.^[13] As a result of negotiating the treaty which ended that conflict, President Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.^[13]

The President and wife became the first president and first lady to travel abroad while in office when they made a trip to Panama.^[14]

A perceptive aide described Edith Roosevelt as "always the gentle, high-bred hostess; smiling often at what went on about her, yet never critical of the ignorant and tolerant always of the little insincerities of political life."^[6]

In 1905, Edith purchased Pine Knot, a cabin in rural Virginia, as a refuge for her husband.^[7][12] At Pine Knot, the Secret Service guarded him without his knowledge.^[13]

White House renovation[]

Bedroom of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt at the White House circa 1902. This room was an unnamed bedroom suite from the time of its completion in 1809 until 1860, when it was named the Prince of Wales Room. It was renamed the Lincoln Bedroom in 1929, a name it retained until the bedroom suite was removed in 1961 and the space transformed into the Family Kitchen and the President's Dining Room.

In 1902, Edith hired McKim, Mead & White to separate the living quarters from the offices, to enlarge and modernize the public rooms, to re-do the landscaping, and to redecorate the interior.^[7] Congress approved over half a million dollars for the renovation.^[10] The new West Wing housed offices while the East Wing housed the president's family and guests.^[10] The plumbing, lighting, and heating were upgraded.^[10] Edith placed her office next door to that of her husband so they could confer frequently.^[12]

Edith took a historical view of the White House^[13] and saw that the Green Room, Blue Room, and East Room were redecorated with period antiques.^[12] McKim would have removed most of the existing furniture had Edith not intervened.^[15] It is because of Edith's intervention that the Victorian furniture currently seen in the Lincoln Bedroom was retained.^[15]

A larger dining room translated into a need for more china, so Edith ordered a Wedgwood service with the Great Seal of the United States for 120 people.^[10][12] Interest in her own china fostered a curiosity about the services of previous first ladies.^[12] Edith completed the catalog of White House china begun by Caroline Scott Harrison.^[2] She added to the collection by purchasing missing items from antique shops and by the time she left the White House, there were pieces from twenty-five administrations.^[2] She created a display of the china on the ground floor of the White House.^[13] The White House china collection which was first exhibited by Edith Roosevelt is still on view today.^[10]

Across from the White House china, Edith displayed portraits of former first ladies. The formerly scattered portraits were a hit with the public. Now guests to the White House could view the historical china and portraits as they waited to enter receptions.^[10]

Edith called on former White House gardener Henry Pfister to help her design a colonial garden on the west side of the White House.^[15] A similar garden was eventually placed on the east side of the White House.^[15]

The White House renovations were revealed to the public during the 1903 New Year's Day reception.^[12]

It was during Edith's tenure as first lady that the White House became known as the White House. Previously, it had been known as the Executive Mansion.^[13][16]

Relationship with her children[]

Pres. and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt seated on lawn, surrounded by their family; 1903. From left to right: Quentin, Theodore Sr., Theodore Jr., Archie, Alice, Kermit, Edith, and Ethel.

Roosevelt was a devoted mother. She spent several hours a day with her children^[2] and read to them daily.^[17] She and her husband took an active role in their children's education and often corresponded with their children's teachers.^[14]

Roosevelt longed for more children even after the birth of her fifth child, Quentin.^[10] She suffered two miscarriages as first lady.^[10] She had a complicated relationship with her stepdaughter, Alice.^[2] In later years, Alice expressed admiration for her stepmother's sense of humor and stated that they had shared similar literary tastes. In her autobiography Crowded Hours, Alice wrote of Edith, "That I was the child of another marriage was a simple fact and made a situation that had to be coped with, and Mother coped with it with a fairness and charm and intelligence which she has to a greater degree than almost any one else I know."^[18]

Views on race[]

On October 16, 1901,^[1] President Roosevelt invited African-American educator Booker T. Washington to dine with his family at the White House. Several other presidents had invited African-Americans to meetings at the White House, but never to a meal.^[19] News of the dinner between a former slave and the president of the United States became a national sensation. The subject of inflammatory articles and cartoons, it shifted the national conversation around race at the time.^[19] Some Republicans tried to spin the dinner into a lunch. As Deborah Davis explained on NPR, "they got hungry and they ordered a tray, and by the time they were finished, there was barely a sandwich on it. And that seemed to make the meal a little more palatable in the South."^[19] The lunch story persisted for decades, until finally in the 1930s, a journalist from Baltimore's Afro-American newspaper asked Edith Roosevelt if it was lunch or dinner. Edith checked her calendar, and she said it was most definitely dinner.^[2]

