Longworth, Alice Roosevelt, 1884-1980

Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (February 12, 1884 – February 20, 1980) was an American writer and socialite. She was the eldest child of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and his only child with his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. Longworth led an unconventional and controversial life. Her marriage to Representative Nicholas Longworth III, a Republican Party leader and 38th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was shaky, and her only child, Paulina, was from her affair with Senator William Borah. Two days after her birth, in the same house, her mother died of undiagnosed kidney failure. Theodore was rendered so distraught by his wife's death that he could not bear to think about her. He almost never spoke of her again, would not allow her to be mentioned in his presence, and even omitted her name from his autobiography. Therefore, his daughter Alice was called "Baby Lee" instead of by her first name After Theodore married Edith Kermit Carow on December 2, 1886, Alice was raised by her father and stepmother. Through this marriage, Alice had five half-siblings: Theodore III (Ted), Kermit, Ethel, Archie, and Quentin. Theodore remained married to Edith until his death in 1919. In 1905, Alice, along with her father's Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, led the American delegation to Japan, Hawaii, China, the Philippines, and Korea. It was the largest such diplomatic mission thus far, composed of 23 congressmen (including her future husband Nicholas Longworth), seven senators, diplomats, officials, and businessmen.[20]

During the cruise to Japan, Alice jumped into the ship's swimming pool fully clothed, and coaxed Congressman William Bourke Cockran to join her in the water. Putting a romantic spin on the story, newspapers reported it was Longworth, to whom Alice was engaged.[21] Years later Bobby Kennedy would chide her about the incident, saying it was outrageous for the time, to which the by-then-octogenarian Alice replied that it would only have been outrageous had she removed her clothes.[22] In her autobiography, Crowded Hours, Alice made note of the event, pointing out that there was little difference between the linen skirt and blouse she had been wearing and a lady's swimsuit of the period. In December 1905, after returning to Washington from their diplomatic travels, Alice became engaged to Nicholas Longworth III, a Republican U.S. House of Representatives member from Cincinnati, Ohio, who ultimately would rise to become Speaker of the House.

Date Event
1884, Feb. 12 Born, New York, N.Y.
1906 Married Nicholas Longworth (1869-1931)
1932 Appointed member, Board of Counselors, Women’s Division, Republican National Convention
1932-1934 Published reminiscences in Ladies’ Home Journal
1933 Published Crowded Hours: Reminiscences of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons
1936 Ohio delegate, Republican National Convention
Political column for McNaught Syndicate, New York
1937 Published with Theodore Roosevelt (1887-1944) The Desk Drawer Anthology; Poems for the American People. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran
1940 Member, National Committee on Food for Five Small Democracies
1980, Feb. 20 Died, Washington, D.C.