Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was an American writer and socialite whose life ran through nearly a century of American politics, from her birth in New York City on February 12, 1884, to her death on February 20, 1980. She was the eldest child of Theodore Roosevelt and his only child with his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. Born into the Oyster Bay branch of the Roosevelt family, she became a public figure as a teenager when her father entered the White House after the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley.

By 17, Alice Roosevelt was a celebrity and fashion figure. At her 1902 social debut, she wore a gown in a shade that became known as “Alice blue,” setting off a clothing trend and inspiring the popular song “Alice Blue Gown.” The public called her “Princess Alice,” and her father relied on her at times as a representative of himself and the White House at formal occasions. She was also known for breaking the social rules of her day: she smoked cigarettes in public and on the White House roof, rode in cars with men, stayed out late, kept a pet snake named Emily Spinach in the White House, and was seen placing bets with a bookie.

Her independence had deep roots in a difficult childhood. Two days after her birth, her mother died of undiagnosed Bright’s disease; eleven hours earlier, Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Martha “Mittie” Bulloch Roosevelt, had died of typhoid fever. Theodore was so distraught that he almost never spoke of his first wife again and omitted her name from his autobiography. Alice was often called “Baby Lee,” and later in life preferred “Mrs. L” to “Alice.” When Theodore went west to travel and live on his North Dakota ranch, his sister Anna, known as Bamie or Bye, cared for Alice in her book-filled Manhattan house. Alice later said, “There is always someone in every family who keeps it together. In ours, it was Auntie Bye.”

After Theodore married Edith Kermit Carow in 1886, Alice was raised with five half-siblings: Theodore III, Kermit, Ethel, Archie, and Quentin. Her relationship with Edith was tense, though Alice later wrote with respect about her stepmother’s fairness, charm, intelligence, humor, and literary taste in her autobiography, Crowded Hours. Alice’s limited attention from her father, the strain with her stepmother, and Bamie’s steadying influence all helped form a young woman who was impulsive, confrontational, and hungry for notice.

Longworth’s adult life remained unconventional and controversial. Her marriage to Representative Nicholas Longworth III, a Republican Party leader and the 38th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was shaky. Her only child, Paulina, was from her affair with Senator William Borah. Over her lifetime, Alice met 17 U.S. presidents, from Grover Cleveland through Gerald Ford, and she is widely thought to be the person who met the most serving U.S. presidents in history. Her words still hold interest because they came from someone who knew power at close range, tested the limits of social expectation, and spoke from a life crowded with politics, family strain, wit, and public attention.