Theodore Roosevelt

Entry for February 3, 1880, page 1,
Theodore Roosevelt Diaries.
Theodore Roosevelt Papers, 1759-1919

On February 3, 1880, Theodore Roosevelt reported in his diary:

Snowing heavily, but I drove over in my sleigh to Chestnut Hill, the horse plunging to his belly in the great drifts, and the wind cutting my face like a knife. My sweet life was just as lovable and pretty as ever; it seems hardly possible that I can kiss her and hold her in my arms; she is so pure and so innocent, and so very, very pretty. I have never done anything to deserve such good fortune.

Entry for February 3, 1880, page 1,
Theodore Roosevelt Diaries.
Theodore Roosevelt Papers, 1759-1919

Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt,
née Alice Hathaway Lee,
ca. 1880-1884.
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

Nearly ten months after making this declaration of his enchantment with the young Alice Lee of Boston, Theodore Roosevelt married his "sweet life." Four years later, February brought tragedy; on February 14, 1884, Roosevelt's young wife died after giving birth to the couple's first child. Only a few hours earlier, his mother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt had died in the same house. After the double funeral and the christening of his new baby daughter, Alice, on February 17, 1884, the bereaved husband wrote:

For joy or for sorrow my life has now been lived out.

Theodore Roosevelt, in Deer Skin Hunting Suit, Rifle in Hands,
George Grantham Bain, photographer,
1885.
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

For the two years following his wife's death, Roosevelt sought consolation in writing, hunting, fishing, and working on his ranch in the Dakota Territory. In spite of his intense grief, Roosevelt was to find a renewed interest in life.

In fact, all of the colorful activities and major accomplishments for which he is remembered occurred after this time of great sorrow. The Today in History Archive includes more than twenty-five features mentioning Roosevelt in connection with historical events of the years 1890-1916.

In 1886, Roosevelt returned to New York, where, on December 2, 1886, he married Edith Kermit Carow, a friend from earliest childhood. Of his second wife, Roosevelt said, "She is not only cultured, but scholarly." The Roosevelts had a close and happy family life. Alice became the eldest sister of four boys and a girl. The large home at Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, on Long Island was always full of books, pets, and rambunctious activity.

Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt,
George Grantham Bain, photographer,
ca. 1900-1910
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

Edith Roosevelt presided over this lively household with quiet grace and humor, while her husband continued to write and publish histories and biographies, and to pursue a career of public service.

A Progressive Republican, Roosevelt was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President William McKinley; led the volunteer cavalry known as the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War; served as governor of New York; and won the office of vice president, campaigning to a landslide victory with President William McKinley.

After McKinley's assassination on September 6, 1901, Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth president of the United States. He and his lively family took up residence in the White House, which became a center of social and intellectual life, as well as a playground for the six children and a menagerie of pets.

President Roosevelt's exuberant interests extended over many areas, including conservation, race relations, the building of the Panama Canal, balancing of the interests of labor and business, the creation of a new international role for the United States, and the transformation of the Library of Congress into "the Nation's Library" under the effective leadership of his friend, Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam.

According to Paul T. Heffron, Specialist in 20th-Century Political History, of the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress:

One of the first tasks which confronted the new President was the compilation of his Annual Message to Congress. Scarcely a month after assuming office, he invited Mr. Putnam to forward suggestions on the Library of Congress for possible inclusion in the message. The Librarian promptly responded with a draft of his ideas on what aspect of the Library the President might stress…The keynote of Mr. Putnam's memorandum to the President was the national character of the Library of Congress and its obligation to set standards and provide leadership for the public library system of the United States…In essence, the President incorporated the librarian's theme in the message.

Paul T. Heffron, Introduction to the Index of the Theodore Roosevelt Papers, 1969.
Theodore Roosevelt Papers, 1759-1919

As an historian and avid reader, Roosevelt availed himself of the collections of the Library, through inquiries to Putnam. The following excerpt gives a sense of Roosevelt's intellectual curiosity and his seemingly boundless energy:

My dear Mr. Putnam: As I lead, to put it mildly, a sedentary life for the moment I would greatly like some books that would appeal to my queer taste. I do not suppose there are any histories or any articles upon the early Mediterranean races. That man Lindsay who wrote about prehistoric Greece has not put out a second volume, has he? Has a second volume of Oman's Art of War appeared? If so, send me either or both; if not, then a good translation of Niebuhr and Momsen [sic], or the best modern history of Mesopotamia. Is there a good history of Poland?

Letter, President Theodore Roosevelt to Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam, October 6, 1902.
Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

President Roosevelt encouraged the deposit of the archives of Presidential Papers in the Manuscript Division of the Library, where they would become available for scholarly research. During his last years, he began the transfer of his own papers to the Manuscript Division.

President Roosevelt was a man of enormous accomplishment in all areas of his life. In spite of his early sorrow, he was able to say during his last years:

No man has had a happier life than I have led…a happier life in every way.

Houdini with the Grandchildren of Theodore Roosevelt,
ca. 1915.
American Variety Stage, 1870-1920

• The preview to the Theodore Roosevelt Papers, 1759-1919 features selections from his diary, as well as a picture gallery and the Introduction to the Index, published by the Library of Congress in 1969, to the Theodore Roosevelt papers.
• Roosevelt's close relationship with his children is suggested by an illustrated letter of July 11, 1890, written to his three-year-old son Theodore, Jr., featured in the exhibition American Treasures of the Library of Congress, as well as in the American Memory collection Words and Deeds in American History.
• Read other letters written by the namesake of the "Teddy bear" to his children in a 1919 published collection, Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children, in Selected Works of Theodore Roosevelt.
• One of the American Treasures of the Library of Congress is the manuscript draft of the poem "With the Tide" composed by Edith Roosevelt's cousin, writer Edith Wharton, on January 6th and 7th, 1919, after hearing of the death of this beloved president.
• Theodore Roosevelt was one of the first presidents to be filmed. Search on his name in all Motion Pictures collections to see Thomas Edison's films of "The Rough Riders" and other clips which include T.R.
• Search the Today in History Archive on Theodore Roosevelt to learn more about historic events in which the twenty-sixth president played a role.
• The Learning Page has a Pathfinder on resources related to Theodore Roosevelt and other Presidents.

In Central Park,
New York, New York,
ca. 1900.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

If Theodore Roosevelt's diary description of a winter storm in Boston makes you long for an outdoor adventure, tour the unique collection of photographs of sleds and sleighs in American Memory. They range from subjects as diverse as a children's parade with doll sleds to a Russian boy pulled on a sled by three bear cubs.

Search on sleds, sleighs, snow scene, or ice skating, after first limiting the selection to "Photos & Prints," to locate more photographs of winter fun. Or, view the Today in History feature on the winter solstice.