Chainsaw History - Bonus Episode: Alice Roosevelt, First Daughter of American Politics

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

{ Discover more at ChainsawHistory.com — access our full episode list, delve into bonus content, and support our show with a paid subscription! }As a holiday treat Jamie gets to take a break, so the rest of us can sit back and get cozy as Bambi tells the story of Alice Roosevelt—daughter of the ridiculously-mustached Teddy. Inheriting her father's need for attention, she went from pranking White House dinner parties with her pet snake (Emily Spinach) to becoming a political institution in Washington D.C., whose favor and advice was sought by insiders. Alice was beloved by the press and foreign leaders including the Dowager Empress of Japan and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. But her ambitions to return to the White House were thwarted by rivalries and difficult choices, and she lived a life touched by tragedy. Let's sip some cocoa and hear the story of a feminist icon who defied convention, set trends, and held onto petty grudges.

It's fucking chains on history time. Are we recording? Welcome to the bonus episode everyone. This is Chainsaw History. I'm Jamie Chambers and this is my sister, Bambi. Hello. Who will be telling us a story today for once we're flipping the script and I'm going to be the one sitting back

and seeing what Bambi has come up with. So we both independently researched topics without even telling each other. So I only found out just recently what the hell we're talking about today. Yep. Which is... We are going to discuss the infamous Alice Rose about. Infamous. Infamous. Actually, she wasn't even just infamous. She was actually super famous. Yeah, I knew she had a like a rescue patient.

She's so famous. I mean, she was probably the most famous woman of her time while especially while she was the first daughter. Well, groovy. If you're listening to this, be sure to go to chainsawhistory.com where you can find our past episode archive, see our show notes, and find out how you can support us if you want to help us pay the bills around here. Let's go. Okay, so Alice Lee Roosevelt was born to loving parents,

Teddy and Alice Lee. Theodore. Theodore Roosevelt and Alice Lee, who was a very, she was an infamous beauty. She was very, very beautiful. And Teddy loved the absolute shit out of her. An infamous beauty. He's opposed to a famous beauty. She wasn't a famous beauty, but she was supposed to be breathtaking.

That's Alice Senior, infamous Lee Beautiful. But you know, then you have Teddy and that magnificent mustache. Oh yeah, but he absolutely adored his wife and because they got engaged on February 14th. So he had it in his head that his daughter would not be born until the 14th. So when he got a telegram on February 12th, 1884, with news that surprise baby girl, he passed out to Garz and went back to work. Well, yeah, he's Teddy Rosemail.

He was an assemblyman and he was... Let's smoke and then... Yeah, he was like, oh great, we have a girl. She's a little, she's two days early, but that's fine. And then a little while later, he got another telegram. And that one says, your wife is ill and so is your mother. And his mother was originally they thought she was recovering

from like a really back hold. And it turned out to be typhoid. Ooh, just to know a little mild case of typhoid. A little tiny case of typhoid fever. So when Teddy arrived home, he was there in time to hold his wife while she was dying and go and sit vigil for his mother and they both died on February 14th. Yeah, I mean, I know a bit about Teddy Roosevelt's life and he's has these little, little bouts of tragedy that sort of ripple through his whole life.

Yeah, and so Ted and Ausley, she apparently had brights disease and it was not diagnosed and she, so she suffered kidney failure. So, Teddie was devastated. He was really, really upset. So, he handed his baby daughter over to his sister and fucked off to North Dakota. Again, because he's Teddy Roosevelt. For three years. And because he was so upset about his wife, he never spoke her name again. She was not included in his memoirs. And unfortunately, his daughter had the same name and he refused to call her Alice. He's just like, nope.

Nope, so for the first time. No more Alice, and now we're gonna read in Wonderland. Yeah, it's, but yeah, he never spoke, he tried not to speak her name ever again. And he just called her babyly. Babyly. Babyly, or sometimes he would also refer to her in letters as mouse ekins. As his daughter, he sometimes had something to do with occasionally. And so he had left

her with his sister. Eventually, I want to talk about this bitch because she's cool. And there was not one thought in Teddy Roosevelt's head that was not put there by his sister. Apparently she was the brains behind his operation. There was nothing that he did without her consent. Well, he was more of a Tasmanian devil type as if he was like a thinking man. So he left her with his sister. Now, she's cool because well, first of all, her name was Anna, but nobody called her Anna. She was called Bami, like baby girl, like me. She had a similar nickname. They called her Bami. Bami, okay.

Bami, but when she was a teenager, she got a new nickname, because she was here there and everywhere. So it was high Bami, by Bami, so they just started calling her bi. I just think it's cool. So Alice went to go live with her ampai and she called her her blue eyed darling and absolutely loved the shit out of her. And this was going to, and Teddy, it was like,

this is your kid now. It's like, it was just gifted. Yeah, the person who was supposed to take care of this one isn't around, so this is your problem now. This is your problem now. But baby was thrilled at her. Cause he's off shooting guns and getting into bar fights. He's doing whatever the fuck in North to go.

