That was Edith Roosevelt, speaking in new york city 20 years after she left the white house. She was the matriarch to a rambunctious family and her husband, Theodore Roosevelt, was as outgoing as she was private. She was the groundbreaking manager of the white house, overseeing a major renovation that added a west wing, separating the family quarters from the president s office is for the first time. Good evening and welcome to cspans series, first ladies. Edith roosevelt will usher in season two of the series and the 20th century. We have two historians who know the roosevelts well. Meet Kathleen Dalton. She is the author of Theodore Roosevelt a strenuous life. And Stacey Cordery is the author of a biography of alice roosevelt. Welcome, the both of you. The 1900 election. It does not last very long because an assassin has other things in mind for president mckinley. Tell the story that brings the roosevelts in that very momentous time into the white house. It is traumatic because Theodore Roosevelt is climbing the mountains in the adirondacks when he hears the news mckinley was shot. He comes to buffalo. At first, it looks like mckinley will survive. Then, blood poisoning sets in. Then t. R. Comes to washington. Takes over a mourning nation. It is a national tragedy. It is hard to come to the presidency because of an assassination. He reassures america and turns out to be a very successful president. A quick snapshot of how much experience he brings to the job, he was 42 years old. Very young but he had a lot of experience behind him in government. New york state assemblyman, assistant secretary of the navy, Civil Service commissioner, new York City Police commissioner. Governor of new york. Politics defined his life . Politics defined his life, but he wrote 30 books. He was a serious naturalist. He did a lot of things. He widely traveled a lot. A very expansive and interesting life. His spirti triumphed. Look forward instead of behind. The things he said, it is a terrible thing to come into the presidency this way. But it would be far worse to be morbid about it. We will learn about the woman who helped him throughout his administration in the next 90 minutes. We were talking that the United States, in the dawn of the 20th century, was a horse and buggy nation. A few facts about america at that time. To give you a glimpse of what the country was like, in 1900, the population of the country was about 76 million. 38 of people still work in the agriculture industry and were farmers. In 1902, we ended the philippine american war. In 1903, the first time the Wright Brothers flew a petrol engine aircraft. In 1904, americans started to work on the panama canal. And 1908, the model t and ended the horse and buggy age. What can we learn about the country that the roosevelts came to administer . It was a country marked by progressivism. There were a group of reformers across the nation. They were intent on tearing all the ills of the past century. Urbanization, immigration, industrialization, brought many wonderful things to the nation. There were also troubles. Abolish child labor. Bring women the vote. They were going to take care of injustices suffered by African Americans. The list went on and on and on. Optimism as roosevelt stepped into the white house. Weve heard about Theodore Roosevelts readiness for the white house. What about Edith Roosevelt . She had managed the Governors Mansion in albany quite successfully. They had to move from their home on long island back and forth. She would be there in the summer when he was the Civil Service commissioner in washington. She was used to packing up the servants in the households and moved back and forth. She is somebody who knew how to manage things. He was not good with money. He overdrew his Checking Account all the time. She would organize him and the children. She was a good manager. That is what the first lady needs to do. One of the things that has been delightful about the series there are up couple of things. We are learning a lot, but we also learn in what you are interested in. In a few minutes, we will take telephone calls. Let me give you the phone numbers. Also, a conversation already going on facebook. You can join it by logging on facebooks cspan page and log into the mix. What we will be asking tonight about Edith Roosevelt and her husband and children. Finally, we are taking tweets. A hashtag for the series we did not have in the first session, firstladies. We will mix all of that up over the next 90 minutes. One of the other great things is we have a videographer out at the site of the earths ladies along the way recording the places where they live. Tonight, we will introduce you to two of those associated with the roosevelts. What is sagamore hill . A big house where all go from the long island public schools. The park service does a fantastic job. It is a great place to visit. One thing you should know if you are planning a visit, it is under complete renovation for the next couple of years. We will show you some of the artifacts. Youll learn a lot. We will start there with a video about Edith Roosevelt and her children, and you will hear the voice of the curator. Lets listen in. This is a cartoon by a newspaper man. Thomas nast. It shows santa claus arriving at the white house to discover there are children at the white house, that the roosevelts had moved in. The title of the piece was there is life in the old house yet. A gift to the roosevelts. The country was excited to have a young family and children to watch. They had a vigorous president with a vigorous and attractive wife. Santa claus represented the countrys attitude over the excitement in the white house now. The biggest responsibilities edith had in the white house was to control the presss access to the family. What she did she arranged to have professional portraits taken of the children. The first two batches were by francis johnson, a wellknown Society Photographer in washington. A picture of clinton, famous for having ridden the elevator to visit archie when he was sick. Archie and a bicycle, kermit with jack, the wonder dog. This picture standing in front of the tree. Most of the pictures were taken outside. You take these photographs and it shows you how they were used by the press. We have a picture of him in age three, a picture of ethel. One of my favorites, the little boy, posing with the white house guards. This is how president roosevelts children were presented to the public. Usually, they were used in magazine articles in magazines and that sort of thing. It sets the scene for this young family, coming into the white house. How did the public react and what was the role of the press . In promoting what was happening in the white house . The public was delighted. It had been a long time since children were in the white house. They had become a fascinating part of our watching what is going on in washington. The antics of the children were in the newspapers. There was very little attempt to stop that, after pr learned this was good press for him. The children and their antics, their pets, they were very important parts of roosevelts public persona as president. How did that contrast with the mckinleys . Well, mrs. Mckinley was an invalid. And president mckinley was quite reserved and would not go out and campaign. It was more like the lincolns. The media was different during the civil war. They did not report so much about the children. There are there were all these yellow journals, newspapers like hearst, would put pictures of the children in their newspapers and all of these magazines that people would buy. Though there is so much more active media so they could publicize what was going on in the white house much more actively. A really important point. They were all photogenic and did great stuff. They would steal cookie trays from the kitchen and fly down the staircase with them. They would scare guests. They would rollerskate. Walk on stilts. The white house staff had their hands full. It was all terrific press for Theodore Roosevelt. We were talking about the fact this is the dawn of a new century but the roosevelts were brought up in the previous century. They were victorian in their attitudes. What kinds of parents were they . They were different kinds of parents. Edith could be fairly strict. A descendent of jonathan edwards. She thought children should behave. She was fairly strict. She would turn to theodore and ask him to do the spanking, but he did it reluctantly and was indulgent. He liked to play bear and have pillow fights with the kids. The kids looked at him as a large playmate. She had to be the main parent. On twitter, did edith have reservations about her husband being president . And i will add about her family, especially after resident mckinleys assassination. Yes. She beefedup security whenever she could. Those were her greatest fears. She wrote about these fears of roosevelts assassination. It was really