Teddy Roosevelt’s Unruly Daughter Alice Caused Havoc During Her Time In The White House

You might be forgiven for thinking that the cult of celebrity is a modern phenomenon — just look at all those glossy magazines and gossip websites available today. But more than a century ago, Alice Roosevelt was an icon of her era. And at a time when women were expected to be well-mannered and reserved, President Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter was anything but.

Making headlines — and making waves

Known as probably the most unruly first daughter in White House history, Alice followed her father, Teddy Roosevelt, into the spotlight after his 1901 inauguration. She was just 17 years old and was soon making headlines as much for her daring behavior as for her beauty and style. Yet the real story behind the woman who drove the 26th president to despair is as fascinating as her actions.

She got banned from the White House

Over the course of her father’s presidency — and, indeed, for the rest of her long life — Alice’s sharp tongue and unconventional habits won her many admirers. But this was a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard. Cigarette in hand, she kept America entertained with her scandalous antics, even getting banned from the White House on more than one occasion.

A force to be reckoned with

Teddy Roosevelt himself once remarked, “I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.” While Alice once claimed, “Father doesn’t care for me, that is to say, one-eighth as much as he does for the other children.” So, what exactly was it that made her such a force to be reckoned with? And how did she remain America’s darling, long after even her father had left Washington for good?

A childhood marked by tragedy

Like many future first daughters, Alice had politics in her blood from the very beginning. Born on February 12, 1884, she was the first child of Theodore Roosevelt — then a member of the New York State Assembly — and the only child of heiress Alice Hathaway Lee, an American socialite. But sadly, just a few days after baby Alice's arrival, tragedy struck.

Abandoned as a baby

After giving birth to their daughter, Roosevelt’s wife fell ill and passed away. She was reported to have died from undiagnosed kidney failure. And in a cruel twist of fate, the future president lost his mother, Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch, on the same day. Overcome with grief, he fled Manhattan and traveled northwest to Dakota Territory, leaving baby Alice to be looked after by his own sister Anna, or Bamie Roosevelt.

Auntie Bye was her savior

In fact, it’s said that Roosevelt was so traumatized by the death of his wife that he could no longer bear to hear her name spoken aloud. It got so bad that he started to refer to his daughter by the nickname Baby Lee — just so no one could say the word "Alice." But baby Alice thrived under the guardianship of Anna, who she called Auntie Bye.

Raising a cunning child

Alice later said of her aunt, “If Auntie Bye had been a man, she would have been president.” Roosevelt checked in on his daughter, too. In one letter, he wrote, "I hope Mousiekins will be very cunning, I shall dearly love her." And Auntie Bye did sow the seeds for her niece’s own fierce independence later in life. Certainly, the first daughter went on to credit Anna as the person responsible for holding their fractured family together.

Rising through the ranks

In December 1886 Roosevelt remarried, tying the knot with Edith Kermit Carow, who’d lived next door to him as a child. And when the couple set up a home on Long Island, Alice returned to live with the family. Alice was still only two or three years old when she moved back in with her father. And there, over time, she grew into a renowned beauty, while her father continued to rise through the political ranks.

Running for mayor

After his time in Dakota Territory, Roosevelt had grown sympathetic to the plight of American citizens living out in the West. While he might’ve been dismissed as an intellectual before, this real-world experience lent him a much broader political appeal. And on his return to New York, he accepted a nomination to serve as the city’s mayor. But everything was not well at home.

Tensions at home

It's believed that Alice didn't always get along with her stepmother, Edith. At one point, Edith And Roosevelt said they would send Alice to a boarding school. She responded, "If you send me I will humiliate you. I will do something that will shame you. I tell you I will." Unsurprisingly, she didn't go to boarding school. But on September 6, 1901, something happened that would send Roosevelt's career in a dramatic new direction.

A teenage first daughter

While attending an exposition in Buffalo, New York, President McKinley was shot by an assassin. At first, it seemed as if he was going to make a full recovery, so Roosevelt — who had risen to the position of Vice President — wasn’t too concerned. But on September 14 the president passed away, leaving his second-in-command to step into the coveted role. Alice was 17 years old at the time.

A shock for the White House

Later that same day, Roosevelt was inaugurated as president of the United States. At just 42 years old, he became the youngest man in history to hold the position. But even though his term hadn’t been planned, he rose admirably to the challenge. Today, he’s widely remembered as a trailblazer who brought a renewed sense of vigor to the White House. The same could probably be said about his oldest daughter, too.

She had a mind of her own

Throughout his presidency, Roosevelt pursued a number of policies that might be thought of as quite progressive. He championed national parks and the protection of natural resources. And later, he became a proponent of the welfare state. But even as he won admirers in Washington and beyond, his daughter was wreaking havoc behind the scenes. She later said she met her father's presidency with "sheer rapture."

