Speaker 1: History Versus is a production of I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: Mental Flaws. Theodore Roosevelt was many things, a writer, a rancher,
Speaker 1: a president, but above all, he was a family man.
Speaker 1: Tira was exceptionally close to and dearly loved his family.
Speaker 1: As he wrote in his autobiography, a household of children,
Speaker 1: if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms
Speaker 1: of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. It
Speaker 1: may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone,
Speaker 1: but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching. Tira
Speaker 1: wasn't one to continually gush about his family members, but
Speaker 1: he made it clear that they truly were the most
Speaker 1: important part of his life. I'm your host Aaron McCarthy,
Speaker 1: and in this bonus episode of History Versus, a podcast
Speaker 1: from Mental Floss and I Heart Radio about how your
Speaker 1: favorite historical figures faced off against their greatest foes, we'll
Speaker 1: be covering all the other Roosevelt's that we didn't get
Speaker 1: to talk about in detail in season one. Let's start
Speaker 1: with TR's older sister, Anna Roosevelt Cowles, or as she's
Speaker 1: more commonly known, Baby Baby, was born on January and
Speaker 1: had a curvature of the spine that caused a small hump.
Speaker 1: She required years of therapy in order to walk. According
Speaker 1: to historian Betty Boyd Caroli, Baby was so often on
Speaker 1: the go that her family gave her yet another nickname, Bye,
Speaker 1: as in Bye Baby. With her endless energy, keen mind,
Speaker 1: and outstanding work ethic, Baby was a studying force for
Speaker 1: her family to rally around and rely on throughout her
Speaker 1: entire life. As soon as she was old enough, she
Speaker 1: managed the Roosevelt household and was sort of a third
Speaker 1: parent to her younger siblings, Theodore, Elliott, and Karn. According
Speaker 1: to the Theatore Roosevelt Center, Baby's maturity made her seem
Speaker 1: like one of the grown ups when they were all young.
Speaker 1: That impression never really wore off for Tire, and Baby
Speaker 1: continued to advise and assist him when he was a
Speaker 1: grown up himself. She decorated his room in the boarding
Speaker 1: house at Harvard and even had a hand in planning
Speaker 1: his first honeymoon when Tier and his first wife, Alice,
Speaker 1: spent a few days after their marriage at the Roosevelt's
Speaker 1: rented Long Island estate. Kathleen Dalton writes that Baby had
Speaker 1: ordered all their meals ahead of time and arranged everything
Speaker 1: with the three servants who cared for them. When Tierra
Speaker 1: began his career in politics, Baby lent an ear, dolled
Speaker 1: out advice, and helped him make political connections. And when
Speaker 1: his brother, Eliot's made Katie Mann said that Elliott had
Speaker 1: gotten her pregnant, a scandal that, if exposed, Tierra believed
Speaker 1: would threaten his political chances. It was Baby who helped
Speaker 1: Tier avoid a lawsuit. Baby married late in life to
Speaker 1: a Navy officer named William Sheffield Cowles and moved to
Speaker 1: Washington around the same time her brother was elected Vice president. There,
Speaker 1: her home became what Tier would call the Other White House.
