Alice and the 1905 Taft Mission

A Junket If Ever There Was One

In the summer of 1905, Alice Roosevelt was 21, restless and already famous. Her father let her go to the other side of the world.

Secretary of War William Howard Taft was heading to Asia to inspect the Philippines, then an American territory, and to meet Japanese leaders along the way. With him went a party of about eighty: senators, congressmen, their wives, Army officers and friends. Alice called it "a huge Congressional party, a 'junket' if ever there was one."

She crossed the country in a private railroad car with Taft, members of his staff and two friends: Mabel Boardman, already a leader of the American Red Cross, and Amy McMillan. On July 8, 1905, the party sailed from San Francisco aboard the steamer SS Manchuria. Mrs. Francis Newlands, wife of Nevada's senator, was Alice's chaperone.

Also aboard was a violin-playing congressman from Cincinnati named Nicholas Longworth.

Honolulu, a Canvas Pool and the Press

The Manchuria reached Honolulu on July 14, and the islands greeted the party with music and flower leis. Then came ten more days at sea, with costume parties, lectures on the Philippines and a canvas swimming pool rigged on deck.

Reporters could not get enough of the President's daughter. When word spread that Alice had jumped into the pool fully dressed, the story ran in papers across the country. She later admitted it was true. The papers also said she had dared Nick Longworth to follow her. Not so, she wrote: the man who jumped in after her was Bourke Cockran, an old family friend.

The official photographer, Burr McIntosh, took pictures of everyone, all day long. Many of his photographs survive, along with imperial portraits Alice brought home. In 2009 her granddaughter, Joanna Sturm, gave the collection to the Smithsonian's Freer|Sackler Archives, now part of the National Museum of Asian Art.

The press had another storyline too. Observers on board noticed that Alice and Nick were spending a great deal of time together.

Japan, and a Meeting Alice Never Attended

On July 25 the Manchuria steamed into Yokohama to flags, brass bands and cheering crowds. Japan was winning its war with Russia, and her father had agreed to help broker the peace. Americans, and Roosevelts especially, were welcomed as friends.

In Tokyo, Emperor Meiji received Taft, Alice and a few others, then hosted the whole party at a formal lunch. The Crown Princess stood in for the Empress, who was away. Afterward the Empress sent Alice gifts, including a photograph of herself.

While Alice was touring and taking tea, Taft held private talks with Prime Minister Katsura Tarō on July 27. Their "agreed memorandum," which Taft cabled to Washington on July 29, recorded Katsura's statement that Japan had no aggressive designs on the Philippines. It also recorded Taft's personal view that Japanese control over Korea would help keep the peace. T.R. cabled his approval. The memorandum stayed out of public view until historian Tyler Dennett published it in 1924. Historians still debate whether it was a real agreement or simply a record of views both sides already held.

Alice had no part in the talks. Her role was the public one: a famous young American the crowds turned out to see.

Alice Roosevelt waving good-bye from a ship at Kobe.

Alice Roosevelt waves good-bye from a ship at Kobe, Japan, 1905. (Burr McIntosh / Library of Congress)

"Princess Alice" in the Philippines

From August 5 to the end of the month, the party toured the Philippines. Taft had once governed the islands, and huge crowds came out to welcome him back. Alice was the other half of the show.

There were parades, receptions and a grand ball in Manila. On the island of Jolo, newspapers back home reported that the Sultan of Sulu had proposed marriage. Alice's own account says nothing of a proposal, though he did give her a pearl ring.

Through it all, Nick Longworth was rarely far away, and he turns up again and again in McIntosh's photographs.

In early September Taft and most of the party sailed home from Hong Kong. A smaller group went on. Alice listed it as including Nick, the Newlandses and Mabel Boardman.

Alice Roosevelt during her 1905 diplomatic tour of Asia

Alice Roosevelt astride a stone funerary figure at a royal tomb near Seoul, Korea, during her 1905 tour of Asia with the Taft mission. (Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library)

The Empress Dowager and the Emperor of Korea

In Peking, Alice was received by the Empress Dowager Cixi at the Summer Palace. Cixi was the dominant figure at the Chinese court. Alice came away deeply impressed, and Cixi gave each guest gifts of gold jewelry. One Washington paper made much of the contrast between the young American and the aging empress.

Then came Korea. In Seoul, Alice lunched with Emperor Gojong and his son, Crown Prince Sunjong, who later gave her their signed portraits. She could see Japanese troops everywhere and Korean independence slipping away. "Korea, reluctant and helpless, was sliding into the grasp of Japan," she wrote years later. Five years after her visit, Japan annexed Korea.

Peace at Portsmouth, a Cold Welcome and a Proposal

While Alice was still in Asia, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905. Her father had brought the two sides together, and in 1906 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for it. But many Japanese felt cheated by the terms, especially the lack of any payment from Russia, and riots broke out in Tokyo.

When Alice passed back through Japan in October, she found the warm welcome of July had cooled sharply toward Americans. She sailed home on the steamer Siberia with the railroad magnate E. H. Harriman's party and reached San Francisco in late October.

The trip's real news broke at the White House. On December 13, 1905, the engagement of Alice Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth was formally announced. They married in the East Room on February 17, 1906. The Theodore Roosevelt Center calls her a goodwill envoy, the first First Daughter to act in that capacity.

Theodore Roosevelt, Alice, and Nicholas Longworth at Alice's 1906 wedding

In 1906 Alice married Congressman Nicholas Longworth in a White House wedding that captivated the nation. (Edward S. Curtis, Feb. 17, 1906 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)

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