Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and served
as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1901 to 1909.
Early life Edith was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to
merchant Charles Carow and Gertrude Elizabeth Tyler. Gertrude's father Daniel Tyler served
as Union general in the American Civil War. Edith grew up next door to Theodore "T.R."
Roosevelt, Jr. in New York and was best friends with his younger sister Corinne. She was T.R.'s
first real playmate outside his immediate family. Edith recalled, "I was but four years
old, when my mother came to the nursery to say that the Roosevelt children were coming
to spend the day. I remember hiding my old and broken toys and my nurse explaining that
the shabbiest of all might give the visitors the most pleasure." Martha Stewart Bullock
became aware of the "growing intimacy" between Edith and her son and invited her to join
him for kindergarten tuition. During her childhood, Edith was known as "Spotless Edie."
Edith and her sister Emily Tyler Carow were brought up in an environment of comfort and
tradition. An infant brother, Kermit died one year before her birth.
At Miss Comstock's school, Edith acquired the proper finishing touch for a young lady
of that era. A quiet girl who loved books, she was often T.R.'s companion for summer
outings at Oyster Bay, Long Island; but this ended when he entered Harvard College. Although
she attended his wedding to Alice Hathaway Lee in 1880, their lives ran separately until
1885. Romance and marriage
T.R. proposed to Edith on November 17, 1885 and she accepted. However, for appearance's
sake, the young widower delayed the announcement. They married on December 2, 1886, at St. George's
Church of Hanover Square, in London, England. On the day of the wedding, a quiet affair
with few guests, the London fog was so thick that it filled the church. The groom was visible
however, for he wore bright orange gloves. His best man was Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice,
who later served as British ambassador to the United States during World War I and maintained
a close friendship with the couple for the rest of his life.
After a 15-week honeymoon tour of Europe, the newlyweds settled down in a house on Sagamore
Hill, at Oyster Bay. Mrs. Roosevelt, reserved and efficient, managed the household budget.
Throughout T.R.'s intensely active career, family life remained close and entirely delightful.
First Lady of the United States
After William McKinley's assassination, Mrs. Roosevelt assumed her new duties as First
Lady with characteristic dignity. She meant to guard the privacy of a family that attracted
everyone's interest, and she tried to keep reporters outside her domain. The public,
in consequence, heard little of the vigor of her character, her sound judgment, her
efficient household management. As First Lady, her first "symbolic" activity
was to throw open the windows to let in sunlight and fresh air while dissipating the "dark,
musty" atmosphere. Roosevelt rearranged the furniture after this as well, but a few days
later, when the White House was "partly settled," Edith collapsed into a "heavy sleep" for 48
hours. She converted the traditional weekly levees to musicales, remodeled the White House
at a cost of $475,000 into what the president described as "a simple and dignified dwelling
for the head of a republic." During T.R.'s administration, the White House was unmistakably
the social center of the land. Beyond the formal occasions, smaller parties brought
together distinguished men and women from varied walks of life. Three family events
were highlights: the debut of her stepdaughter Alice Lee Roosevelt in 1902, the wedding of
"Princess Alice" to Nicholas Longworth in 1906, and Ethel's debut. A perceptive aide
described the First Lady as "always the gentle, high-bred hostess; smiling often at what went
on about her, yet never critical of the ignorant and tolerant always of the little insincerities
of political life." Later life and death
On July 14, 1918, her son Quentin died during aerial combat over France. After her husband's
death in 1919, she traveled abroad but always returned to Sagamore Hill as her home. Roosevelt
had to get away from her own home due to it reminding her of her late husband. In New
York City, she arranged for her and her maid to sail for Europe on February 5, 1919. After
suffering from a severe headache over the weekend, Roosevelt was finally able to monitor
Quentin's grave on February 18, 1919. Roosevelt arranged with representatives for ninety residents
of Chamery for a fountain in his memory to be erected since his body was to remain in
France. She kept till the end her interest in the
Needlework Guild, a charity which provided garments for the poor, and in the work of
Christ Church at Oyster Bay. She established a second residence in the Tyler family's ancestral
hometown of Brooklyn, Connecticut. Mrs. Roosevelt came out of retirement and campaigned briefly
for Herbert Hoover in his bid for re-election in the 1932 presidential election, thus campaigning
against her nephew-in-law Franklin D. Roosevelt. She died at her Oyster Bay home in New York
on September 30, 1948, at the age of 87 and is interred next to her husband in Youngs
Memorial Cemetery near Oyster Bay, New York. References
Original text based on White House biography Additional information at The Almanac of Theodore
Roosevelt [1] Works cited
Morris, Sylvia. Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady. Modern Library. ISBN 978-0375757686.
External links Edith Roosevelt at C-SPAN's First Ladies:
Influence & Image