scary for her. He thought carrying a gun was enough for him. He was difficult to watch. How many children were there . Six. The first child was not you should take the alice question. Explain who alice was and how she related to the rest of the family. The daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and his first wife. When Alice Hathaway lee died in childbirth, more or less, Theodore Roosevelt left her with his sister. She was raised there until edith entered the picture. It created problems. Yes. As we learn about her, how much of the historical record exists about her . How much are we able to learn about her life and attitude . She contributed to a travel book after t. R. Died. She did not do family history. She never wrote family memoirs and did burn most of the letters but not all of them. She wanted to be very private. Some of her letters survived. She tried to erase a lot of the record. She did not want people snooping into her private life. Even in death. That is part of the victorian point you brought up earlier. Being a woman in the 19th century. One letter where she described her children and their views of them. Here is a bit of what she had to say about her family in a letter to a friend. She said about alice, alice is exceedingly pretty and has a remarkably steady head. In some ways, she is very childlike. Ted is a good boy and does well in school. Kermit is odd and independent as always. Ethel is just a handful. She is a replica. We call archie the beautiful idiot. Some of those terms sound harsh to us today, but were terms of endearment. It was probably spot on at that point in time. Alice was very beautiful. But she had a pretty steady head. She would grow up into a woman who had wonderful political acumen, for example. Archie had a tough time and had Health Problems when he was a young lad. Kermit was the poetic one. Yes. Both of his parents confided in him. Probably closer to t. R. Than the other children. I met ethel when she was an older person. She was a very gracious and wonderful lady. I just really liked her. Everyone liked her. She was just that sturdy rock for the rest of the family. And poor ted. He carried the brunt of all of his fathers expectations. Manliness and what to do with your life, all of that. Were the roosevelts with their six children, the largest family in the white house . I think so, but tyler had 15. I do not know if they were all at the white house at the same time. It had to be among the largest family ever. It was more typical in those days, a lot larger families. A lot more common. Ken is on the air. What is your question . Yes. It will probably be something you address later on in the program. What was Edith Roosevelts relationship with William Howard taft . Thank you. We will talk about the tafts later on, but really briefly, how did they know the taft . They were social friends. I do not think edith cared for mrs. Taft so much. They were friendly during t. R. s presidency. It is during 1910, after taft shows his hand as president that hostilities break out. Next is a call from alexander in indiana. Hello. I have a question about Theodore Roosevelt. Im happy to hear it. Can you tell us how old you are . Im 12 years old. Have you studied Theodore Roosevelt in school already . No. I have wrote a paragraph about him. He is my favorite president. Why . Because i think he did a lot for this country. Can you name one thing . He fought in the spanishamerican war. What questions do you have about him . Did he believe in god and jesus . Thank you. Yes, he was a devout christian. In fact, incorporating religion into ediths life, we talk about her religion and how it informed her life, she argued for applied christianity. She would urge her husband to think about how his policies affected the poor. She was a social gospel christian, taking care of the poor and being concerned about the needy. He was episcopalian. At the time, the church was devoted to social gospel, concern for poor people. In pennsylvania, you are on. Thank you. I understand one side of the family wanted to be called roosevelt. And the other rosevelt. Is this true . If so, which would be which . That comes from the old movie. No, they are all roosevelts. The lineage of the family, what is their history . The hyde park roosevelts and the oyster bay roosevelt share colonial ancestor. A dutch settler in new york, and then two or three generations down, the family split. Theodore roosevelt, the fifth cousin of Franklin Roosevelt. The complicated thing is Theodore Roosevelt had a wonderful niece, he loved dearly, Eleanor Roosevelt, and then franklin married theodores niece. Franklin would call theodore cousin theodore but then called him uncle theodore. I feel the need for a family tree. [laughter] distant cousins. Franklin and theodore. Set a stage for this large and bustling family. Very quickly, edith determines it was just not going to work for them. A sketch she drew one week after moving into the white house. A plan for the second floor that shows how very crowded it was to have the family and workspace there. What did she do . She picked up on harrisons place in the white house and got together with a very influential firm, mckim, mead white. There is a big back story here. To cut to the chase, mckim decided he was, as she put it, tired of living over the store. She wanted to separate the living areas with the public areas. The downstairs was renovated and most people really liked it. The upstairs had seven bedrooms and bathrooms. That was pretty good. Alice, the teenage daughter, had her own bedroom. Ethel had her own bedroom. Mrs. Roosevelt put her own study up there. The president had a study in the office in the second floor. But so did the first lady with a door that adjoined. That was important to her to knock on the door and say, time for bed, you are working too late. This really created the white house as we know it today. If you look at the photographs of the white house as it existed, there were large greenhouses around this. She changed the whole feeling of the white house by adding the west wing to it. How cooperative was congress . Congress voted money for this. They wanted a better house. It was the moment when the United States became a world power, modernizing the presidency, the United States had really arrived as the most successful manufacturing power on earth. They were in the process of becoming a very serious world power. It was a matter of National Pride to have a president s house distinguished. As distinguished as the equivalent in another country. There were rats in the white house. It was important for all kinds of reasons. It was a marvelous reflection of the changes discussed as the country takes on a new aspect. So is the executive mansion, which now is renamed the white house. There is only one white house. How long did the renovation take . One year. 1902. Where did the family stay . Did they go back to sagamore hill . Over the summer they stayed there. The renovations started before she left. T. R. Was hit by the trolley in the middle of this, so they have difficult moments where he is negotiating in a wheelchair because he was hit by a trolley accident. How involved was Edith Roosevelt in the actual renovations . How much of a vision did she have for ultimate design . Edith was very interested in the past. Mckim was very interested in the present. She was very interested in history. It reflected the long, important path of the United States. She had her eye on the bottom line. Edith was good at managing, as you mentioned, she also read the accounts. And when the money got tight, she was very creative and a good steward of the nations money. She took the carpets on the first floor and she said, we are running out of funds and had them recut. She took curtains from the first floor and had upstairs furniture reupholstered to save money. Congress completed in time for the social season in 1902. Marvin is on the line with us, los angeles. Hi, marvin. Hello. Great to see you back. I have a question about the relationship between Edith Roosevelt and the Franklin Roosevelts. I know that Eleanor Roosevelt supported al smith for governor of new york running against Theodore Roosevelt junior as the republican candidate. The first time i went to washington was 1955. Hoping to see a celebrity, i walked over and saw a crowd and a slim lady with a broad hat was rededicating the statue were father dedicated 50 years ago and it was alice roosevelt. She seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. This was 1955, after leaving the white house in 1909. She loved to be the center of attention. She did. The hyde park roosevelts and the oyster bay roosevelts were basically very close. Franklin roosevelt loved to come and visit Theodore Roosevelt. They were friendly. Eleanor, of course, was edith and theodores niece. T. R. Used to read her poetry. They were quite friendly. When eleanor and franklin married, theodore gave her