Speaker 1: He visited often and consulted with Baby on political appointments
Speaker 1: and maneuvers. Baby's health declined as she aged, and she
Speaker 1: spent her final years with her husband in Connecticut, plagued
Speaker 1: by arthritis, back aches, deafness, and deteriorating eyesight. She passed
Speaker 1: away in nineteen thirty one at the age of seventy six,
Speaker 1: but there was one vital bit of TR's legacy that
Speaker 1: she saw to before she died. In eighteen ninety nine,
Speaker 1: Baby sold the house where she tr and their other
Speaker 1: siblings have been born, and various stores and restaurants would
Speaker 1: go on to occupy the site after he died. In
Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, younger sister Karin led the Women's Roosevelt Memorial
Speaker 1: Association in raising funds to buy back the site and
Speaker 1: transform it into a memorial. Together, Bamy and Karin had
Speaker 1: it reconstructed exactly as they remembered it, complete with family portraits, heirlooms,
Speaker 1: and original furniture or replicas. The Roosevelt House opened on
Speaker 1: Tierra's birthday in ninety three, and the National Park Service
Speaker 1: took it over forty years later, renaming it the Theodore
Speaker 1: Roosevelt Birthplace National His or Excite Today, the house that
Speaker 1: Baby so skillfully ran in her youth stands as a
Speaker 1: monument not only to TR's legacy, but Baby's two Tier's
Speaker 1: younger sister, Karin, was a high spirited, mercurial woman who
Speaker 1: devoted herself to him unwaveringly. While Tr looked up to
Speaker 1: Baby as an advisor and a role model, Karn was
Speaker 1: more of a buddy. According to Dalton, tr sought out
Speaker 1: Karin's company when he felt soulful or needed unambivalent praise
Speaker 1: or just playfulness. Karin's education consisted of private tutoring and
Speaker 1: a stint at Miss Comstock School in Manhattan, much of
Speaker 1: which she attended with her neighbor, Edith Kurmit Carrow. Edith,
Speaker 1: of course, would later become tor second wife. Karin herself
Speaker 1: married a boisterous, wealthy Scottish born real estate broker named
Speaker 1: Douglas Robinson, a relative of former President James Monroe. Karin
Speaker 1: sobbed through her engagement, but she didn't dare break it off,
Speaker 1: and the energetic, socially active couple turned out to be
Speaker 1: surprisingly well matched. They had four children, Two served in politics,
Speaker 1: and one authored a book that talked about his child
Speaker 1: hood at Sagamore Hill. The family was not without tragedy.
Speaker 1: Their youngest son, Stewart, died at nineteen years old when
Speaker 1: he accidentally fell from a window at Harvard. Throughout her
Speaker 1: adult life, Karin split her time between poetry, politics, and parties.
Speaker 1: Her first poem, The Call of Brotherhood, was published in
Speaker 1: Scribner's magazine in nineteen eleven, and she followed it up
Speaker 1: with several poetry books. Her friends and fellow writer Edith
Speaker 1: Wharton encouraged and edited some of her work Karin also
Speaker 1: hosted lavish parties at the family's estate in West Orange,
Speaker 1: New Jersey. It was at one of these parties that
Speaker 1: Franklin Roosevelt asked a girl to dance his distant cousin, Eleanor,
Speaker 1: who was Karin's niece and would later become Franklin's wife.
Speaker 1: In September nineteen eighteen, Karin's husband passed away unexpectedly of
Speaker 1: heart disease at age sixty three, and she lost Theodore
Speaker 1: just a few months later in January. The sudden death
Speaker 1: of her beloved brother shook Karin to her or life
Speaker 1: would always have glamor, enchantment, inspiration, and delight as long
Speaker 1: as he lived, she said, and now he has gone.
Speaker 1: From that point until her own death in nineteen thirty
Speaker 1: three from pneumonia, Karin's life was essentially a tribute to
Speaker 1: tr She worked with the Roosevelt Memorial Association, penned many
Speaker 1: heartfelt poems about him, and published a memoir titled My
Speaker 1: Brother Theodore Roosevelt. In Karnn threw herself into politics, backing
Speaker 1: presidential candidates whom she felt what uphold Tire's vision for
Speaker 1: the country. In nineteen twenty, she endorsed General Leonard Wood
Speaker 1: at the Republican National Convention. She also served on President
Speaker 1: Calvin Coolidge's advisory committee during his n campaign. Tr Son
Speaker 1: Ted Junior summarized his aunt's dedication to tr in his diary.
Speaker 1: She has talked so much about him that I really
Speaker 1: believe she is more or less convinced that she is
Speaker 1: he now. While Karin had processed her grief over Tier's
Speaker 1: death very publicly, his second wife, Edith, did her best
Speaker 1: to bury hers for the sake of her remaining family.
Speaker 1: I am dead, but no one but you, dearest Karin,
Speaker 1: must know that. She wrote in March nine, nineteen, just
Speaker 1: a few months after Tier's death, I'm fighting hard to
Speaker 1: pull myself together and do for the family, not only
Speaker 1: my part, but also Theodores. Edith kept busy by volunteering
Speaker 1: for the Women's National Republican Club and the Needlework Guild,
Speaker 1: and took trips to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.
Speaker 1: She wasn't exactly a political activist, but she did encourage
Speaker 1: women to vote after the nineteenth Amendment was passed, and
Speaker 1: she spoke out in support of Herbert Hoover when he
Speaker 1: ran against Franklin Roosevelt. According to the Theatre Roosevelt Center,
Speaker 1: this was partly to clarify that Roosevelt wasn't her son,
Speaker 1: as some Americans had assumed. As Sylvia Jukes Morris writes
Speaker 1: in her biography of Edith, the former First Lady was
Speaker 1: by nature reclusive and sedentary, and she had to fight
Speaker 1: all the harder to be socially and culturally active. But
Speaker 1: fight she did with courage that Theodore himself would have admired.
