Bamie Roosevelt
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and the aunt of Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
. Her childhood nickname was Bamie, a derivative of bambina, but as an adult, her family began calling her "Bye" because of her tremendous on-the-go energy - (Hi Bamie, bye Bamie). Throughout the life of her brother, Theodore, she remained a constant source of emotional support and practical advice. On the child-bed death of her brother Theodore's young wife Alice
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt. They had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt.- Early Life and Courtship by Theodore Roosevelt :...
, Bamie took custody of the child, assuming parental responsibility for TR's first daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
.
Early life
Anna was born in a brownstone home at 28 East 20th StreetTheodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site is a recreated brownstone at 28 East 20th Street, between Broadway and Park Avenue South, in Manhattan, New York City....
in New York City on January 18, 1855. Her parents were Martha and Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.
Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was the father of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He was the son of Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill...
. Her other siblings were Elliott Roosevelt
Elliott Roosevelt I
Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt was the father of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and the brother of US President Theodore Roosevelt. Elliott and Theodore were of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts. Eleanor later married their Hyde Park cousin and future US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Elliott was the third of...
and Corinne Roosevelt
Corinne Roosevelt Robinson
Corinne Roosevelt Robinson was the younger sister of former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt and an aunt of former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt.-Early years:...
. Anna was afflicted by a spinal ailment
Pott's disease
Pott's disease is a presentation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis that affects the spine, a kind of tuberculous arthritis of the intervertebral joints...
that led to her being partially crippled and confined by corrective steel braces as a child.
TR's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
, once remarked that had Bamie, with her incredible intelligence and energy, been born a 19th Century man, without the social restrictions that the era placed on women, she would have been president instead of her brother. Bamie's niece, Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
, stated in her autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
that Bamie had "an able man's mind." Although she was not a stunningly gorgeous woman like her mother, Mittie or her sisters-in-law, her natural intelligence and energy was magnetic to both men and women. She remained an emotional pillar of strength for all the Roosevelts.
Family responsibilities from a young age
Because Bamie's mother, Mittie, was often distracted by illness or by her grand social life, Bamie increasingly took a central role in running the Roosevelt household, particularly after the premature death of her father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.
Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was the father of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He was the son of Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill...
In fact, TR's first daughter, Alice
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
, remarked that Bamie almost seemed to be born into middle age, so significant were the adult responsibilities put into her hands from childhood. Unlike many children in a similar situation, Bamie had the natural maturity, judgement and wisdom to "hold the family together," Alice said.
When TR's first wife, Alice
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt. They had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt.- Early Life and Courtship by Theodore Roosevelt :...
, died suddenly following childbirth, most probably of kidney failure (Bright's Disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
), Bamie took custody of her infant, Alice
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
. Because her grieving father would not call her by his late wife's name, Alice was called "Baby Lee" for her mother's family, the Lees of Boston. Alice would say of Bamie that she was the most influential person in her entire life. When the young and vivacious Alice became more than her stepmother, Edith Roosevelt, or her father could handle, they would send her up to Auntie Bye for a dose of discipline and to give her the structure that the Roosevelts in the White House were not able to exert.
Bamie's other sister-in-law, Anna Roosevelt
Anna Hall Roosevelt
Anna Rebecca Livingston Ludlow Hall Roosevelt was the mother of First Lady of the United States, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt....
, wife of Elliott
Elliott Roosevelt I
Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt was the father of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and the brother of US President Theodore Roosevelt. Elliott and Theodore were of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts. Eleanor later married their Hyde Park cousin and future US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Elliott was the third of...
, had wished for Bamie to have custody of her children Eleanor
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
, Elliott Jr. and Hall
Hall Roosevelt
Gracie Hall Roosevelt was the youngest brother of former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt and the nephew of Theodore Roosevelt. He was usually called Hall....
upon her death. She was separated from her husband, and died young of diphtheria. Custody of the children was not immediately possible because Elliott was still alive—though exiled by the family because of his alcoholism—and could not be bypassed in the event of litigation. Bamie considered a custody suit but realized that Mary Hall, Eleanor's maternal grandmother would not be willing to give the children into Bamie's care. She did open her home to Eleanor, who was a welcome visitor and made extended stays. Bamie was successful, though, in getting Eleanor out of the oppressive and harrowing home situation by demanding that she be sent to Allenswood school for girls in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where Eleanor developed socially and emotionally. During Eleanor and Alice's childhood, Bamie kept them informed of each other's activities, helping to maintain something of a relationship between the two, though it was a vexing relationship, ranging from sometimes being very close and often a bitter and competitive relationship. She was close to both girls and contributed greatly to their development.