away, acting the part of her father. Edith signed their marriage license. Edith offered for them to be married in the white house. I would say that theodore was devoted to eleanor and loved franklin in the beginning. By the 1920s, Ted Roosevelt has political ambition. Some people accused him of being involved with the teapot dome scandal. It turns out it is really not fair. Eleanor drove a car with a teapot on top of it to embarrass her cousin. That created bitter feelings for a while. Edith remained somewhat friendly towards eleanor. We have a question about the destroying of her letters. What do the historians say about the missing records . Do we miss the intimate t. R. And edith because of this . I think we know a lot about that. Of course, you want to know more. We have a good record of what the relationship was like. Theodore roosevelt adored Edith Roosevelt. She was devoted to him. It is not that they did not have their difficult moments. He was not an easy husband. He forgot birthdays. He could be very inconsiderate. Wasnt there when children were born. Right. Was always going off hunting. I think we know a lot about them, even though she burned some of the letters. He truly did love her. He wrote about her, highly complimentary things. We will return and look at the collection of artifacts for the white house here. What we show you here are objects of the white house. Mainly personal objects. From edith. Also, this lovely cup. You can see the president ial seal. This is a cup and saucer from the White House Service that edith ordered in the white house after the renovation was completed. The public was very interested in this activity. We have an example of that. A newspaper article showing the White House Service, you can see the cup here in the top picture. She ordered 1125 pieces of new china to replace what she called the scraps, the bits and pieces all in the white house china sets that were in the house when she got there. What we do have here are examples of an image invitation to a garden party that she threw. The dinner invitations are very specific. They tell you when to arrive and when the dinner will be over. It is very clear you are not to overstay your welcome. You are not to argue with the president afterward. You are to come and have your dinner and go home. Some of the other objects you see here include a goldplated vanity sets like the one she had as a younger woman. This was very elaborate. It has her initials carved into it. These were used for perfume. A comb, a brush. Jars for rouge and other lotions. This was indicative of her status. She was the first lady and she took that job very seriously. This was the glove box was kept on her dresser. And it does open. You see its lined with velvet and would have held a dozen pair of gloves. She loved fans. She collected fans and liked to carry fans at public receptions. She liked to stand in line next to t. R. He loved to shake hands. By holding fans she did not have to shake hands with strangers and she was delighted by that. This is the familys china. They didnt use the white house china for their every day meals. They used this china which is english and you can see that it is pretty plain in design except for t. R. s initials in blue in the middle of the plate. As first lady she did receive a lot of gifts both from friends and family but also from foreign leaders. These lovely silver bracelets were sent to her from the emperor of presentday ethiopia. This is what she kept them in and she wrote notes to herself so she could remember where the Different Things came from. And it says silver bracelets sent by the interior emperor at the white house. We open the case here so you can get a close up look at the figurines which were given to her by the french government. They are made of french porcelain and they were used to decorate the tables at the white house. But it was clear they were a gift to her and she liked them and she made sure she took them with her when she left the white house. A sense of life at the white house under the roosevelts. You were making the point this was the dawn of america on the International Stage and roosevelt as the adventuring president in some ways. How did they use their social aspects of the white house to advance that view . In order to for the United States to be taken seriously as a world power, the United States president had to entertain heads of state elsewhere. So the white house changing really made a difference. Plus all of those diplomatic receptions and open events, big dinners, i think 40,000 people came through the white house in the first year. It creates good will. If you had dinner with someone youre more likely to be able to work with them afterwards. And sometimes we underestimate the power of face to face interactions. The roosevelts did a good job of this because they knew how to socialize. 4o,000 guests in the white house in the first year alone. Thats a lot. Its a lot but if you are highly organized she had her social secretary and knew how to do this. As t. R. Modernized the presidency and changed the navy and changed the government and created the first far eastern desk in the state department it was really amateur in the early 20th century they were modernizers. Hiring of the social secretary one of the things most historians point to as the modern first lady. What was the concept of a social secretary . How did she use her . She hired a woman who was interesting in her own right. By age 16, she was an orphan and had brothers to take care of so she went into the work force. She eventually worked for the war department. But she also did the task of being a social secretary where you help an elite woman with her correspondence and whatever hosting duties she had. This is what she did. So she was an old hand at this. And she came into the Roosevelt White house at the time when the first lady was inundated by all the details of alices day debut, so alice is making her social debut and there were letters to write, there were invitations to offer. There were flowers and many things to take care of. Thats when bell stepped in she stayed until the end and was quite a member of the family. At one point edith said i think of you as my daughter. So they had quite a close relationship. Bell, bell became a surrogate mother in some ways when children couldnt go to edith for something. They wrote and said could you send us some treats and alice was not supposed to take a bracelet from a young man but she did and lost it so she asked bell for help recoverings it. Very close relationship. Is it fair to say this managing of the social side was serious business, and edith was a tough manager . Controlling her guest list . She didnt want people who were adulterers or unacceptable socially to be a part of their entertainment. And of course, most people were white and there werent that many jews invited to the white house at the time. And so it was washington elites and people in government, foreign diplomats and people like new york society. So it was an exclusive group. Its important because she begins what is a tradition now of the bureaucraticization of the office of the first lady. Now bell was not the first social secretary to work for the first lady but she stays the longest. Mrs. Taft does not have the same sort of social secretary relationship and that is to her peril. Thats the influence of Edith Roosevelt, she began the bureaucraticization of the role of the first lady. Lets talk to bud who is watching us in st. Louis. Thanks for coming back again. Glad to be back. Im a major teddyphile and just a note, we got a great connection here in st. Louis with t. R. With the worlds fair. And i know that the History Museum down in forrest park there is a great photograph of him at the opening ceremonies. But my question was this, and i guess because he did so much i have trouble keeping dates straight. I do know that i believe that his first wife and his mother died the same day and that more or less forced him to go west, take up the cowboy life. My question when he came back, when did he marry edith . Was it before the spanish american war and did she help him overcome that sorrow of his first wife and mother . And thanks for taking my call. Im going to ask very brief touching on this story because well spend more time on that later. What about the dates of their marriage . Lets give them facts. February 14, 1884 is when alice dies and then t. R. Marries edith december 1886 and the spanish american war is july 1898. And you are right, there is a very unforgettable story of the death of Theodore Roosevelts first wife. But were going to keep you hanging on a little bit to tell you later in the program. Ed is watching us in north dakota. This is roosevelt territory. Thanks for taking my call. I am the chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt foundation and our effort with the foundation is to sustain life as his legacy as a cattle rancher here