That was Edith Roosevelt, speaking in new york city 20 years after she left the white house. She was the matriarch to a rambunctious family and her husband, Theodore Roosevelt, was as outgoing as she was private. She was the groundbreaking manager of the white house, overseeing a major renovation that added a west wing, separating the family quarters from the president s office is for the first time. Good evening and welcome to cspans series, first ladies. Edith roosevelt will usher in season two of the series and the 20th century. We have two historians who know the roosevelts well. Meet Kathleen Dalton. She is the author of Theodore Roosevelt a strenuous life. And Stacey Cordery is the author of a biography of alice roosevelt. Welcome, the both of you. The 1900 election. It does not last very long because an assassin has other things in mind for president mckinley. Tell the story that brings the roosevelts in that very momentous time into the white house. It is traumatic because Theodore Roosevelt is climbing the mountains in the adirondacks when he hears the news mckinley was shot. He comes to buffalo. At first, it looks like mckinley will survive. Then, blood poisoning sets in. Then t. R. Comes to washington. Takes over a mourning nation. It is a national tragedy. It is hard to come to the presidency because of an assassination. He reassures america and turns out to be a very successful president. A quick snapshot of how much experience he brings to the job, he was 42 years old. Very young but he had a lot of experience behind him in government. New york state assemblyman, assistant secretary of the navy, Civil Service commissioner, new York City Police commissioner. Governor of new york. Politics defined his life . Politics defined his life, but he wrote 30 books. He was a serious naturalist. He did a lot of things. He widely traveled a lot. A very expansive and interesting life. His spirti triumphed. Look forward instead of behind. The things he said, it is a terrible thing to come into the presidency this way. But it would be far worse to be morbid about it. We will learn about the woman who helped him throughout his administration in the next 90 minutes. We were talking that the United States, in the dawn of the 20th century, was a horse and buggy nation. A few facts about america at that time. To give you a glimpse of what the country was like, in 1900, the population of the country was about 76 million. 38 of people still work in the agriculture industry and were farmers. In 1902, we ended the philippine american war. In 1903, the first time the Wright Brothers flew a petrol engine aircraft. In 1904, americans started to work on the panama canal. And 1908, the model t and ended the horse and buggy age. What can we learn about the country that the roosevelts came to administer . It was a country marked by progressivism. There were a group of reformers across the nation. They were intent on tearing all the ills of the past century. Urbanization, immigration, industrialization, brought many wonderful things to the nation. There were also troubles. Abolish child labor. Bring women the vote. They were going to take care of injustices suffered by African Americans. The list went on and on and on. Optimism as roosevelt stepped into the white house. Weve heard about Theodore Roosevelts readiness for the white house. What about Edith Roosevelt . She had managed the Governors Mansion in albany quite successfully. They had to move from their home on long island back and forth. She would be there in the summer when he was the Civil Service commissioner in washington. She was used to packing up the servants in the households and moved back and forth. She is somebody who knew how to manage things. He was not good with money. He overdrew his Checking Account all the time. She would organize him and the children. She was a good manager. That is what the first lady needs to do. One of the things that has been delightful about the series there are up couple of things. We are learning a lot, but we also learn in what you are interested in. In a few minutes, we will take telephone calls. Let me give you the phone numbers. Also, a conversation already going on facebook. You can join it by logging on facebooks cspan page and log into the mix. What we will be asking tonight about Edith Roosevelt and her husband and children. Finally, we are taking tweets. A hashtag for the series we did not have in the first session, firstladies. We will mix all of that up over the next 90 minutes. One of the other great things is we have a videographer out at the site of the earths ladies along the way recording the places where they live. Tonight, we will introduce you to two of those associated with the roosevelts. What is sagamore hill . A big house where all go from the long island public schools. The park service does a fantastic job. It is a great place to visit. One thing you should know if you are planning a visit, it is under complete renovation for the next couple of years. We will show you some of the artifacts. Youll learn a lot. We will start there with a video about Edith Roosevelt and her children, and you will hear the voice of the curator. Lets listen in. This is a cartoon by a newspaper man. Thomas nast. It shows santa claus arriving at the white house to discover there are children at the white house, that the roosevelts had moved in. The title of the piece was there is life in the old house yet. A gift to the roosevelts. The country was excited to have a young family and children to watch. They had a vigorous president with a vigorous and attractive wife. Santa claus represented the countrys attitude over the excitement in the white house now. The biggest responsibilities edith had in the white house was to control the presss access to the family. What she did she arranged to have professional portraits