|
Alice
Roosevelt Longworth occupied center stage in the political and
social life of the nation for seventy years. This eminently readable
biography rests on traditional archival sources as well as the
discovery of an enormous collection of privately held and previously
unknown letters, scrapbooks, diaries, speeches, and photographs
belonging to Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
Thanks
to the generosity of her family members, Alice is the first book
to delve beyond
the well-known witticisms and consider the breadth of Alice Longworth's
passions. Alice explores the multidimensional woman whose intelligence
and charm brought politicians, authors, scientists and civil servants
together around her table.
Her fame
began as the twentieth century opened when she swept into the
White House as the fabulous and sophisticated First Daughter.
Americans copied her dress and actions, named babies after her,
and gathered in crowds wherever she went.
In 1906,
the nation celebrated her storybook wedding to Ohio congressman
Nicholas Longworth. By 1912, Alice Roosevelt Longworth had become
a sounding board for her father's third-party presidential bid
as Theodore Roosevelt tried to recapture the presidency—which
would have made her First Daughter again. That attempt failed,
but Alice learned to love the political game, even as her politician
husband turned his attentions to other women.
Leading
the successful charge to defeat the League of Nations in the Wilson
era, Alice fell in love with Senator William Borah and the two
powerful figures carried on a lengthy affair. Unalterably opposed
to the policies of her cousins Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt,
Alice spent the New Deal years publicly criticizing them and solidifying
both her position as the Republican Roosevelt and the capital
city's greatest wit.
Her famous
salon bridged Washington’s two worlds and "Mrs. L" was
everyone's favorite dinner partner—including John F. Kennedy and
Richard Nixon. Alice explains how the shy and private woman and
her intellectual interests captured America's imagination and
earned her the nickname “the other Washington monument.”
|