in north dakota. Earlier your mentioning of about a method of keeping the socially unacceptable people out of the white house. Tell me about how the first lady felt when cowboys and rough rider friends were coming through the white house. I think edith understood that his time in the dakotas was precious to him. She said he would never have been president if it had not been for his time in the dakotas. The Theodore Roosevelt center is a wonderful project. I think she understood she had visited the ranches that he had and understood that his time being a rancher meant everything to him, so she put up with some people like desperadoes and farmers and cowboys who tr loved. She was quite a young woman and he was head over heels with her husband, and he was in love with north dakota. She wanted to know all about the things that he loved. Those new marvelous, colorful characters from north dakota had a marvelous patina for her. Did he have a ranch throughout their presidency . No, he had to sell it. He was sort of a failed cattle rancher. The weather was against it. My grandfather was a wheat farmer not far from there, and those were hard times. It is now a national park. There are oil derricks there. North dakota had an oil boom and natural gas boom and the landscape is bothered a bit, but there is a very large tr contingent and they loved him there. You have to understand north dakota. There is the Theodore Roosevelt center where there are 155,000 letters. And there is the foundation that your caller mentioned. There is a joint effort to keep the memory of Theodore Roosevelt alive. Joan is in silver spring, maryland, outside of washington. I would like to know how did edith and theodore meet, and how long was their courtship before they married . We will answer that, but before i leave the question of the time of their white house years, we think of modern first ladies. Compare with a modern first lady, particularly jackie kennedy, in the white house . Bringing performers into the white house, this is something that Edith Roosevelt did. How did she approach introducing americans to culture and supporting the cultural life of the white house . She had the musical taste of the pair. Theodore roosevelt was not as bad as president grant. He said there were two songs, one is Yankee Doodle dandy and the other isnt. She worked with the Steinway Company and brought Amazing Entertainment to the white house. Including pablo casals. She brought the entire philadelphia orchestra at one time. She had tastes that were not quite in line with her husbands family. She loved the corcoran art gallery, theater and art and music. Also negro spirituals. Tr brought indian songs. He helped encourage john lomax to discover cowboy songs. They wanted people to understand america had culture. It was not a Colonial Society anymore. It depended upon european cultures for borrowing artists. They are really important in that sense, too. Since they had sagamore hill, why did they need a retreat . It took a while to get to sagamore hill because it is all the way in long island. In 1905 and 1906, he had a lot of political conflict and difficulty and at times when he was having a rough time, he had gained a lot of weight. She wants him to have an overnight in the cabin. I have been to the cabin. Its very primitive. There is no plumbing, no electricity, nothing. They had a kerosene stove. They had to do everything for themselves. They needed a quick escape. We took a camera there. Lets take a look. Remember this is a very wealthy family who grew up in the height of society. Keep that in mind when you see the house that edith built called pine knot in virginia. Edith sought a place for rest and repairs to the president. Close enough to d. C. That they could get out as often as needed, but far enough away that there was wilderness. She bought a cottage and 15 acres and her renovations that she prescribed for 280. The deed was written in her name. The renovations that she did include this porch, which he called her piazza. Most of what you see is original. The color of the house now is the color that it was when the roosevelts were here. The interior is completely unfinished. She wanted it to be natural in every sense. This room was divided into two and edith wanted to have the family be here together. They cooked the meals by the fireplace. T. R. Would do the cooking, and edith would boil the water for the tea, and the children would fetch the wood and do the various things that were needed to get the meals together. When edith saw the cottage for the first time, there were no fireplaces. The cottage was unfinished. She had designed these stone ledges that are built into the fireplace to provide some functionality. The stairs were originally in the center of the room so they took up the whole thing. She wanted the bottom floor to be in an open room and the other was she wanted to create a room upstairs. This is the room she created for ethel. It had a door so ethel would have been able to shut off her brothers from entering her room. This is where edith and t. R. Slept. This was the master bedroom, as it were. You can see the light streaming through the boards. It is no more better appointed than the other rooms. This is the boys room. All four of the boys would have slept in this room when they were here. This has a wonderful mantle and even better yet, it has stone supports that edith would have designed. This was a family place. In that sense, it was unique to the roosevelts because sagamore hill had become a place where tr had constantly a hubbub of activity. This was the one place where it was private family time, and the roosevelts made it very clear they did not want anyone but family here. So you wanted to tell the story about pine knot. Pine knot was important because there was no more privacy in the white house and very little at sagamore hill by this time. They had to go far off the grid, as we say now. The driving distance from washington today, how long would it take you to get there . A little bit more than an hour. One can go visit today . I believe you can. This looks rustic. Today, there would have to be a perimeter and the press would be hanging out and making sure no one was coming and going and using lenses to get to them. Did the press leave them alone . Edith lost sleep when they first went there because she was worried about intruders and she did not feel it was safe. As close to the farm, they would sometimes have neighbors come over. They went out at night to take a little walk down the road. There were secret service men that edith had secretly put there and she did not tell tr. He really didnt want protection . He didnt think he needed it. He carried a pistol. He was cavalier about it, where she was very worried. He was eventually shot in the 1912 campaign and there were other attempts to get at him, so she had reason to be nervous. Adrian asked on facebook, was edith into hiking, nature, and hunting like teddy . Did she enjoy being outside and living a more rustic life . She believed in the simple life getting away from society and not needing all the modern comforts, im not sure that she ever hunted. She did hike. After a certain number of children, i think he would sit on the porch and read. She was not like a classic big victorian lady. She would go on hikes. After he died, she traveled around the globe and took a canoe trip to a distant waterfall. Next is johnny from denver, colorado. Thanks for your wonderful series. I hope it continues. My question is on mount rushmore. About whether she had an opinion about the monument, seeing how she was alive during its conception and construction. She knew the person who carved it, but i dont remember reading anything im not sure its finished, or was it . I think it was finished in the 20s or 30s, but im not sure she ever sees it. Some people think that tr shouldnt be on there. The builder admired him very much. I think the fact that the bull moose monument its a monument to other great president s. Barbara says, i would like to know if edith cooked very much. Do we know about whether or not she prepared food for her family . No, i think she was proud that she had never made a bed in her life except maybe at pine knot. The Womens Movement that was going on, where did edith stand on this . I very much would like to know the answer to that. She said in private that she thought suffrage was a good idea. Women could vote in western states, so i believe in 1904, you could vote in utah and colorado and some other western states. She was very quiet about it. When susan b. Anthony came to the white house, alice was the person who was most sympathetic to suffrage. Barbara is in peoria. I would love to know whether it is true that Theodore Roosevelt asked booker t. Washington as a guest to dinner, and if so, was that a first . In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt did invite booker t. Washington, the leader of the Tuskegee Institute