Timeline of T.R.’s New Year’s Days
Follow Theodore Roosevelt through five decades of New Year’s Days, from a boyhood trip to Sorrento to the White House receiving line and a last winter at Sagamore Hill. Read the full story at New Year’s Day with Theodore Roosevelt.
NAPLES TO SORRENTO
On his family's tour of Europe, 11-year-old Theodore spent the day traveling from Naples to Sorrento. "We went to Sorrento. We went first round the old part of Naples and saw the market," his diary records.
NEW YEAR’S EVE ON THE NILE
The Roosevelts greeted the new year on a houseboat on the Nile in Egypt. The 14-year-old wrote that four boats, "the Gazelle, Ibis, Rachel and Waterlily were moored side by side, while their inhabitants spent New Years Eve together in our boat."
CANDIDATE FOR SPEAKER AT 24
In Albany, the Assembly's Republicans nominated T.R. as their candidate for Speaker. The Democrats held the majority and elected Alfred C. Chapin the next day, and T.R. became the Republican minority leader. The same day, Grover Cleveland was inaugurated Governor of New York.
A LOST CAUCUS
On New Year's Eve, T.R. lost the Republican caucus for Speaker. "In the caucus Mr. Sheard received 41 and Mr. Roosevelt 20 votes," the New-York Tribune reported. Six weeks later his mother and his wife Alice died on the same day.
SNOW AT SAGAMORE HILL
T.R. spent the holidays at Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay. "Xmas week here was lovely; heavy snow, bright, cold weather and out of door sport," he wrote to his sister Anna on January 2.
SWORN IN ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
T.R. took the oath as Governor of New York privately in Albany shortly after noon, with his hand on a morocco-covered Bible. Secretary of State John Palmer gave him the pen he had carried through the Civil War.
6,000 HANDSHAKES IN ALBANY
New Year's Day fell on a Sunday, so the public inauguration came on Monday, in extremely cold weather. At the reception that followed, "fully 6,000 people grasped Governor Roosevelt's hand and 2,000 more were unable to gain admittance," a wire report from Albany said.
THE GOVERNOR’S OPEN HOUSE
Governor Roosevelt received the public in the executive chamber from noon to 1 p.m. A social reception at the Executive Mansion followed from 3 to 5.
HANDING OFF ALBANY
On his last day as governor, T.R. greeted callers wishing him a happy new year, then welcomed his successor, Benjamin Odell, at the Capitol before Odell's inauguration in the Assembly Chamber. He was now Vice President-elect.
THE FIRST WHITE HOUSE RECEPTION
At his first New Year's reception as President, T.R. ordered the gates kept open until everyone in line had been received. "In all 8,100 persons filed through the White House and shook hands with the President," a wire report from Washington said.
A LOOK AT THE NEW ROOMS
It was the first reception since the White House renovation, and callers were seeing the changes for the first time. A registering machine counted 6,650 people at the front door; the Evening Star put the total at "probably 7,000."
6,711 HANDS
The President shook hands with 6,711 callers, the St. Louis Republic reported.
A MONDAY RECEPTION
With New Year's Day on a Sunday, the reception moved to Monday. The Associated Press later counted 7,115 people received.
THE BIGGEST DAY
Vice President Fairbanks led the line at about 11:15 a.m., and the reception ran until 2:44 p.m. "By actual count 9,052 persons shook the President's hand," the Associated Press reported; the White House's official figure was 9,072. No larger count has been found for any of T.R.'s receptions.
NUMBERS THAT DON’T AGREE
Reports of the crowd ranged from 5,063 (the Evening Star's official count of callers) to "nearly 10,000" (the Washington Times). No 1907 newspaper found gives the often-repeated 8,513. A little girl carrying a white teddy bear past the receiving party drew a hearty laugh from the crowd in the Blue Room, the Associated Press reported.
5,645 CALLERS
"The President shook hands with 5,645 callers," the New-York Tribune reported.
THE LAST WHITE HOUSE RECEPTION
At T.R.'s final New Year's reception as President, "the automatic counter showed that 6,053 people had shaken the President's hand," the Evening Star reported. The Italian ambassador, Baron Mayor des Planches, the longest-serving envoy in Washington, led the diplomats through the line.
ON THE MARCH IN UGANDA
On his African expedition, T.R. was on foot between Kampala and Lake Albert. Four days later, he wrote, the party reached Butiaba on the lake, having "marched about one hundred and sixty miles from Lake Victoria."
HARDTACK, THEN A HUNT
In the Mato Grosso of Brazil, the party was up at five for "a good New Year's Day breakfast of hardtack, ham, sardines, and coffee," T.R. wrote. Then came an all-day hunt on foot, wading marshes and swimming bayous with rifles held above the water.
A CENTURY OF PEACE
As honorary chairman of the American peace centenary committee, T.R. had cabled the British committee a message marking a hundred years of peace between the United States and Great Britain, a Washington paper reported.
"HARDLY APT TO BE A HAPPY NEW YEAR"
With all four sons in uniform, T.R. wrote from Sagamore Hill to his sister Anna: "New Year's greetings, darling Bye; 1918 is hardly apt to be a happy New Year for any of us."
HOME AT SAGAMORE HILL
Back from Roosevelt Hospital at Christmas, T.R. began 1919 at home in Oyster Bay. He died there early on January 6.
From the Archives
Cards, letters and photographs about New Year’s Day from the Theodore Roosevelt Center’s digital library.