Friday, November 30, 2007

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt; 1901-1909

Born: 1861
Died: 1948

Edith Carow and Theodore Roosevelt grew up in neighboring brownstones on New York City's posh Union Square. Two years apart, "Edie" was best friends with Teddy's sister and often visited the family at their summer home in Oyster Bay. In 1880, Edie attended Teddy's wedding to a beauty he'd met at Harvard, Alice Lee. When Alice died in childbirth in 1884, her grief-stricken husband took their baby, Alice, to a Dakota ranch to heal. He returned to New York in 1885 and married Edie the next year. She was private and reserved, he was flamboyant and loved the spotlight, but together they made a perfect pair. Edie provided five sturdy children (she also raised Alice), a stable and well-organized domestic life, intelligent but never intrusive company, and an intrepid spirit that rivaled Teddy's own.

McKinley's assassination thrust the Roosevelts into the White House. Teddy at 42 was already a celebrity because of his exploits in the Spanish-American War, but now the public was fascinated with his boisterous family as well. Determined to protect their privacy, Edie organized access, hiring a social secretary, fashioning protocol, and supervising media relations. The construction of a new office wing enabled her to renovate the White House living quarters, and she hung portraits of the First Ladies, including her own, downstairs.

Twenty-Sixth President
Theodore Roosevelt

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