Speaker 1: She frequently attended parties in Oyster Bay and even braved
Speaker 1: Manhattan for concerts and operas. Between all her traveling, volunteering,
Speaker 1: and keeping up with friends and family, Edith guided how
Speaker 1: Tier was remembered in the eyes of the public. Not
Speaker 1: only did she destroy many of their love letters, she
Speaker 1: also had a lot of say and deciding which documents
Speaker 1: got passed on to historians. It's for this reason that
Speaker 1: some scholars, including Michael Cullinane, who we spoke to in
Speaker 1: previous episodes of this podcast, consider Edith the true gatekeeper
Speaker 1: of Tier's legacy. She was the gatekeeper of Sagamore Hill too.
Speaker 1: After Tier died, his eldest son Ted had intended to
Speaker 1: take over the estate and raise his family there. Edith, however,
Speaker 1: didn't plan on moving. She wanted Sagamore Hill to be
Speaker 1: a center for the whole family, and eventually allotted a
Speaker 1: few acres of land to Ted so he could build
Speaker 1: his own home. He did, and these days it's known
Speaker 1: as the Old Orchard Museum. Edith lived at Sagamore Hill
Speaker 1: for the rest of her life and died there on
Speaker 1: September at the age of eighty seven. She's buried at
Speaker 1: Young's Memorial Cemetery with her husband. Now let's move on
Speaker 1: to the Roosevelt kids. Edith and Theodore's oldest son, Ted
Speaker 1: the Third, or Ted Jr. Technically followed his father into politics,
Speaker 1: but his path there was roundabout, and his defining legacy
Speaker 1: was mostly a military one. After graduating from Harvard in
Speaker 1: nineteen o nine, Ted worked for a carpet company and
Speaker 1: then an investment banking firm. After World War One broke
Speaker 1: out in Europe in nineteen fourteen, he planned for the
Speaker 1: inevitability of US involvement by helping to organize a training
Speaker 1: program in Plattsburgh, New York, which marked the beginning of
Speaker 1: his lifelong passion for military service. In April nineteen seventeen,
Speaker 1: the US entered the war, and Ted immediately commissioned major
Speaker 1: was among the first soldiers sent to France. His wife,
Speaker 1: Eleanor Butler Alexander left their children with Edith and set
Speaker 1: off for France as well, where she ran a y
Speaker 1: m c A, organized volunteers, and taught French to American soldiers.
Speaker 1: The press lauded Ted as an adept, heroic leader, and
Speaker 1: so did his father. Our pride even surpasses our anxiety,
Speaker 1: tr wrote, I walk with my head higher because of you.
Speaker 1: A bullet to the knee during a nineteen eighteen battle
Speaker 1: would keep Ted away from the front lines for the
Speaker 1: rest of the war, and he soon set his sights
Speaker 1: on public service. Throughout the nineteen twenties and thirties, Ted
Speaker 1: held a number of positions, including New York Assemblyman, Assistant
Speaker 1: Secretary of the Navy, governor of Puerto Rico, and Governor
Speaker 1: General of the Philippines. He also spearheaded the establishment of
Speaker 1: the American Legion, ran for Governor of New York but
Speaker 1: didn't win, and eventually settled into a vice presidency at
Speaker 1: the publishing house Double Day Dorin. When the US got
Speaker 1: involved in World War Two, a middle aged, Ted was
Speaker 1: undeterred by his heart problems or the arthritis that forced
Speaker 1: him to walk with a cane. He enlisted, was promoted
Speaker 1: to brigadier general, and fought in Algeria. In Italy, he
Speaker 1: was accompanyed by his son Quentin, named for Ted's younger brother,
Speaker 1: who had died during World War One and had been
Speaker 1: buried in France. Then came d day. Ted led the
Speaker 1: troops onto Utah Beach, earning a Medal of Honor for
Speaker 1: his valor. He survived, but a month after the battle,
Speaker 1: while still in France, Ted died of a heart attack.
