The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book (17 page)

In a June 11, 1906, letter to Ethel, TR revealed his feelings for Sagamore Hill: “I am glad that what changes have been made in the house are good, and I look forward … to seeing them … Fond as I am of the White House … there isn’t any place in the world like home—like Sagamore Hill, where things are our own, with our own associations, and where it is real country.”

As TR accepted new responsibilities and assignments, the family moved to fit their circumstances. Archibald Bulloch was born in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1894. Quentin followed him on November 19, 1897. He was the couple’s final child. They all made TR happy, although they were not without problems.

Edith had several miscarriages between children. But he and Edith bore up well under the strains of managing a career and raising children, as he averred time and time again in the book,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children
. One letter in particular, written on December 26, 1903, to his sister Corinne (Mrs. Douglas Robinson), displayed how emotional he could be about family relationships, as a boy himself and a father:

Edith Carow Roosevelt with Quentin on chair, 1903

We had a delightful Christmas yesterday—just such a Christmas thirty or forty years ago we used to have under Father’s and Mother’s supervision in 20th Street and 57th street … I wonder whether there ever can come in life a thrill of greater exaltation and rapture than that which comes to one between the ages of say six and fourteen, when the library door is thrown open and you walk in to see all the gifts, like a materialized fairy land, arrayed on your special table?

TR was happy with his circumstances and his family almost every place they went, even Pine Knot.

Pine Knot

During TR’s first full term as president, Edith decided they should have a place away from the White House where he could unwind. She envisioned a rustic cabin where they could indulge in the types of outdoor activities they both liked. Edith was not sure he would go along with her, so she purchased a place in Virginia without telling him. It was about as rural as she could get.

Edith bought a fifteen-acre plot about a four-hour train ride and a ten-mile horseback or carriage ride away from Washington, D.C., (about 60 miles) with a small, fairly new cottage on it, on which construction began in 1903. She paid $280 for the “retreat,” including alterations she made.

At the time of purchase, there was 12 feet by 32 feet of space on each of two floors. There were no stove, chimney, well, or toilet facilities, inside or out. Quickly, Edith had a ground floor partition removed, end fireplaces added, and the central stair moved to the side to create a single lodge room.

She named the place Pine Knot, since it was rife with pine trees. One month after she bought the place, Edith sprung her surprise on TR.

The president of the United States soon found himself at a retreat with no plumbing, no running water, and no electricity. They had to go to a spring down the hill from the cabin to fetch water. But, they had plenty of nature to keep them occupied. That was uppermost in Edith’s mind when she bought the place.

A pretty wife, a successful hunt, and a cherished son to write to were the ingredients for a happy life for TR, especially in light of the many crises he was juggling simultaneously at the White House. Based on his letters about Pine Knot, it was a great place for him to get away, if only for a few days.

No Home Improvements

Edith may not have gotten her money’s worth after all was said and done, but she did achieve a sense of self-satisfaction. TR and Edith did use Pine Knot, although not often. They visited the place at least nine times, mostly around Thanksgiving and Christmas, between 1905 and May 1908, their final “mini-vacation” there.

Sometimes the children would accompany them, but more often than not it was just Edith and TR alone with nature and each other, which suited both of them just fine. Among the children, only Alice never visited the retreat.

The Roosevelts never made any major improvements to the retreat. In July 1911, Edith Roosevelt purchased seventy-five more acres at Pine Knot, anticipating that her husband would run for a second full term as president. The family held on to the property until 1941, when Edith sold it to George Omohundro, their longtime neighbor and TR’s hunting partner. That closed another chapter in the Roosevelt family’s life, another one that held fond memories for them.

Turning Two Losses Into a Win

In the final analysis, the two major losses in TR’s life between February 14, 1884, and November 2, 1886, turned out to be positive events. As heartbroken as TR was over the death of Alice Hathaway Lee, he rebounded magnificently. His subsequent marriage to Edith Carow turned out to be one of the happiest relationships of his life.

The blow he suffered in losing the 1886 mayoral race contributed to the beginning and enduring strength of that relationship. Moreover, it served as a positive experience for him.

TR learned that losing a political race is no disgrace as long as you treat it as a teachable moment, apply the lessons you learned, and move on. He did just that. Together, he, Edith, and their children moved on and up.

QUIZ

7-1 TR was the twenty-sixth president of the United States. What number first lady was Edith?

A. Twenty-seventh

B. Twenty-sixth

C. Thirty-ninth

D. Fifteenth

7-2 Edith Roosevelt enjoyed fine music. She instituted the tradition of East Room Musicales in the White House. On January 15, 1904, a noted young cellist played for the Roosevelts during his first solo tour of the United States. Who was it?

A. Karl Davydov

B. Pablo Casals

C. Yo-Yo Ma

D. Gaetano Braga

7-3 The Prohibition Party is the oldest “third party” in the United States
.