and a very important figure in africanAmerican History. He was recognized as an important educator but also dealt with political patronage for the Republican Party. Edith and tr had him to dinner. Frederick douglass would come to the white house and talk to lincoln, but i dont think a dinner was involved. It is not the first time an africanamerican came, but it came to be an advisor, but it may be the first dinner. It could be. People threatened to kill tr. They said they should put a bomb under his chair because he advocated social equality to blacks and whites. You have to remember in African American history, after reconstruction, this is the nadir, the low point of legal segregation, and African Americans in the south were treated very badly. It was very controversial to cross the color line socially. In one biography of her, there are a number of citations of personal correspondence where she would use what we would consider derogatory terms about africanamericans. He writes in the book, ediths comments fall in the range of general white attitudes among the uppermiddleclass in those years. It was delivered without much thought of implications. What kind of influence can we know that she might have had in this thinking on this topic . This is a couple that has been together every day. They went horseback riding, they went walking. They had a very close relationship. I think what lewis l. Gould is doing in his book, and i would call him the founder of modern first lady scholarship. He is looking at these letters and terms edith is using to describe africanamericans and finding them within the boundaries of what white americans used. They are more extreme than what we know theodore to be. What kind of influence does she have on her husband . We dont know. It would be interesting to look at the timing of the brownsville incident with some of the things edith has written and what she said. Africanamerican soldiers who were falsely accused in brownsville texas, there was local hostility and tr didnt really want to know the details. They got dishonorable discharges, and i think quite unjustly. He had had a great amount of africanamerican support in the north where they could vote, and certainly he lost them over that. When he was no longer going to run for president , he was less attentive to the needs of africanamericans. It prompts more questions. It is a terrible topic but it just shows you there are always more questions. She brought in singers of stacy a. Cordery the musicales that that mrs. Roosevelt had in the white house as first lady she brought in these singers of spirituals, and kathleen m. Dalton yes, spirituals. Well, that was considered, you know, as giving them an audience at that time, so stacy a. Cordery yeah. Kathleen m. Dalton again, you know, its not minstrel shows. Its spirituals. So, you know, i we look we have to be careful about looking back. So much has changed. Stacy a. Cordery its very kathleen m. Dalton yeah. At the end of his life he appeared on a stage with w. E. B. Dubois, and said, justice has not been done to black people, and this is something i really want to face. Stacy a. Cordery and their daughter taught africanamericans at at the sunday school, as well. So, i mean, its a very interesting race in the roosevelt family is a very interesting topic. Kathleen m. Dalton theyre not Eleanor Roosevelt, okay . Stacy a. Cordery no, theyre not. Susan swain were going to return to sagamore hill, the family home in long island, and learn a little bit more about their collection that shows the family life of the roosevelts. Lets watch that. Amy verone this is a fascinating piece. You know, most people take baby pictures and snapshots. The roosevelts at some point had three of their children, kermit, ethel and archie they had inaudible reliefs done of them. And, obviously, this would have been work done by a professional sculptor. It would have been expensive. Just fascinates me that it was done. We dont have similar pieces for the older children or for quentin, whos the youngest. But we have this piece. And it was kept on the wall outside the nursery on the second floor of the roosevelt home. Edith raised her five children from infancy, obviously. And she kept souvenirs. And theres actually, in t. R. s letters, references to ethel Walking Around in little red shoes. And i think that all of the children had little red shoes at some point or another. And edith, obviously, kept those that the children did not actually destroy. The book is peter rabbit in french. It belonged to ethel. And, you know, the roosevelts were fortunate. As their children were growing up, the Beatrix Potter books were brandnew and were coming out, and they bought them. And they read them to their children. They read them with their children. The children eventually would read back to them. Books were important to the roosevelts, at all ages. And i love the fact that heres one in french was obviously a way to introduce child to a new language, in a, you know, story that they already knew. So it probably helped to make it easier to learn french, to read a story you already knew. This sampler was done in the 1920s and 30s by Edith Roosevelt, and it basically tells the story of her familys life. You can see right in the top row representations of her husband and herself and their six children. And it goes on to show highlights of Theodore Roosevelts career, his actions as Vice President , for cuba, for being president. An inkwell to show that he was a writer. The pelican on the third row to show his conservation interests. And then, on the bottom row, three sons in uniform and a gold star for quentin, who was killed during world war i. And, you know, its a lovely piece. She had learned to do needlework as a small girl. She did needlework throughout her lifetime. And i think just a very poignant, very touching representation of what was important to her. Susan swain i want to tell you about some resources. This video is on our web site, but theres also a special feature. We have been accumulating all of the programs to this series. And, as you know if youve been watching us along the way, before we finish well have done individual biographies of each of the women who served as first lady in the history of the United States. But our website, cspan. Org firstladies, has all of these resources with all the videos of past programs plus many tours that didnt make it to air, so you can see other things. We also have a special feature each week. The special feature for this one is another item from sagamore hill. Its a dog bowl that apparently edith kept under the desk of her study, and theres an interesting story behind it. And youll have to go to the website and click on the link to find out what that interesting story is. One other resource id like to tell you about is our partner for this series is the White House Historical association. Theyve been so helpful in helping us prepare the way and the resources. They have published this terrific book of biographies of the first ladies of the United States. Were making it available for you at cost. And on that same website, theres a link if people would like to order it. It will have individual biographies of each of the first ladies, and you can be prepared for the ones that are coming up in the years ahead. And well get that to you just as quickly as we can. If we can show that on screen, that would be great. I dont know if i have too much further. But there it is. Thats what it looks like. And you can have that as part of your own collection. Well, id like to get to the part that people have been asking us quite a lot about, and that is the early years of Edith Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt. The Amazing Things is that they knew each other as very small children. How did that happen . Kathleen m. Dalton they grew up in the same neighborhood in new york city. T. R. Grew up at east 20th street, and she grew up near union square. So they were tutored together. She was his younger sister, corinnes best friend. They watched the invalid corps of the civil war, you know, the men who lost arms and legs, marching down union square together from his grandfathers window. So they were playmates. They read books together. They were like family. So. Susan swain is it true that they watched abraham lincolns funeral procession . Kathleen m. Dalton yes. Funeral procession. And she cried when she saw all the invalided soldiers. And that so thats 1865, so they were really little. Susan swain and has memories of those images. And i think weve got depictions of that on the screen. Its an amazing if you get in very close, you can see the two little tiny figures of children peering out the window. Kathleen m. Dalton isnt that really a miraculous find . Susan swain really. And, indeed, it is. So they were children together, and people thought that there was a romance there, but, in turn, he married someone else. How did that all happen . Stacy a. Cordery well, thats the mystery of the summer house. There was an theres an argument. We dont really know happened. But t. R. And edith were together. Things seemed to be going very well. And then there was some sort of a fight. And after that, they broke apart, theodore went off to harvard. And there, across the room, he saw Alice Hathaway lee. Told a friend, im going to marry that woman. And, indeed, he did. Susan swain and who was Alice Hathaway lee . Kathleen m. Dalton well, boston brahmins are the upper class of boston, usually descendants of people who came over on the mayflower or, you know, intermarried with them. And she was the daughter of a wealthy banker. And a very beautiful woman, and really quite charming and athletic. And t. R. Was incredibly taken with her, but she had many suitors, so he had to work hard. He sort of surrounded her, which is, he charmed her little brother and sister and her cousins and her uncles. And finally he became so familiar, she gave in. Susan swain how old were they when they married . Kathleen m. Dalton oh, they were well, lets see, 1980 i mean, 1880, he was just 21 and she was Something Like 19. So theyre very, very young. But thats not unusual in that time period. Susan swain how long were they married . Stacy a. Cordery well, she died in 1884, on valentines day. So, four years. Kathleen m. Dalton four years, yeah susan swain and this was the story that i earlier said was one that you would never if you never forget if you hadnt heard it before. So tell the story of what happened in the roosevelt house on that on that valentines day in 1884. Kathleen m. Dalton well, alice had already been born, the baby had been born two days before. But, alice, the mother, had brights disease, which is a kidney disease. And so, she was fading. T. R. Was up at the state, up in albany, with the state assembly. And so, he got telegrams saying, come down, your mother is ill. She had typhoid fever. But then, hed get more telegrams, alice is not doing well either. And so he finally came down on the train to new york, and came into the house. And it was you know, they both died that day. And it was it was a tragedy that was you know, broke his heart. And he was distraught. He had already been west, and he did flee to the west and was very, very sad, for a long time. Susan swain its so hard to imagine, really, losing your mother on one floor and just a few floors below, your young wife, just a few days after child birth. So what happened to roosevelt in the years after . How did he approach this . And was he was it surprising that he married again . Stacy a. Cordery it was surprising to him, i think. He told his sister, dont let me run into edith at your house anymore, because edith was friends with both sisters. And so when Theodore Roosevelt went out to the dakotas, he he vowed he was never going to marry again. This was very much a victorian notion that you were committed to your wife, even though she had died. And so he was heard to walk the floor out there, right i have no constancy, i have no constancy, when he said that had met edith. So there was an impromptu meeting at bamies house. And they discovered that old flame that had died was rekindled. So they courted in secret and didnt tell anyone about it. And then there was a funny moment when other people had noticed that they must have been in love, because it was printed in the newspapers that they were engaged. And roosevelt had not told his sisters. So then, he had to he had to explain this in sad letters to his sister, saying, well, actually, its kind of true. Susan swain but to show how far he traveled emotionally. And Theodore Roosevelt was a diarist. And weve got a picture on the screen of his diary its a big x he put on that day, the light has gone out of my life. And to be able to travel from that to marrying edith in that short time. He threw himself into his work. People said he didnt know what he was doing. He attended this double funeral. He was devastated. But he was also very young and very vigorous and very much alive. And they had been through that, because she knew him before before this tragedy happened, right. So, of anyone in his life, edith had known him the longest, and had been through the death of his father, had been through the death of his mother, the death of his wife. It was i think in that sense a sort of a lovely destiny that he would find solace in this in his old, dear friend. Susan swain our guest, Stacy Cordery, is the biographer of alice roosevelt, the child that edith inherited when she married. [laughter] susan swain and youve made reference many times to her outsized personality. Stacy a. Cordery right. Susan swain what was the relationship like between the two women . Stacy a. Cordery well, thats a very interesting question, because, you know, edith said she did her best by alice. She once said, im not the best kind of mother for alice. She needs someone whos more outgoing and a little less staid than i am. But she was actually a very good mother. She worked with alice alice had a leg problem. You know, she stretched her legs. She was indulgent toward alice. Alice said im not going to go to boarding school, and so, her stepmother gave in to that. But as alice got older, i think she was seeking attention that she never, ever had. And so, to find that attention she couldnt quite get it from her father, couldnt quite get it from her stepmother, didnt get it from her stepsiblings, alice looked on a much bigger stage for that. And once alice began to cross these lines of propriety, as edith saw them, the relationship became much more strained. Susan swain and was there a difference in the way she treated her own children versus yes. She was she preferred ethel. And i think alice knew that. I think alice was strong willed. Shed been a little bit spoiled by bamie. Her lee grandparents would buy her anything. And so, she had a strong will. And i think edith would have preferred a little bit more pliant, a little bit more traditional daughter. And she had one. So i think that was tough. I think and they never nobody ever seemed to talk to alice about her mothers death. T. R. Was never willing to explain to her why she had a different mother. Susan swain and john wilson on twitter, what was the relationships between edith and bamie, theodores sister who was also a political confidant of t. R. s . Kathleen m. Dalton well, bamie had a little white house where t. R. Would come to have secret meetings. She was quite a smart and capable person. So she and she also ran sagamore hill and set it up before edith moved in. So theres a little bit of competition between bamie and edith about whos going to be the political adviser. But most of the time, they worked together. But its clear that bamie was quite a formidable and quite a brilliant woman. Shes a really important person in Eleanor Roosevelts life, too. Susan swain were going to return to sagamore hill to look at how edith ran that household, which she established as her own, after bamie had run it for awhile. Amy verone well, sagamore hill was certainly designed to be a summer home. It was always just their primary residence. In the first five or six years that they were married and they lived here, they lived here year round. After the white house, they lived here year round again, even though it was hard to heat in the winter. It really was the center of their life. Even if they werent here, it was where their hearts were. Edith ran the household, not only at sagamore hill, but in all the places that they lived in albany, in washington, d. C. And she managed the familys accounts. She managed the familys investments. Amy verone what we have here is what we have here is an account book. Its an example of the annual accounts. Its from 1891, i think it is. And its basically every Family Member is listed, and then she kept track of the expenses that she paid for each Family Member every month of the year. But its also broken down into grocery bills, what she was buying from the butcher, what she might pay for a plumber to come in and do repairs. She counted every penny and kept very good track of what her household was spending. Sagamore hill was different than earlier president ial homes because it wasnt ever a commercial venture. They did not try to be selfsufficient. What edith wanted from sagamore hill was basically to offset the expense of living there. And so they did raise hay, you know, and alfalfa and rye you know, grains that they could feed their horses and reduce the cost of having horses here. They did have a Lovely Garden that produced everything from corn to strawberries. They had an arbor that had eight different kinds of grapes. They had strawberry and blueberry fields. But the idea was to to both feed the family and the staff who lived onsite, but also to reduce the cost of maintaining a property like this. Were holding a book. Its the sagamore hill guest book. And when people would come up