4.0 out of 5 stars
An Icon Not for the Timid
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2009
What an amazing woman! Her long and colorful life (1884-1980) was played out in the spotlight of 20th century American politics, which became her enduring passion. Of course, she was the daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, born under tragic circumstances. After his proposal of marriage to a childhood friend was spurned, he fell in love at first sight with the lovely Alice Lee. In due time their only child was born, but Alice died just two days later--the same day that Teddy's mother passed away. He was so distraught by this catastrophe that he virtually never spoke of his first wife again and moved to North Dakota for two years, leaving the infant in the loving care of his sister whom everyone called "Bye."
In 1885, TR accidentally bumped into his old friend, Edith Carow--the first girl he had proposed to. Love ensued, and he married her in late 1886. He at first suggested that Bye keep Alice, but the dutiful if rather stern Edith, already pregnant with the first of her own five children, insisted on reclaiming the girl. So at the age of three, Alice was destined to lose a second mother and then grow up as "a virtual orphan in a clannish family." Edith was not an unkind stepmother, but she frankly admitted that she was not temperamentally suited to parent this spirited child.
Fast forward to the White House: After Theodore Roosevelt had won acclaim in other positions, as vice president he became the 26th President upon the 1901 assassination of William McKinley. Thus, at the age of 17 Alice became an instant celebrity and fashionista, soon to be dubbed "Princess Alice." But ever the willful rebel, she basked in her role as an iconoclast. Alice smoked cigarettes in public, toted her pet snake to dinner parties, rode in cars with men unchaperoned, liked to gamble, and stayed out late partying. Her father didn't quite know what to do with her, but she acquitted herself well as his emissary on an extended diplomatic mission to Japan in 1905. It was around this time that she began to be known for her penetrating intellect, keen wit, and political savvy--gifts that would remain critical calling cards for the rest of her days. In time, they would make her one of her father's most trusted advisors.
Alice married Nicholas Longworth in 1906, enjoying the status of a White House wedding. Nick, 14 years her senior, turned out to be an alcoholic and a philanderer who eventually rose to become Speaker of the House. Their 24-year marriage was not an ongoing love affair, although it was marked by mutual affection and political ambition (both hoping that he would make President someday). She eventually turned her affections toward the outspoken Senator William Borah of Idaho and bore his child, her only one, at the age of 41. Longworth delightedly embraced the child, Paulina (1924-1957), as his own but Alice was perhaps less entranced by this receding and stammering daughter, so unlike herself. Borah died in 1940, preceded in death by Longworth in 1931. Around 1943, Alice turned her attentions in the direction of John L. Lewis, the brilliant president and outspoken orator of the United Mine Workers. Decades later, she pronounced him "a delightful companion . . . and the best company there ever was." He died in 1969.
But perhaps the best relationship of her life was with her granddaughter, Joanna. After Paulina died of a combination of alcohol and an overdose of prescription medications, which her mother always asserted was accidental, Alice (now 74) took in the 10-year-old child who remained her companion and kindred spirit until her death. Always a staunch Republican, Alice had by then enjoyed many years of being Washington, D.C.'s leading social doyenne to an ever-changing cast of characters, and she even crossed party lines to support JFK and LBJ. She lost interest in the presidency around the time of Gerald Ford, and fell into declining health marked by emphysema from years of smoking and breast cancer (she claimed that her double mastectomy made her "the only topless octogenarian" in the capital). She died at the age of 96 after a brief bout of pneumonia. But she will be outlived by her sayings:
* "I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches."
* "I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development."
* "If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
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