Born: 1861
Died: 1948

Edith Carow and Theodore Roosevelt grew up in neighboring brownstones on New York City’s posh Union Square. Two years apart, “Edie” was best friends with Teddy’s sister and often visited the family at their summer home in Oyster Bay. In 1880, Edie attended Teddy’s wedding to a beauty he’d met at Harvard, Alice Lee. When Alice died in childbirth in 1884, her grief-stricken husband took their baby, Alice, to a Dakota ranch to heal. He returned to New York in 1885 and married Edie the next year. She was private and reserved, he was flamboyant and loved the spotlight, but together they made a perfect pair. Edie provided five sturdy children (she also raised Alice), a stable and well-organized domestic life, intelligent but never intrusive company, and an intrepid spirit that rivaled Teddy’s own.

McKinley’s assassination thrust the Roosevelts into the White House. Teddy at 42 was already a celebrity because of his exploits in the Spanish-American War, but now the public was fascinated with his boisterous family as well. Determined to protect their privacy, Edie organized access, hiring a social secretary, fashioning protocol, and supervising media relations. The construction of a new office wing enabled her to renovate the White House living quarters, and she hung portraits of the First Ladies, including her own, downstairs.

Twenty-Sixth President
Theodore Roosevelt

Born: 1858, New York, NY
Died: 1919

The son of a wealthy banker, “Teddy” Roosevelt was a sickly youth who overcame his frailty through exercise and sheer grit. After graduating from Harvard he entered politics as a Republican reformer, but when his wife and mother both died on the same day, he temporarily left public life to become a rancher in the Dakota Territory. He remarried in 1886 and went to work on the Civil Service Commission, then became New York’s Police Commissioner. Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President McKinley, Teddy led the Rough Rider Regiment in Cuba during the Spanish American War. Elected New York Governor in 1898, he was McKinley’s running mate in 1900.

Upon McKinley’s assassination, the progressive new President tackled the industrial monopolies, earning the label “trust-buster.” A passionate defender of the wilderness, he expanded the National Parks. In foreign policy he said, “speak softly and carry a big stick,” and he helped create the Panama Canal. The nation liked his Square Deal and elected him in a landslide in 1904. In 1906 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War. He retired in 1908, but resurfaced in 1912 to head the Bull Moose ticket. Although he lost, Teddy showed his usual flair. Shot in the chest while campaigning, he delivered his hour-long speech before going to the hospital.

Twenty-Sixth President
Republican