Alice Roosevelt

The Life of Alice Roosevelt


Alice Roosevelt Longworth was born on February 12, 1884 being the first child of Theodore Roosevelt. Her mother died two days after her birth causing her to be reared by her aunt Her aunt, Anna or more well known as “Bamie” or “Bye”, had a significant impact on Alice’s life. Alice would later go on to say "If auntie Bye had been a man, she would have been president." Yet, after Theodore remarried to Edith Kermit Carow, Alice started living with her dad and stepmother. Alice had a tense relationship with her stepmother as Edith had known Alice’s biological mother before being married to Theodore. Alice also did not get a lot of attention from her father as he was an extremely busy man. From a combination from her strained relationship with her step mother and the lack of attention from her father, she grew into an independent woman who was self confident and calculated every move.

Alice came into the public spotlight when her father rose to the presidency in 1901 after the assasination of former president William McKinley. At the age of 17, she became a fashion icon and her favorite color, blue grey, become known as “Alice blue”. Alice was also a rebel and did not follow many of the social norms of women at the time. In 1905, she joined her dad and 23 other congressmen on one of the largest diplomatic trips of the time to Japan, Hawaii, China, the Philippines, and Korea. In addition to joining her dad on this important mission, she often interrupted his white house meetings in order to add her own political advice.

Right after Alice’s return from her diplomatic mission abroad, she married Nicholas Longworth III, a Republican House US House of Representatives member from Cincinnati, Ohio. Longworth would eventually rise to the Speaker of the House. In 1912, Alice would support her father’s Bull Moose presidency while her husband remained loyal to William Howard Taft. This would ultimately lead to tensions in their marriage. These tensions were further created as Alice had many affairs in her marriage. Yet, Longworth would die in 1931 ending the tension in the marriage. Even after his death, Alice would go on to have an even more important impact in history.

After her married years, Alice campaigned against her fifth cousin, once removed, Franklin D. Roosevelt. During these years, the Great Depression was occurring, and Alice appeared in tobacco commercials to raise money. She also published an autobiography, Crowded Hours. The book sold extremely well and had very good reviews as well.

Overall, Alice had a very intriguing and important life in politics as well as the social scene. She contributed immensely to her father’s election and offered key insight to issues during his presidency. She also became famous fashion icon and seemed to prosper even during the Great Depression.




Source https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Roosevelt-Longworth





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Roosevelt_Longworth