A star among stars

By the time he became president, Roosevelt had fathered five more children with his second wife: Theodore III (Ted), Kermit, Ethel, Archie, and Quentin. It was Alice, though, who quickly became the darling of American society. Her beauty alone would no doubt have made her the talk of the town. But Alice wasn’t just beautiful; she was headstrong and independent as well.

The bride at every wedding

And in some ways, she was the perfect first daughter — and a lot like her father. Alice once described her father like this: "He wants to be the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral, and the baby at every christening." Perhaps the same could have been said for her. When acting as an official hostess, for instance, she charmed and delighted her guests, so much so that Roosevelt came to depend on her to attend diplomatic occasions.

Things were far from equal

In early 20th-century American society, though, Alice was an anomaly. After all, this was almost two decades before women would gain the vote. And while the tide was slowly beginning to turn in favor of more equal rights, those born female were still largely seen as wives and child-rearers above all else. In fact, just a few years before Roosevelt arrived in Washington, the White House had fostered some very different views on female empowerment.

A new generation

Frances Cleveland — the first lady to the 22nd and 24th president, Grover Cleveland — privately opposed the suffragettes’ cause, reportedly claiming that women weren’t intelligent enough to vote. She believed that women should have more control over the homestead. And while her daughter Esther was a little more liberal, their attitudes were worlds apart from Alice’s free-spirited ways — especially considering Alice entered the White House only four years after Frances left.

Defying expectations at every turn

Traditionally, the role of the first daughter wasn’t exactly hands-on. In fact, many of Alice’s predecessors left the family home and married at an early age. And even though many of these relationships resulted in misery and trauma on the part of the woman, Roosevelt may well have expected his eldest child to follow a similar path. Alice wasn’t the type to settle down easily.

A break from the norm

On January 3, 1902, she made her official society debut with an elaborate party inside the White House. But before long, it had become clear that she was no ordinary socialite — and that she had no intention of toeing the party line. An incident recorded in The New York Times in 1908 saw Alice place a tack on the chair of a "dignified" visitor to the White House — and letting him sit on it in front of everyone.

Alice Blue becomes a thing

From her first appearance onward, the first daughter was rarely out of the nation’s headlines. And as young women scrambled to dress in her signature color — which was known as Alice Blue after a gown she wore on her social debut — she inspired everything from music to fashion trends. However, she also refused to conform to the outdated standards that confined young women at the time.

A snake in her purse

Inside the White House, historians claim, Alice ran wild, joining her brothers and sisters as they played games and created chaos. And when important guests came calling, she had a rather startling surprise up her sleeve. Stashed in her purse was a green snake lovingly dubbed Emily Spinach, after a maiden aunt and the vegetable. But that didn't stop the public from loving her.

An unladylike habit

Shockingly for the time, Alice also enjoyed cigarettes. According to the White House Historical Association, when Roosevelt tried to forbid the unladylike practice, he told her that it would never be allowed “under his roof.” So, she climbed to the top of the building, where she was presumably allowed to indulge her habit in peace. “I was the daughter of an enormously popular president and the first girl in the White House since Nellie Grant, and I looked upon the world as my oyster,” Alice wrote in her 1933 autobiography.

Work hard, play hard

But Alice’s eccentricities were by no means limited to the White House. Away from her father’s home she attended society events, partied into the early hours, and stepped out in public with a long line of eligible men. In fact, an article in the French newspaper Journal des Debats announced that, in one 15-month period, she’d appeared at more than 400 dinners and 350 balls.

Wild — but loved

Perhaps it was around this time, then, that Roosevelt delivered his famous line about having to choose between running the country and managing his errant daughter. But while Alice’s wild child personality must certainly have caused him some consternation over the years, he wasn’t above utilizing her charm for political gain. After all, the Spokane Press once said her defenders called her “a little self-willed… but with a high regard for the real proprieties.”

A fateful trip to Japan

After Alice excelled on a diplomatic trip to Puerto Rico in 1903, Roosevelt decided to send her to Asia as part of a delegation promoting peace. This official position, though, did little to quell her more outrageous habits. Reportedly, she leaped fully clothed into a swimming pool while en route to Japan aboard a cruise ship. But biographer Stacy Cordery told the Smithsonian Magazine, “I don’t think that for one second Alice failed to know where the line between appropriate and inappropriate was.”

The wedding of the year

Up until this point, Alice had kept the newspapers guessing when it came to her personal relationships. But by the time she came back from Asia, she was engaged to Nicholas Longworth, a congressman who was older than her by 14 years. And on February 17 of the following year, the couple married in a wedding heavily reported by the national press.