Among the responses to the dinner was a cartoon created by Maryland Democrats in which Edith sat between her husband and Booker.^[2] The cartoon was widely reprinted.^[2] According to Deborah Davis, this was the first time that a First Lady was lampooned in print.^[2]

The dinner secured Washington's position as the leading black figure and spokesman in the United States.^[20] Deborah Davis believes that Edith admired Booker T. Washington.^[2] In a March 1901 letter, Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Booker, "Mrs. Roosevelt is as pleased as I am with your book."^[2]

According to biographer Lewis Gould, careful reading of Edith's private correspondence reveals racial views that go beyond what he calls the genteel bigotry" of her time.^[21] In 1902 and 1903 "Misses Turner and Miss Leech" performed at the Roosevelt White House. The women specialized in "Negro Songs" and Lewis Gould argued that by showcasing these performers, Edith entertained "guests with crude melodic stereotypes depicting an oppressed racial minority."^[2]

Later life and death[]

Seated, left to right, are Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, Grace Stackpole Lockwood Roosevelt, Richard Derby, Jr., Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, Edith Roosevelt Derby Williams, and Ethel Carow Roosevelt Derby. Richard Derby Jr. is holding a service flag with three stars, which symbolized three of Roosevelt's sons, Quentin, Archie, and Theodore Jr.

Edith's last decades were full of travel: to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. After leaving the White House, Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit went on a safari^[2] while Edith took Ethel, Archie, and Quentin on an extended tour of Europe.^[7]

The Smithsonian’s First Lady collection was created soon after the Roosevelts left the White House. When the museum's advocates asked her for a contribution, Edith said that she wasn't sure she could help: she often cut up dresses for the material after she wore them, and her inaugural gown was no exception. Her daughter later donated the remaining bottom half, and the Smithsonian refashioned the bodice using photographs.^[22]

Edith was not an advocate of her husband's 1912 third-party presidential race but supported him fully when it was formally underway. She tended him after the assassination attempt, consoled him when he lost the election, and accompanied him to Brazil to see him off as he explored the River of Doubt.^[7] Both Roosevelts contributed to home-front activities during World War I.^[7]

Edith urged Republican women to vote after the 19th Amendment passed.^[7]

On January 6, 1919, her husband died of pulmonary embolism in his sleep. He was 60 years old.

During the Great Depression, Edith campaigned briefly for Herbert Hoover, to emphasize that the Democratic nominee, Franklin Roosevelt, was not her son.^[7] Edith had disliked Eleanor since Eleanor's childhood, and there had been bad blood between the two since the 1920s when Eleanor campaigned against Theodore Roosevelt Jr. during his run for governor of New York.^[17]

Before her death, Edith destroyed almost all of her correspondence with her husband.^[2] However, Edith was a prodigious letter writer and her letters survive in archives such as the Houghton Library.^[2]

Edith died at Sagamore Hill on September 30, 1948, at the age of 87.^[6] She is buried next to her husband at Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay.

References[]

Further reading[]

External video
Presentation by Sylvia Jukes Morris on Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady, November 10, 2001, C-SPAN

• Caroli, Betty Boyd (1998). The Roosevelt women. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books. ISBN 0465071333.[1]
• Gould, Lewis L. (2013). Edith Kermit Roosevelt : creating the modern first lady. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700622481.[2]
• Lansford, Tom (2001). A "bully" first lady : Edith Kermit Roosevelt. Huntington, N.Y.: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 1590330862.[3]
• Morris, Sylvia Jukes (1980). Edith Kermit Roosevelt : portrait of a first lady. New York, N.Y.: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. ISBN 0698109945.[4]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edith Roosevelt.

• Works by or about Edith Roosevelt at Internet Archive
• Edith Roosevelt at C-SPAN's First Ladies: Influence & Image