Hissing cousins : the untold story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth
(Book)

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Published
New York : Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, [2015].
Format
Book
Edition
First edition.
Physical Desc
332 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, genealogical table ; 24 cm
Status
Main Library - Adult
BIO ROOSEVELT
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Published
New York : Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, [2015].
Edition
First edition.
Language
English

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-314) and index.
Description
When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, his flamboyant daughter was transformed into "Princess Alice," arguably the century's first global celebrity. Thirty-two years later, her first cousin Eleanor moved into the White House as First Lady. Born eight months and twenty blocks apart from each other in New York City, Eleanor and Alice spent a large part of their childhoods together and were far more alike than most historians acknowledge. But their politics and temperaments couldn't have been more distinct. Do-gooder Eleanor was committed to social justice but hated the limelight; acid-tongued Alice, who became the wife of philandering Republican congressman Nicholas Longworth, was an opponent of big government who gained notoriety for her cutting remarks (she famously quipped that dour President Coolidge "looked like he was weaned on a pickle"). While Eleanor revolutionized the role of First Lady with her outspoken passion for human rights, Alice made the most of her insider connections to influence politics, including doing as much to defeat the League of Nations as anyone in elective office. The cousins themselves liked to play up their oil-and-water relationship. "When I think of Frank and Eleanor in the White House I could grind my teeth to powder and blow them out my nose," Alice once said. In the 1930s they even wrote opposing syndicated newspaper columns and embarked on competing nationwide speaking tours. Blood may be thicker than water, but when the family business is politics, winning trumps everything.

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