to see t. R. And edith, they would sign their names just like they were visiting the white house. And its just a casual list. Its not as formal as the white house list would have been, but usually, they would have been politicians or government officials. But even family signed the book. You see here on august in 1904 that Anna Roosevelt cowles visited and that was t. R. s older sister bamie. That her brotherinlaw douglas robinson, who was corinnes husband, was visiting, so its obviously a family visit that day. And there are signatures from them. So, sometimes, i mean, i dont think these people signed their name. I think edith went back and made note of who had been visiting. Theres this wonderful illustration done by one of the visitors showing hope at sunset, is what the illustration says. But its, you know, the way for the family to keep track of who came to see them, and when their families were here, when their friends were here, and what they were up to while they were visiting. Susan swain and a look at life in sagamore hill. Were going to spend a few minutes on a big topic, and thats really the influence of Edith Roosevelt on her husbands very active administration. Just some statistics again, weve had to choose from a twoyear term i mean a twoterm administration. And this is hardly an exhaustive list, but in 1904, the Supreme Court upholds the antitrust act. 1905, the National Forest service was created. The pure food and drug act passed in 1906, something you said earlier. It was a very contentious time. Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize also in that year. And in 1908, the federal bureau of investigation is created. Just a few things during the time that roosevelt was in office. What was ediths influence, if we look at what she contributed to this . Stacy a. Cordery well, edith played a fairly large role, but behind the scenes. One of their friends called edith the perfection of invisible government, which i think she would have liked. For example, going back to the victorian thing, it was edith who said, we are not going to call the president by his first name anymore. He will be mr. President. So she never called him by his first name in front of people in the white house, so making that kathleen m. Dalton more formal. Stacy a. Cordery much more formal. Thank you, yes. She played a role in personnel. At least at one point in time, we know that she suggested someone kathleen m. Dalton James Garfield. Stacy a. Cordery James Garfield for the Civil Service commission. She tried to get rid of an ambassador from britain she didnt like very much, and tried to get one in. She said, i pulled every string that i knew to pull to try to get you here, and alas, she failed to get Cecil Spring Rice in. She was a kind of a backchannel to Theodore Roosevelt. For example, men in the white house, Henry Cabot Lodge for example, would talk to her about the post office scandal, rather than talk to him about it. And so she could also be a pathway for roosevelt to discuss matters of diplomacy that he could not discuss with the diplomats themselves. And then weve mentioned briefly that all the time they spent together walking and so forth. She sent newspaper stories to him. She read four newspapers a day. He was not so kathleen m. Dalton he didnt have time. Stacy a. Cordery he didnt like to read newspapers or he i guess he read a lot of things, but she read newspapers and then cut out stories and handed them to him. So, she made sure certain topics were in front of him. Susan swain what would you like to add about her influence . Kathleen m. Dalton well, she favored his conservation policies. We have her on record with that. She, you know, later on when he runs for president in 1912, she cries the day after he loses. And, you know, she she was really behind him. But she edits his speeches and his articles. And he clearly talks with her about policy. And she sits in political meetings this is like mrs. Carter but she was knitting, looking unobtrusive, but then they discussed what happened at the meeting afterwards. So shes shes a very active first lady. Susan swain brent in lancaster, minnesota. Brent hi, thanks for taking my call. I just have a quick question concerning ediths life after the presidency and after t. R. Died. Was she active in Washington Society after that . And did she have much influence or relationship with franklin and eleanor as he began his run in politics . Thank you. Susan swain okay, thank you for that question. Were going to dissect it a little bit. The roosevelts leave the white house and did they believe that their political career is over at that point . Kathleen m. Dalton well, i think they they said that and she thought that that was true. They moved back to sagamore hill. T. R. Goes on a safari in africa. Susan swain for a year, right . Kathleen m. Dalton for a year. And then she joins him. They ride camels together in egypt and they travel to revisit the sites of their honeymoon in italy and other places. And they travel around europe. But then he comes back, and taft is in political trouble because the party the Republican Party is split between progressives and conservatives. And taft hasnt really done a great job at holding the party together. So t. R. Gets back into politics in 1912. Susan swain and so she supported his run as the bull moose candidate. Kathleen m. Dalton she did. I think it was a painful moment because they knew that he couldnt win. But this is when the primary system comes in. States voted to have preferential primaries instead of having caucuses to choose candidates. And it was hard to predict. He won a lot of the primaries, but they were all new, so nobody knew what that meant. So when it came time to go to the republican convention, taft controlled the delegates and got the nomination. Susan swain something we could spend another entire program on. Kathleen m. Dalton right, right, right. Susan swain so seven years after his unsuccessful run, Theodore Roosevelt dies. 1919 is the year of his death. He was just 60 years old. How did he die . Stacy a. Cordery well, his heart gave out. Kathleen m. Dalton yeah, an embolism killed him. Susan swain and and was he failing or was he robust up until kathleen m. Dalton well, you know, he explores the brazilian jungle in 1913 and almost dies. He has a leg injury. He has fever. And then so he yes, and he has rheumatism. Stacy a. Cordery blind in one eye. Kathleen m. Dalton yes, so hes hes in bad shape. And part part of it is the way hes lived his life. Susan swain so he packed a lot into his 60 years. Kathleen m. Dalton its a strenuous life. [laughter] susan swain and did was edith with him when he died . Kathleen m. Dalton she was downstairs stacy a. Cordery in the house. Not in the room. Kathleen m. Dalton and shes been taking care of him and they knew it was serious. Susan swain and did he die at sagamore hill . Stacy a. Cordery he did. She was just 58. Susan swain so how did a caller wanted to know how did she spend her postwhite house years . There were many of them. She lived for a long time. Stacy a. Cordery travel, travel, travel, travel. She traveled a lot of places. She went to south american many times. Kermit was down there. Kathleen m. Dalton south africa, she went around the world. Stacy a. Cordery she did. Kathleen m. Dalton she went to the caribbean. Stacy a. Cordery right. Kathleen m. Dalton she traveled with kermit and other other children. Susan swain was she political . Kathleen m. Dalton well, except for this one moment with hoover, she sympathized with alice and ted in some of their upset about teds career not going too well. Theodore roosevelt, jr. , was assistant secretary of the navy. He ran for governor of new york. He tried to follow in his fathers footsteps. It didnt work very well. Susan swain she also had just a very bad family life in her postwhite house years, losing three of her sons. Stacy a. Cordery oh, awful, horrible, unbelievable. Yes. So, quentin died in world war i, and then she lost sons in world war ii. Do you want to tell the story . Kathleen m. Dalton well, ted is on the beach at normandy. Hes a war hero. Kermit kills himself and the family doesnt didnt want to talk about that for many years. But archie lives a very long life. Stacy a. Cordery ethel lives a long life. And alice will, of course, outlive everyone firstborn child will outlive everyone. Susan swain and alice, we just have to say a word about the person that she married and how her her relationship turned out after being such a big factor in her parents relationship. Stacy a. Cordery well, im not sure what youre what youre searching for, but she married a man just about 15 years her senior, nicholas longworth, who everybody thought might become president , which would put alice in the white house as first lady. That would have been interesting. And they have a they have a sort of tortuous relationship, i would say. Eventually she will have a child. Nick will not be