TR's lifelong confidante
Throughout his life, Bamie's brother Theodore often turned to her for counsel in letters and personal conversations. In fact, it was said by their niece EleanorEleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
that TR made few important significant political decisions and even fewer personal decisions without getting the input of his sister. She remained a trusted confidante for his entire career. As president, he would walk down to her residence at 18th and I in Washington so often that Bamie's house was sometimes called the "other White House." As she became more infirm, TR turned more and more to his daughter, Alice
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
, for advice and to act as a go-between in delicate political situations.
Marriage
In 1895 at age 40, Anna Roosevelt married US Navy Lt. Commander (later Rear Admiral) William Sheffield CowlesWilliam S. Cowles
William Sheffield Cowles, Sr. was an rear admiral in the United States Navy.-Naval career:Cowles commanded the gunboat, during the Spanish–American War, and served as naval aide to President McKinley...
(1846–1923), a divorcé who was 49. They had one child, William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. (1898–1986), who married Margaret Alwyn Krech (1900–1982) in 1920.
Later life
When her niece Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
campaigned against Eleanor's first cousin and Bamie's nephew Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Theodore D. Roosevelt, Jr. , was an American political and business leader, a Medal of Honor recipient who fought in both of the 20th century's world wars. He was the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt from his second wife Edith Roosevelt...
, she publicly broke with her niece after the ordeal. In a letter to her son, Bamie wrote of Eleanor:
- "I just hate to see Eleanor let herself look as she does. Though never handsome, she always had to me a charming effect. Alas and alack, ever since politics have become her choiciest interest, all her charm has disappeared!"
Bamie's niece and TR's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
, also broke with Eleanor over this highly distasteful (to Theodore's family) political activity that included Eleanor riding up to Ted, Jr's speaking engagements with a teapot on her car to remind voters of Ted's supposed (but later disproved) connections to the Teapot Dome Scandal
Teapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States in 1922–23, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low...
. Eleanor dismissed Bamie's criticisms by referring to her as an "aged woman." Despite all these intra-family discords, long after Bamie's death, Alice and Eleanor would later reconcile after Eleanor wrote Alice a comforting letter upon the death of Alice's daughter, Paulina Longworth
Paulina Longworth
Paulina Longworth Sturm was the only child of Alice Roosevelt, and the granddaughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt....
.
Eleanor Roosevelt on her Aunt Bamie
Bamie and her niece, Eleanor Roosevelt, eventually reconciled, and in an article in the Ladies Home Journal, "How to Take Criticism," Eleanor referred to her aunt Bamie, saying, "I can honestly say that I hate no one, and perhaps the best advice I can give to anyone who suffers from criticism and yet must be in the public eye, would be contained in the words of my aunt, Mrs. William Sheffield Cowles. She was President Theodore Roosevelt's sister and the aunt to whom many of the young people in the family went for advice. I had asked her whether I should do something which at that time would have caused a great deal of criticism, and her answer was: "Do not be bothered by what people say as long as you are sure that you are doing what seems right to you, but be sure that you face yourself honestly."Bamie's death in 1931
Alice and Eleanor's warmest link to their fathers' generation died on the night of August 25, 1931, aged 76. Her last words, "Never mind, it's all right," were reportedly spoken to her friend Sara Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's mother, before Bamie slipped into a comaComa
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
and died.
Primary sources
- Roosevelt, Theodore. An Autobiography. (1913)
- Caroli, Betty Boyd. The Roosevelt Women, Basic Books (1998)
Secondary sources
- Beale Howard K.Howard K. BealeHoward Kennedy Beale was an American historian. He specialized in nineteenth and twentieth-century American history, particularly the Reconstruction Era. He also wrote biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, Edward Bates, and Charles A. Beard. Beale was born in Chicago to Frank A. and Nellie Kennedy...
Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power (1956). - Brands, H.W. Theodore Roosevelt (2001)
- Dalton, Kathleen. Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life. (2002)
- Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963)
- McCullouch, David. Mornings on Horseback, The Story of an Extraordinary Family. a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt (2001)
- Morris, Edmund The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979)
- Morris, Edmund Theodore Rex. (2001)
- Mowry, George. The era of Theodore Roosevelt and the birth of modern America, 1900-1912. (1954)