Speaker 1: He was buried in the Normandy American Cemetery in France.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty five, at the request of the Roosevelt family,
Speaker 1: his brother Quentin's remains were relocated to rest there too.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back in. Ted Jr. Published All in
Speaker 1: the Family, a memoir with many colorful anecdotes from the
Speaker 1: Roosevelt's childhood. One of them really captures the spirit of
Speaker 1: his younger brother, Kermit. When father read to us, we
Speaker 1: all interrupted him continually with questions, but Kermit was by
Speaker 1: far the worst offender. Ted wrote one why bred another
Speaker 1: so quickly? In his mind? That soon reading almost stopped.
Speaker 1: Kermit's insatiable curiosity only strengthened as he got older, and
Speaker 1: in a way, his whole life was a quest to
Speaker 1: learn as much as he possibly could. He accompanied his
Speaker 1: father on both the legendary African Safari of nineteen o
Speaker 1: nine and the life threatening journey along Amazon's River of
Speaker 1: Doubt in nineteen thirteen and fourteen. Without his father, he
Speaker 1: globe trotted around places like Asia, the Indies, and the
Speaker 1: Galapagos Islands, exercising his penchant for picking up languages along
Speaker 1: the way. He could speak or read almost ten including Portuguese, Swahili, Arabic,
Speaker 1: and Greek. Kermit built an impressive resume. He authored several
Speaker 1: books and countless articles about his adventures, and he also
Speaker 1: wrote book reviews and essays about his father. He also
Speaker 1: worked at a bank in Buenos Aires and founded his
Speaker 1: own steamship company. He commanded British forces during World War
Speaker 1: One and later helped bring about the modern US Merchant Marine.
Speaker 1: He fathered four children with his wife, Belle Wyatt Willard.
Speaker 1: He was president of the National Association of Audubon Society
Speaker 1: what would later become the Audubon Society, and he even
Speaker 1: rubbed shoulders with Gertrude Stein and William Butler Yates. But
Speaker 1: as Edmund Morris wrote in his book Colonel Roosevelt, Kermit's
Speaker 1: nomadic nature and marvelous talent for languages fought against the
Speaker 1: confinements of marriage and work. Depression steadily claimed him. He
Speaker 1: became a philanderer and insatiable drinker, and as his body thickened,
Speaker 1: developed a startling resemblance to his father. Kermit fought with
Speaker 1: British forces again at the beginning of World War Two,
Speaker 1: but he was soon sent home because of his weak heart.
Speaker 1: He started drinking again, thinking military service would do him good.
Speaker 1: His wife and younger brother, Archie, asked then President Franklin
Speaker 1: Roosevelt to commission him in the American Army. He was
Speaker 1: sent to Alaska, where he helped to organize a militia,
Speaker 1: but the assignment wasn't the studying force his family had
Speaker 1: hoped for. In June nine, Kermit took his own life.
Speaker 1: His mother, eighty one at the time, was told that
Speaker 1: he had died of a heart attack. Kermit is buried
Speaker 1: at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery in a garage, Alaska,
Speaker 1: m in TR's own words, his fourth child, Ethel was
Speaker 1: a jolly, naughty, wacky baby, too attractive for anything, and
Speaker 1: thoroughly able to hold her own in the world. Ethel
Speaker 1: wasn't too attractive to rough house with her siblings, though,
Speaker 1: As Edward J. Renahan Jr. Writes in his book The
Speaker 1: Lions Pride Theodore Roosevelt and his family In Peace and War,
Speaker 1: Ethel was a wild tomboy who spent her early years
Speaker 1: swinging from trees with her brothers, running relay races, rowing
Speaker 1: on Oyster Bay, and riding a succession of favorite horses.
