Margaret Livingston, and a little simian friend in a matching outfit
c. 1920s
Just A Few More Reasons Why I Love Alice Roosevelt
She got married in the White House shortly after her 18th birthday, and when it was time to cut the wedding cake for the reception, she did it with a sword.
She carrried a dagger and a copy of the Constitution in her handbag, along with (on some occasions) Emily Spinach, her pet green snake.
When her family moved out of the White House, after her father Teddy Roosevelt’s term was up, she buried a voodoo doll of the new first lady Nellie Taft in the front yard.
The popular song of the time, “Alice Blue Gown” was written for and about her, and a pale tint of azure was named “Alice blue” (which matched her eyes) and sparked a fashion sensation in the United States.
She had a long term affair with another man during her marriage to Nicholas Longworth, had a daughter with him, and the the two men remained friends. After her husband’s death, Alice remained in Washington and became known as “the other Washington monument.” Her home was a salon, full of politicians, writers, movie stars — anyone who kept her entertained.
When her father forbade her from smoking in the White House, she went up on the roof and did it there.
On May 11, 1908, she amused herself in the gallery at the House of Representatives in Washington by placing a tack on the chair of an unknown but “middle-aged” and “dignified” gentleman. Upon encountering the tack, the unfortunate fellow leapt up in pain and surprise while Alice looked away.
When she was older she had an African-American chauffeur who once almost got into a collision with a taxi, and the taxi driver got out of his car and yelled “What do you think you’re doing, you black bastard?” and the chauffeur reacted calmly but Alice screamed back ”He’s taking me to my destination, you white son of a bitch!”
She kept an embroidered pillow on her couch with one of her more notable quotes stitched upon it; “If you haven’t got anything good to say about anybody, come sit next to me.”
She never lost her rapier sharp wit, out lived all of her younger siblings, and passed away in 1980 at the age of 96.
Alice Roosevelt with her dog Leo - 1902
She smoked cigarettes in public, chewed gum, placed bets with bookies, rode in cars with men, stayed out late partying, and kept a pet snake named Emily Spinach, which she often wore wrapped around one arm and took to parties. Her father President Theodore Roosevelt once said of her “I can either run the country or I can attend to Alice, but I cannot possibly do both.”
