The Other Washington Monument: Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s Contentious Career

youthful stories of daughters of the American Presidents and their clutched lives have been exemplified by teenybopper movies such as Chasing Liberty and The First Daughter. These films typically tell of the heroines quest for individuality, freedom and love and usually end with their realization that their position as the Presidents daughter holds as much responsibility as the President himself. The life story of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, basic daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, would have catapulted into a bigger hit, if it gets to capture the drama, glamour and the controversies that highlight her long life of ninety 6 years.Amidst Turmoil and Catastrophe A Picture of Determination and Character In February 12, 1884, Alice Lee Roosevelt was born in Manhattan to eighteen year old Alice Hathaway Lee and twenty four-year old, republican member of the New York state legislature, Theodore. Her tragical birth seemed a sign of the turbulent life this American mixerite would lead late r on. A some days after Alices birth, both Theodores wife and mformer(a) passed away. The former died of a kidney unhealthiness and the latter of typhoid fever. perchance as a result of this, or of Theodores political ambitions to become city manager of New York City, Alice has never seen much of her father while she was growing up, so she was raised by Theodores sister Anna, whom she called Aunty Bye. Anna was unmarried but sociable and would fill in stories of her real mother to Alice, as a compensation for her apathetic father. Alice would also later comment that Aunty Bye was a probatory and optimistic influence in her life (Beres, 1995).After three years under Aunty Byes care, Alice moved in (because of her stepmothers bidding) with Theodore and her new wife, Edith Kermit Carow in Sagamore Hill, Long Island. She later became the eldest in a brood of six, but was believed to have a distant relationship with her family. Even constant of gravitationgh Alice grew up without the care of a mother, she obtained the elegance and beauty which was widely adored by the public (Bingham, 1969). This occurred despite her compaction of polio in 1887, an infection which al near crippled her.In fact, she would later be praised for a flawless posture, which resulted from her stepmothers recourse to stretch her legs every night as a cure for her viral disease (Beres, 1995) or, fit in to Cordery (1995), from wearing leg braces until she was aged thirteen. Teen Life at the White House patronage losing in the mayoralty race in New York in 1886, Theodore Roosevelts political career became one of the most unparalleled in the history of the United States. He battled corruption as he held positions in the US Civil Service Commission and the New York City Board of Police Commissioners.He became one of the youngest Presidents at xl two after having been sworn into office because of the assassination of then President William Mc Kinley in folk 1901. Alice was seventeen years old then and seemed to struggle with her popularity to the media, as she thwarted when given the nickname Princess Alice by the journalists. She was also lucky (or unlucky, as she would later comment, that her celebration was a dowdy arrangement of her stepmother) to be the first Presidential daughter to have debuted under the Executive Manor, which incidentally, was renamed the White House by Theodore Roosevelt.During these times, Alices mental side was characteristic of todays rich, famous and reckless teenage celebrities. Alice also had her share of the Paparazzi moments, rebellious attitude and controversies. She was a regular at the weekly publication Town Topics at Washington, DC, the predecessor of E-buzz in the 1900s. Her pet shade of blue, so called Alice blue, became a fashion fad and she inspired and popularized songs like Where art thou Alice and Alice Blue Gown.She was widely imitated and her image represented the wrong kind of cool, as she was, as Beres (1995) states , blunt, opinionated, scandalous, and super unpredictable the smoking, drinking, racing around in cars and betting on horses. This behavior brought negative publicity to her family. Perhaps to derail this trend, Alice was sent as an emissary of her father to Cuba and Puerto Rico, and to Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines during the 1905 Russo-Japanese war settlement (Cordery, 1995).But it was her marriage to Nicholas Longworth in February 17, 1906 that fluff her rampage, much to her fathers contentment. They traveled after their famed honeymoon in Cuba and were accompanied by the royalty of Ger more, France and England in their visit to Europe. Her Political Ascent and Demise Her fame as a politician, or somewhat, as a handmaid of the politicians, became eminent after her marriage, as she supported her Fathers and Nicholas campaigns and became the center and promulgator of social events.However, during the 1912 elections, Theodore, who was then running for his third term at the Presidency, lost along with Nicholas who was also failed to win as Senator. With her help and support, his husband regained position in 1914, while she invested her time with wall sockets concerning World War I, the League of Nations and the Ohio Republican Committee. With the loss of her father in January 6, 1919, she continued to strengthen her territory in the political arena. She championed the controversial issue on women suffrage in 1920, as Beres (1995) thought, not because she found it important, but because it was contentious.Two days after her forty-first birthday, she gave birth to her only daughter, Paulina, who was rumored to be her child to Senator William E. Borah. Nonetheless, Nicholas, who died in 1931 while he was Speaker of the House, was a abandoned father to their only child. She declined when offered to run for her husbands position but constantly graced the political theater of operations with presence. During the time of Hitlers violent reign, contrary to her fathers legendary involvement on many international political concerns which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, she pioneered isolationism for the US.Her witty but frank and intrepid, mostly mean (Bingham, 1969) comments, ably referred to as swordplay by Skow (1988), have earned her the reputation of being a major prestigious political and historical character in her time. In fact, according to Keegan (2006), she would have made an atrocious American Idol judge. She authored Crowded Hours in 1933 when she was 49 and continued to goad both politicians and the public in her fleeting column My Day. She was also a constant critic of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and many other US presidents.Paulina, on the other hand, who had a constant appeal for her mothers love, committed what was thought to be suicide at her young age of thirty two. Alice took care of her granddaughter Joanna who had unrelenting loyalty for her until Alices death (Cordery, 1995). On the c ontrary, Skow (1998) mentioned that Alice lived whole for the remainder of her life. She was buried beside Paulina, when she died on February 20, 1980. References Beres, C. B. (1995). Alice Roosevelt Longworth. DISCovering U. S. History. Gale Research Electronic copy. Retrieved September 6. 2007. In Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Great Lives from History, Frank N. Magill. (Ed. ) American Women Series, v. 3. capital of Oregon Press. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI Gale Group. http//galenet. galegroup. com/servlet/HistRC/ Bingham, J. (1969). Before the colors fade Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Electronic copy. Retrieved September 6, 2007. American inheritance Magazine, 202. http//www. americanheritage. com/articles/magazine/ah/1969/2/1969_2_42. shtml. Cordery, S. A. (1995). Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth. Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 10 1976-1980. Charles Scribners Sons. Keegan, R. W. (2006).An American princess. clock Magazine. Electronic copy. Retrieved September 6, 2007. www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207827,00. html Longworth, Alice Roosevelt. (1933). Crowded Hours Reminiscences of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Charles Scribners Sons. Longworth, Alice Roosevelt. (2007). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved September 6, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online http//www. britannica. com/eb/article-9048900 Skow, J. (1988). Swordplay Alice Roosevelt Longworth. snip Magazine. Electronic copy. Retrieved September 6, 2007. www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967243,00. html