Speaker 1: But as she got older, Ethel became the reserved, responsible
Speaker 1: daughter that her impulsive older sister Alice never was. While
Speaker 1: tr called Alice his liability child, he praised Ethel as
Speaker 1: the asset child. She stood beside her mother on White
Speaker 1: House receiving lines. She taught Sunday school to less fortunate children.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fourteen, World War One gave Ethel the opportunity
Speaker 1: to devote herself to all tier work full time. She
Speaker 1: had just married surgeon Richard Derby, and the two both
Speaker 1: treated wounded soldiers at the American Ambulance Hospital in France,
Speaker 1: years before the United States officially entered the Fray. Much
Speaker 1: like her grandfather, the Ethel was committed to humanitarianism. After
Speaker 1: the war, she supported a number of causes, many of
Speaker 1: which were based in or around Oyster Bay, where she
Speaker 1: lived with her husband and children. She volunteered for the
Speaker 1: Red Cross and pushed for affordable housing for African Americans
Speaker 1: in the area. She was an active member of both
Speaker 1: her church and the local nursing service, and she also
Speaker 1: became a trustee of New York's American Museum of Natural History,
Speaker 1: an institution her grandfather had helped found. The Ethel pursued
Speaker 1: her own charitable passions, she still made time to further
Speaker 1: her father's conservation efforts and solidify the Roosevelt legacy in
Speaker 1: Oyster Bay, and we can thank Ethel for the preservation
Speaker 1: of Sagamore Hill too. She helped establish the house as
Speaker 1: a National Historic Site after her mother died there in
Speaker 1: eight Ethel lived in Oyster Bay until her death in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven at six. She's buried in Young's Memorial Cemetery.
Speaker 1: While all of the Roosevelt children treated the White Houses
Speaker 1: their playground in one way or another, a few of
Speaker 1: Archibald's antics were especially memorable. It was little Archie who
Speaker 1: smuggled a Christmas tree into the White House in nineteen
Speaker 1: o two, and his shet limpony Algonquin reportedly rode the
Speaker 1: White House elevator to visit him while he was recovering
Speaker 1: from the measles the following year. Archi, atr second youngest son,
Speaker 1: had inherited his father's sense of adventure and uncanny lack
Speaker 1: of fear. His younger brother, Quentin, was his sidekick in
Speaker 1: the White House and beyond. As Mars wrote in Colonel Roosevelt,
Speaker 1: the two brothers were as different as Huck Finn and
Speaker 1: Tom Sawyer. Quentin was easy going and uncompetitive, whereas tears
Speaker 1: Aid called Archie the pugnacious member of the family. He
Speaker 1: takes up the cudgel at every chance, the Aid wrote,
Speaker 1: Archie's favorite companion may have been Quentin, but his personality
Speaker 1: mirrored his older brother at Juniors in many ways. So
Speaker 1: did his career. Like Ted, Archie worked for a carpet
Speaker 1: company after graduating Harvard and was wounded in France during
Speaker 1: World War One. After the war, Archie spent a few
Speaker 1: years in the oil industry before founding his own investment firm.
Speaker 1: His success kept his wife Grace and there are four
Speaker 1: children from failing the worst of the Great Depression. But
Speaker 1: Archie abandoned the comfort of his office to join the
Speaker 1: American effort in World War Two. He fought in New
Speaker 1: Guinea and suffered wounds to the same arm and leg
Speaker 1: that had been shattered in World War One. Though Archie
Speaker 1: survived the war, he never completely recovered. He had always
Speaker 1: been politically conservative, but his postwar years were characterized by
Speaker 1: paranoia and conspiracy theories about communism. He eventually retired to Florida,
Speaker 1: where he died in nineteen seventy nine after a stroke.
Speaker 1: Archie was eight five years old. During his last days,
Speaker 1: at least, it seems like the ravages of war fell away,
Speaker 1: and he returned instead to happy memories of his boyhood
Speaker 1: in New York. I'm going to Sagamore Hill, he kept repeating.
Speaker 1: And finally, we have Alice, or as she was known
Speaker 1: in d C. The Other Washington Monument. In the End,
Speaker 1: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, whom we covered at length in a
Speaker 1: previous episode, outlived all of her half siblings. She was
Speaker 1: Tire's oldest and arguably wildest child, the only one from
Speaker 1: his first marriage. She died in nine eighty at age
Speaker 1: ninety six, and she's buried in Washington, d C. With
Speaker 1: her daughter, Paulina. We'll be back in a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks with another bonus episode of History Verses. History Verses
Speaker 1: is hosted by me Aeron McCarthy. This episode was written
Speaker 1: by Ellen Gutowski, with fact checking by Austin Thompson. The
Speaker 1: executive producers are Aaron McCarthy, Julie Douglas, and Tyler Klang.
Speaker 1: The supervising producer is Dylan Fagin. The show was edited
Speaker 1: by dyl And Fagan and Lowberlante. To learn more about
Speaker 1: this episode and Theodore Roosevelt, check out our website at
Speaker 1: mental fluss dot com, slash History Versus. That's mental flush
Speaker 1: dot com slash h I S t O R y vs.
Speaker 1: History Versus is a production of I Heart Radio and
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