The

The Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most brilliant and productive Americans of all time. He succeeded in almost everything he did, ultimately rising to become president of the United States at just 42 years old.

He was an intellectual, a warrior, an adventurer, and a statesman. And yet, he said that he could

only do one of two things, be president or control his daughter, Alice. He said he couldn't do

both. Alice Roosevelt was one of the first true celebrity presidential

daughters in American history, and she was very much like her father in many ways. She too was

brilliant and loved being the center of attention. She was the idol of many American women in her day,

and a lifelong fixture in the DC social scene for the bulk of many American women in her day and a lifelong fixture in the D.C. social scene

for the bulk of the 20th century. So she had a front row seat to a lot of history. Her father,

after all, was the president and her husband was the Speaker of the House. She counted among

her friends the Kennedys and Richard Nixon. And she is the subject of this episode of

this American president. Our guest today, Stacey Cordare, is a professor of history at Iowa State

University. She is the author of the book Alice, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House

Princess to Washington Powerbroker. Professor, thanks for coming on to our show.

It's my pleasure. I'm happy to be here. She was a fascinating person, and she had quite a personality,

but her life started out in very tragic circumstances. So what happened? When Theodore Roosevelt

was a young man in his 20s, he married the love of his life.

Her name was Alice Hathaway Lee, and she was a Boston socialite from the wealthy banking family.

And they were very much in love in the way that you are when you're in your 20s. And in 1884, after some difficulty and probably in operation, Alice became pregnant

and moved in with the Roosevelt women to be sure that she was surrounded by support. The end of her

pregnancy wasn't all that easy. And it turned out that she gave birth on the 12th of February in 1884 to a healthy daughter, but

was fading fast, you could say. Theodore Roosevelt was a legislator in Albany, New York at the time,

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