The First Lady Who Tamed the Bull Moose | HISTORY This Week
September 14, 1901. Midnight in the Adirondacks. A pounding knock at the door jolts Theodore and Edith Roosevelt awake. William McKinley is dead. Hours later, Theodore will be sworn in as the youngest president in U.S. history. But Edith barely flinches—her diary that day notes her children’s sniffles before her husband’s rise to power.
Who was this woman who grew up alongside Theodore, helped shape his presidency, reinvented the role of First Lady, and yet tried to erase her own story from the record?
Special thanks to Kathleen Dalton, author of Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life; and Edward O’Keefe, author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President. O'Keefe is also the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, set to open next 4th of July.
Artwork: Studio portrait of Edith and Theodore Roosevelt seated together, by Walter Scott Shinn, 1916.
Chapters
00:00 Midnight Knock In The Adirondacks
01:33 McKinley Dies Roosevelt Ascends
02:40 Who Was Edith Roosevelt
03:10 Childhood Bond And Lincoln Funeral
08:22 First Romance And Shattered Proposal
11:23 Alice Lee And Double Tragedy
14:50 Exile To The Frontier
18:15 Reunion And Secret Engagement
20:46 Marriage And Political Power Couple
38:49 Edith Roosevelt’s Hidden Legacy
Credits:
Phoebe Lett | Producer
Ben Dickstein | EP/Sound Designer
Sally Helm | Host/Producer
Eli Lehrer | Executive Producer
Liv Fidler | Executive Producer
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The First Lady Who Tamed the Bull Moose | HISTORY This Week
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