taken of the children. The first two batches were by francis johnson, a wellknown Society Photographer in washington. A picture of clinton, famous for having ridden the elevator to visit archie when he was sick. Archie and a bicycle, kermit with jack, the wonder dog. This picture standing in front of the tree. Most of the pictures were taken outside. You take these photographs and it shows you how they were used by the press. We have a picture of him in age three, a picture of ethel. One of my favorites, the little boy, posing with the white house guards. This is how president roosevelts children were presented to the public. Usually, they were used in magazine articles in magazines and that sort of thing. It sets the scene for this young family, coming into the white house. How did the public react and what was the role of the press . In promoting what was happening in the white house . The public was delighted. It had been a long time since children were in the white house. They had become a fascinating part of our watching what is going on in washington. The antics of the children were in the newspapers. There was very little attempt to stop that, after pr learned this was good press for him. The children and their antics, their pets, they were very important parts of roosevelts public persona as president. How did that contrast with the mckinleys . Well, mrs. Mckinley was an invalid. And president mckinley was quite reserved and would not go out and campaign. It was more like the lincolns. The media was different during the civil war. They did not report so much about the children. There are there were all these yellow journals, newspapers like hearst, would put pictures of the children in their newspapers and all of these magazines that people would buy. Though there is so much more active media so they could publicize what was going on in the white house much more actively. A really important point. They were all photogenic and did great stuff. They would steal cookie trays from the kitchen and fly down the staircase with them. They would scare guests. They would rollerskate. Walk on stilts. The white house staff had their hands full. It was all terrific press for Theodore Roosevelt. We were talking about the fact this is the dawn of a new century but the roosevelts were brought up in the previous century. They were victorian in their attitudes. What kinds of parents were they . They were different kinds of parents. Edith could be fairly strict. A descendent of jonathan edwards. She thought children should behave. She was fairly strict. She would turn to theodore and ask him to do the spanking, but he did it reluctantly and was indulgent. He liked to play bear and have pillow fights with the kids. The kids looked at him as a large playmate. She had to be the main parent. On twitter, did edith have reservations about her husband being president . And i will add about her family, especially after resident mckinleys assassination. Yes. She beefedup security whenever she could. Those were her greatest fears. She wrote about these fears of roosevelts assassination. It was really scary for her. He thought carrying a gun was enough for him. He was difficult to watch. How many children were there . Six. The first child was not you should take the alice question. Explain who alice was and how she related to the rest of the family. The daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and his first wife. When Alice Hathaway lee died in childbirth, more or less, Theodore Roosevelt left her with his sister. She was raised there until edith entered the picture. It created problems. Yes. As we learn about her, how much of the historical record exists about her . How much are we able to learn about her life and attitude . She contributed to a travel book after t. R. Died. She did not do family history. She never wrote family memoirs and did burn most of the letters but not all of them. She wanted to be very private. Some of her letters survived. She tried to erase a lot of the record. She did not want people snooping into her private life. Even in death. That is part of the victorian point you brought up earlier. Being a woman in the 19th century. One letter where she described her children and their views of them. Here is a bit of what she had to say about her family in a letter to a friend. She said about alice, alice is exceedingly pretty and has a remarkably steady head. In some ways, she is very childlike. Ted is a good boy and does well in school. Kermit is odd and independent as always. Ethel is just a handful. She is a replica. We call archie the beautiful idiot. Some of those terms sound harsh to us today, but were terms of endearment. It was probably spot on at that point in time. Alice was very beautiful. But she had a pretty steady head. She would grow up into a woman who had wonderful political acumen, for example. Archie had a tough time and had Health Problems when he was a young lad. Kermit was the poetic one. Yes. Both of his parents confided in him. Probably closer to t. R. Than the other children. I met ethel when she was an older person. She was a very gracious and wonderful lady. I just really liked her. Everyone liked her. She was just that sturdy rock for the rest of the family. And poor ted. He carried the brunt of all of his fathers expectations. Manliness and what to do with your life, all of that. Were the roosevelts with their six children, the largest family in the white house . I think so, but tyler had 15. I do not know if they were all at the white house at the same time. It had to be among the largest family ever. It was more typical in those days, a lot larger families. A lot more common. Ken is on the air. What is your question . Yes. It will probably be something you address later on in the program. What was Edith Roosevelts relationship with William Howard taft . Thank you. We will talk about the tafts later on, but really briefly, how did they know the taft . They were social friends. I do not think edith cared for mrs. Taft so much. They were friendly during t. R. s presidency. It is during 1910, after taft shows his hand as president that hostilities break out. Next is a call from alexander in indiana. Hello. I have a question about Theodore Roosevelt. Im happy to hear it. Can you tell us how old you are . Im 12 years old. Have you studied Theodore Roosevelt in school already . No. I have wrote a paragraph about him. He is my favorite president. Why . Because i think he did a lot for this country. Can you name one thing . He fought in the spanishamerican war. What questions do you have about him . Did he believe in god and jesus . Thank you. Yes, he was a devout christian. In fact, incorporating religion into ediths life, we talk about her religion and how it informed her life, she argued for applied christianity. She would urge her husband to think about how his policies affected the poor. She was a social gospel christian, taking care of the poor and being concerned about the needy. He was episcopalian. At the time, the church was devoted to social gospel, concern for poor people. In pennsylvania, you are on. Thank you. I understand one side of the family wanted to be called roosevelt. And the other rosevelt. Is this true . If so, which would be which . That comes from the old movie. No, they are all roosevelts. The lineage of the family, what is their history . The hyde park roosevelts and the oyster bay roosevelt share colonial ancestor. A dutch settler in new york, and then two or three generations down, the family split. Theodore roosevelt, the fifth cousin of Franklin Roosevelt. The complicated thing is Theodore Roosevelt had a wonderful niece, he loved dearly, Eleanor Roosevelt, and then franklin married theodores niece. Franklin would call theodore cousin theodore but then called him uncle theodore. I feel the need for a family tree. [laughter] distant cousins. Franklin and theodore. Set a stage for this large and bustling family. Very quickly, edith determines it was just not going to work for them. A sketch she drew one week after moving into the white house. A plan for the second floor that shows how very crowded it was to have the family and workspace there. What did she do . She picked up on harrisons place in the white house and got together with a very influential firm, mckim, mead white. There is a big back story here. To cut to the chase, mckim decided he was, as she put it, tired of living over the store. She wanted to separate the living areas with the public areas. The downstairs was renovated and most people really liked it. The upstairs had seven bedrooms and bathrooms. That was pretty good. Alice, the teenage daughter, had her own bedroom. Ethel had her own bedroom. Mrs. Roosevelt put her own study up there. The president had a study in the office in the second floor. But so did the first lady with a door that adjoined. That was important to her to knock on the door and say, time for bed, you are working too late. This really created the white house as we know it today. If you look at the photographs of the white house as it existed, there were large greenhouses around this. She changed the whole feeling of the white house by adding the west wing to it. How cooperative was congress . Congress voted money for this. They wanted a better house. It was the moment when the United States became a world power, modernizing the presidency, the United States had really arrived as the most successful manufacturing power on earth. They were in the process of becoming a very serious world power. It was a matter of National Pride to have a president s house distinguished. As distinguished as the equivalent in another country. There were rats in the white house. It was important for all kinds of reasons. It was a marvelous reflection of the changes discussed as the country takes on a new aspect. So is the executive mansion, which now is renamed the white house. There is only one white house. How long did the renovation take . One year. 1902. Where did the family stay . Did they go back to sagamore hill . Over the summer they stayed there. The renovations started before she left. T. R. Was hit by the trolley in the middle of this, so they have difficult moments where he is negotiating in a wheelchair because he was hit by a trolley accident. How involved was Edith Roosevelt in the actual renovations . How much of a vision did she have for ultimate design . Edith was very interested in the past. Mckim was very interested in the present. She was very interested in history. It reflected the long, important path of the United States. She had her eye on the bottom line. Edith was good at managing, as you mentioned, she also read the accounts. And when the money got tight, she was very creative and a good steward of the nations money. She took the carpets on the first floor and she said, we are running out of funds and had them recut. She took curtains from the first floor and had upstairs furniture reupholstered to save money. Congress completed in time for the social season in 1902. Marvin is on the line with us, los angeles. Hi, marvin. Hello. Great to see you back. I have a question about the relationship between Edith Roosevelt and the Franklin Roosevelts. I know that Eleanor Roosevelt supported al smith for governor of new york running against Theodore Roosevelt junior as the republican candidate. The first time i went to washington was 1955. Hoping to see a celebrity, i walked over and saw a crowd and a slim lady with a broad hat was rededicating the statue were father dedicated 50 years ago and it was alice roosevelt. She seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. This was 1955, after leaving the white house in 1909. She love