A. True

B. False

7-4 In the presidential campaign of 1932, Edith Carow Roosevelt campaigned for:

A. Herbert Hoover.

B. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

C. Andrew Jackson.

D. Eugene Debs.

7-5 Even though Robert Browning was not a particularly successful poet, he influenced the works of which well-known twentieth-century poet?

A. T. S. Eliot

B. Ezra Pound

C. Robert Frost

D. All of the above

7-6 Anna (“Bamie”) Roosevelt did not marry until she was forty years old
.

A. True

B. False

ANSWERS

7-1. A: The numbers of presidents and first ladies do not match. President John Tyler had two official first ladies, since he remarried during his term.

7-2. B: Pablo Casals is considered by some people to be the finest cellist ever. A few weeks later, on March 9, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.

7-3. True: The Prohibition Party was founded in 1869 and still exists.

7-4. A: She campaigned for the Republican candidate. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Democrat.

7-5. D: Browning did not earn a lot of respect as a poet until the late 1860s, well into his career.

7-6. True: She married forty-nine-year-old William Sheffield Cowles in 1895.

CHAPTER 8

Mr. Roosevelt Becomes a “Job Hopper”

“The opposition to reform is generally well led by skilled parliamentarians, and they fight with the vindictiveness natural to men who see a chance of striking at the institution which has baffled their greed. These men have a gift at office-mongering, just as other men have a peculiar knack at picking pockets; and they are joined by all the honest dull men, who vote wrong out of pure ignorance, and by a very few sincere and intelligent, but wholly misguided people.”

Losing the mayor’s race did not hurt TR. It opened more doors for him. After the election, people in high places began to see his potential and appointed him to positions on the local and national levels that helped him refine his leadership skills. The experiences in the years between the mayoral race in 1886 and the gubernatorial campaign of 1898 provided the seasoning he needed to enter the toughest political arena of all: the presidency of the United States.

New Opportunities

TR did not seem devastated by his loss in the 1886 New York City mayoral race. He was a self-confident man who knew that better opportunities would come along.

For three years after the election, TR dabbled in a number of activities. He remained in New York attending to his duties as trustee of the Orthopaedic Hospital, director of the New York Infant Asylum, and assignments with several other institutions with which he was associated. He also continued writing.

TR had demonstrated his considerable political skills and savvy running against Hewitt and George. Even though he lost the campaign, TR had attracted the attention of Republican Party leaders. Nevertheless, he did not seem to be in a hurry to get involved in politics again.

Between 1887 and 1889, TR published six books. TR remained open to opportunities should they come along—which they did.

Commissioner Roosevelt

The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison as their presidential candidate in 1888. TR campaigned vigorously throughout the Midwest for the nominee. Harrison emerged victorious after a hard campaign. He did not forget TR’s support.

One of the issues on which Harrison campaigned was civil service reform. He favored the merit system over the patronage system, but his was not a particularly popular position among members of Congress. He wanted someone on the United States Civil Service Commission who would not care particularly what Congress had to say about one side versus the other. He needed a reformer on the Commission, and Theodore Roosevelt was the perfect candidate.

On May 7, 1889, President Harrison appointed TR to the United States Civil Service Commission, along with another reformer, Hugh Smith Thompson, the former governor of South Carolina and assistant secretary of the treasury under Harrison’s predecessor, Grover Cleveland. Much to the surprise of the
New York Times
, TR accepted the nomination.

A reporter wrote in the May 7, 1885, edition of the
New York Times
, “It was at first feared that he would not accept the position, as it requires a residence in Washington for a great deal of the time.” The rest of the reporter’s statement provided an insight into the psyche of Theodore Roosevelt, suggesting that he needed some publicity in his work, even if he had to relocate to get it.

The United States Civil Service Commission was created on January 16, 1883, as part of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act to oversee the federal government’s civil service. The law required some applicants to take civil service exams to get designated jobs and prohibited elected officials and political appointees from firing or removing civil servants in some situations.

TR Surprises Everyone

TR not only brought some life to the position, but he retained his post with the Commission for the next six years. He took his duties seriously—so seriously, in fact, that he drew a lot of criticism and unwanted attention for doing a job that many people in government did not take seriously. As usual, he developed unique ways of handling his critics.

TR did an end run to convince congressmen who opposed him to comply with his reforms. He simply got the public involved. He explained:

Occasionally we would bring to terms these Senators or Congressmen who fought the Commission by the simple expedient of not holding examinations in their districts. This always brought frantic appeals from their constituents, and we would explain that unfortunately the appropriations had been cut, so that we could not hold examinations in every district, and that obviously we could not neglect the districts of those Congressmen who believed in the reform and therefore in the examinations
.