She didn't settle down

Never one to play the demure, blushing bride, Alice chose a wedding dress in her signature shade of blue. And when the time came to cut the cake, she borrowed a sword to do the honors. After a honeymoon in Cuba, the couple returned to America and settled in Washington. Now married, the first daughter could have succumbed to a quiet life of children and homemaking — but that was never her style.

Leaving a mark on the White House

Three years after the wedding, Roosevelt’s time in the White House came to an end. But his mischievous daughter wasn’t about to leave without putting up a fight. According to a 1999 Salon article, Alice made a voodoo doll in the shape of Nellie Taft, the new first lady. She then buried it under the property’s front yard. This action would not go unpunished, though.

A ban from the White House

Ultimately, Alice’s torment of her father’s successors would lead to a ban from the White House — and that wasn’t the only time. Years later, in 1916, an inappropriate joke would cause President Woodrow Wilson to issue the same punishment. But these chastisements did little to suppress the spirits of the former first daughter. She would continue to be critical of the presidents that followed her father into the White House.

A magnet for the press

And even Alice’s marriage to Longworth didn’t prevent her from courting scandal. Alice and Longworth actually supported different presidential candidates in the election of 1912, and in 1914 she made a joke in public at her husband's expense when he lost his seat in the House. Over the years, it became something of an open secret in Washington that Roosevelt’s daughter was engaging in a number of illicit affairs.

A daughter from an affair?

Perhaps the most high profile of these was Alice’s relationship with William Borah, a Republican senator. According to her diaries, it was he who was the father of her daughter Paulina — and not Longworth. This was, of course, never acknowledged in public at the time. But despite their difficulties, she remained married to her husband until his death from pneumonia in 1931.

A distaste for the White House

While many women of the time simply faded into obscurity after their husbands’ deaths, Alice remained a prominent figure in Washington society. She continued to take no prisoners as far as expressing her opinion was concerned. When her distant relative Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned for office, for example, she made no secret of her distaste. Of President Warren G. Harding, she wrote, "Harding was not a bad man. He was just a slob."

A sharp tongue

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Alice performed a presumably unflattering impression of Franklin’s wife, Eleanor, that was a hit with her fellow Republicans. And in her 1988 biography of the former first daughter, Carol Felsenthal quoted her as saying she “would rather vote for Hitler” than give the then-president a third term. Even today, Alice is remembered for her sharp tongue and quick wit.

She didn't suffer fools

There have been many famous quotes attributed to her over the years. Reportedly, she kept a pillow in her home emblazoned with the legend, “If you can’t say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.” If people complained or talked about themselves, Alice called them a "perfect bore." And when Senator Joseph McCarthy called her by her first name, she delivered a scathing retort.

She had no time for polite society

According to the publisher Katherine Graham, the response came, “Senator McCarthy, you are not going to call me Alice. The truckman, the trashman, and the policeman on my block may call me Alice, but you may not.” On another occasion, she is said to have told President Lyndon B. Johnson that her large hat was a ruse to prevent him from kissing her.

Taking on the role of mother

Sadly, despite her dazzling personality, Alice’s life was tinged by tragedy. In 1957 her daughter Paulina took a fatal overdose, leaving Alice to raise Paulina’s young daughter Joanna. But like most things in her life, the former first daughter rose to the challenge, developing a close bond with her orphaned grandchild. "The bonds between them are twin cables of devotion and a healthy respect for each other's tongue," American Heritage noted in 1969.

“Washington’s other monument”

Although Alice eventually took a step back from Washington society, she returned during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. “There were certainly no sparks there,” she once said of the Eisenhowers. Despite her advanced years, it seems, she had lost none of her shrewd humor or love of gossip. And by the end of her life, she had become affectionately known as “Washington’s other monument.”

A long and happy life

In the end, Alice would outlive her famous father by more than 60 years, dying in Washington at the ripe old age of 96. In his 1990 memoir, former president Richard Nixon called her “the most interesting [conversationalist of the age].” Later, he added, “No one, no matter how famous, could ever outshine her.” For her part, she hosted Nixon for her 90th birthday in 1974 — right in the middle of the Watergate scandal — and called it “a great party.”

"She had style, she had grace"

According to reports, Alice never actually met Jimmy Carter, the last president to serve during her lifetime, believing him to be too uncouth for the role. But that didn’t stop him from delivering an official statement honoring her after her death. It read, “She had style, she had grace, and she had a sense of humor that kept generations of political newcomers to Washington wondering which was worse — to be skewered by her wit or to be ignored by her.”