the father of that child. The most powerful republican in washington d. C. Will be the father of that child, william borah. And then she will become a sort of a what . A kathleen m. Dalton a gadfly . Stacy a. Cordery well, i would say she was more like a she was a wise political observer and people sought out her dining table, sought out her advice for really 60 years. She was an icon in washington, d. C. , the other washington monument, she was famously called. Kathleen m. Dalton really funny. Stacy a. Cordery and funny very witty, yes. Susan swain we have about six minutes left. Im going to show a little bit more of the clip that we started our program, that is the republican rallies that she spoke at and we want to understand the family politics of both sides of the roosevelts when we do. Lets watch, and then well come back to you. Theodore roosevelt. [applause] Edith Roosevelt dear citizens, im a new yorker. Here i passed my childhood and my youth. Here, my forebears were born and reared their children. Therefore it is fitting that mine should be the honor of welcoming the president of the United States to our city. Susan swain so there we look at her one dip into politics in her postwhite house years. So, what should people know about that that relationship between the two roosevelt families and their political aspirations . Kathleen m. Dalton well, she was mad at eleanor for the teapot dome car and she was supporting ted and his political ambitions and she was being a loyal republican. Herbert hoover had given money to the bull moose party, and i think a lot people saw hoover as a progressive republican in t. R. s mold. Susan swain david welch wants to know which of the progressive movements was closest to mrs. Roosevelt . Kathleen m. Dalton well, she supported parks and playgrounds in oyster bay, so i wouldnt think of her as being an active reformer, but you know, she was sympathetic with some of the progressive reforms. Susan swain we have about four minutes. Were going to tie a bow around all of this, on what weve learned about Edith Roosevelt. Lets first take a call from joel in monroe, michigan, whos been waiting. Hi joel. Joel hi, i have this question for stacy. I read her book about alice, and i was totally impressed with it. Its the only book ive ever seen written about her. I just want to ask the question were her impersonations of eleanor as good as everybody said they were . Stacy a. Cordery yes, apparently they really, really were that good. She did a mean one of mrs. Taft that got in the way of the the transition from the roosevelt to taft white house as well. But she is a pretty good mimic. Susan swain and did i read that as they were departing the white house and the tafts were coming in, she was photographed sticking her tongue out at the press, to express her opinions about the transition . Stacy a. Cordery i wouldnt be surprised. [laughter] stacy a. Cordery it just suited her personality. Susan swain david welsh wants to know, in what ways was Edith Roosevelt bestsuited to be a 20th century first lady . Kathleen m. Dalton well, i think 20th century first ladies have had to be partners. Its such a demanding job that the president really needs not only emotional support, but he needs practical help. So, there have been quiet delegations throughout the history of the first lady ladys time in the 20th century. Stacy a. Cordery that was an excellent answer, dr. Dalton. Theodore roosevelt said, i have never seen in any other woman the power of being the best of wives and mothers, the wisest manager of the household, and at the same time, the ideal great lady and mistress of the white house. Susan swain well, this would answer a viewers question that said, what strength in particular did edith have that helped her husband become a successful president . Stacy a. Cordery she was patient. Susan swain that was the most important characteristic with with theodore . Stacy a. Cordery well, one of the things we didnt talk a lot about, and we could spend two hours on this alone, is how very different these two were in terms of their personalities and characters, right . And so, where theodore was outgoing and never met a stranger, edith was much more reserved, and i think that part of her part of her wisdom was knowing when to give Theodore Roosevelt his head, and when to say, now, theodore. Dont you think . Kathleen m. Dalton she calmed him down when he was stacy a. Cordery she calmed him, mmhmm. Kathleen m. Dalton he was more excitable, and more impulsive, and shes quite calm and deliberate. Stacy a. Cordery right. But she was a better judge of people, everyone said that, than theodore was, and he often said, whenever i went against ediths advice, i regretted it. Susan swain im going to squeeze in a last question from robert in vandergrift, pennsylvania. Hey robert, quick question please. Robert hi, thanks for taking my call. You mentioned that roosevelt came from a wealthy family. I was interested in the source of his wealth, and if they maintained their wealth during his presidency, why she seemed to be so conscientious about money . Stacy a. Cordery thats you. Go. Kathleen m. Dalton ok, well, the roosevelts, t. R. s family had merchant wealth, banking wealth. His grandfather was very successful, helped found the Chemical Bank in new york city, and they also owned a lot of property and collected rents. So, t. R. Spent a lot of his inheritance from his father on ranching, and wasnt very careful about money. So they really lived on his writing and just his salary. So, thats why they were strapped. Stacy a. Cordery yes and edith was very poor as a as a child, compared to the roosevelts, and so she was always in the habit of pinching those pennies, and it wasnt really until they got to the white house that he felt that sorry, that she felt that she had enough money, finally, to entertain and could relax a bit. Susan swain as we close here, weve shown you the biography stacy wrote about alice. I want to make sure to get it on screen. Kathleen daltons book, Theodore Roosevelt a strenuous life. Some of our callers have read it. You might be interested if you want to learn more. And as we close out, very quickly here, if we look at the pantheon of first ladies that were going to be understanding and learning more about this year, where should Edith Roosevelt fit . Whats been her influence on the job, her influence on American History . Kathleen m. Dalton well, when Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt came to the white house in the middle of the crisis of 1933, they told friends, wed really like our white house to be like uncle theodores and aunt ediths. And they were role models for other couples, president ial couples, because they were vigorous and active, but also, they maintained a homey sense, and kept their personal life alive. So, i think shes shes a really important organizational pioneer in some ways. Susan swain and you would say . Stacy a. Cordery i think the first lady has a fine line to walk between being the sort of embodiment of the of the ceremonial aspects of the of the job and the kind of global stage that the first lady needs to occupy. And that sort of folks, the homelike, this is your house as well as mine. And edith did that very, very well. The changes she made, the professionalization of the office itself, these all reflected that very clear sense that edith had that we were stepping into a new century, and the future was going to be terrific. Susan swain and on that note, we will say thank you to Stacy Cordery and Kathleen Dalton for being with us tonight to tell us more about the life of Edith Roosevelt, the first first lady of the 20th century. Thanks to both of you for your scholarship, appreciate it. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] American History tv is featuring cspans original series first ladies the eastern throughout the rest of the at 8 00 p. M. Eastern through the rest of the year. American history tv, all weekend every weekend on cspan3. Monday on the communicators, author kevin on the creative process. Wright brothers fly first and what was the process because they were not the first to have the idea of a flying machine. Why did they succeed . The answer is that they understood the problem they were trying to solve much better than anybody else. And at the end of the day being creative is not about having ideas in the shower or lightning bolts of inspiration. It is about solving problems one step at a time. Understanding the problem of the piece of paper which is a problem of balance was the key for the Wright Brothers starting on the course that led to them flying. Monday night on the communicators on cspan2. This month, cspan radio takes you to the movies. Hear the Supreme Court oral cases that four played a part in movies. The watergate case from all the and thets men landmark civil rights case invalidating intermarriage. Hear the Supreme Court arguments that played a part in famous mo