On a dude ranch. Yeah. Yeah. He literally built a ranch and fucked off there for for three years. A man liked riding horses. Until he literally his sister was like, you really need to like do your job. You need to go back and be an assemblyman, get off your ass and get back to work. Get off your horse and get in a chair. And so he did. And he had this Victorian you're supposed to stay like faithful even in death. So he was like, I don't invite my old girlfriend over when I'm there. So of course, his sister did.

And they got married. Naturally. And so his new wife, Edith, in 1886, he came back and he had this uptight wife. And she was, her sensibilities would not allow her to not raise Atlas. Yeah, I mean, that's the kind of thing. The step mom being like, you need to step up and be responsible. That's a kind of an old story for those kind of dudes.

It's like, it's time to be a family now, Theodore. Yes, so they took Baby Alice away from her loving family. From the her version of a mom that who loved her and adored her and was very affectionate to her and instead went to go live in a house with her. An ice cube. An ice cube of a stepmother and a father

that would rather her not exist. And he's like, you remind me of this painful memory. Why are you here? Yeah, and it was really, really hard for Alice. She had kind of a cold childhood. And the fact that she had five brothers and sisters after her, who she always felt like her parents loved them more. Like she was the outsider.

And probably correctly. And so she would act out. And part of the acting out when she was real little, especially like after Edith had one of her children, little Alice declared that she was going to give birth to a monkey. No, you. Because... scandalous.

I'm sure that that gave her stepmom the vapors. But yeah, and so Alice grew up kind of feeling unloved and unwanted and seeking attention and like all kids that seek attention. She became a wild child. Yeah, she became a complete wild child. And so when she was around like 11, 12 years old, like preteen wise, her father became governor of New York. And so Alice got to enjoy being the first daughter of New York. And she was a hellion. And she would sneak out of the

house and she would hang out with boys and they would ride their bikes. And they were, he called them like Scallywags. Ooh, Scallywags. They were Scallywags. And she was being a little hoodlum. And her stepmom was like kind of over it. And so she wanted to send her to boarding school.

Well, that's what she do when you're a prude stepmom and you've got a wild child. And Alice absolutely put her foot down and refused to go. She's like, how about fuck you? Yeah, so she sent a letter to her father that said, if you send me, I will humiliate you. I will do something that will shame you.

I tell you, I will humiliate you. I will do something that will shame you. I tell you I will, unquote. I instantly love her. She knew exactly how to work. How to get him. How do you fuck with a narcissist? You threaten his public image. And he's like, well, I can't have that. Yeah, so Alice was not sent to boarding school.

How about we just keep you happy and relatively calm over here? So that I can be important and may eventually be president because of course being governor New York was just a stepping stone for the ambitions of one Theodore. Yeah, and the thing about Alice was I mean if you know anything about the Roosevelt's they're really brilliant Teddy Roosevelt was an auto-diadact and so was his daughter. So she, like him, could recite long stanzas of poetry by memory and really just be able to. Oh, so she could do the same thing? Like, he could memorize four-hour speeches. Exactly. No problem.

Yeah, so she had that exact same ability. So of all of his children, she was actually the most brilliant, even though she was the only one that didn't have any formal schooling. So because she used her brains for the purpose of having a good time. Yeah, well, and she was a voracious reader. She read about everything. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But yeah, so.

Yeah, she seems pretty groovy so far. Yeah, so even as a preteen, she was like, fuck you dad, I'm not going to boarding school. And he was like, I guess you're not. Yeah, because I mean, shit. I don't want that. Yeah, he didn't want to be publicly shamed. So.

God, what do you think she would have done? Like, what spectacle she would have done? Oh, I'm sorry, man. It's because of my dad, the governor of New York. Yeah, it's almost hard to tell. Like nude, high-diving off the roof of a building into a swimming whole or something. You never know.

You'll see how funny that statement is later. OK. Let's get it. So in 1901, Teddy Roosevelt became the vice president. Now, his family was completely against him being on the ticket, because his name wasn't first. And they were like, why would you want to be vice president?

That is not even a real job. And traditionally a shit job. Yeah, it's not even a real title, and they really didn't want to do it. They were very happy being the first family of New York. However, President William McKinley was shot. He sure was. He was shot in eight days later. He was dead and TR became president. And so Alice and her siblings, even though publicly they were, you know, in mourning and very, you know,

publicly sad, they were elated. They were thrilled to be going to the White House. Right, it's like you went from, well, you had the job that no one respects to literally being the top dog. Mm-hmm. And this is America in the very early 20th century when we're really kind of coming out of our shell.

Yeah, again, this is right at the turn of the century. This is, you know, 1901. And 17 year old Alice became an instant celebrity. The first daughter of the United States. The first daughter of the United States. And she wasn't just the first daughter. She was the first teenager. We got a team girl with a serious preacher's daughter syndrome going on.

Yeah. Alright, well let's see where this goes. And she was beautiful. She was absolutely stunning here. I'll show you a picture. Oh yeah, she's cute. She's real cute. She was known for being real cute, real feisty, real smart, dangerous combination.

So now we're getting to Alice in the White House, which is anytime they talk about all the throws about this is what they want to talk about. Alice is sent as the first daughter. So because the White House was in mourning, they really didn't have any of the normal White House ceremonies for Christmas. It was a somber occasion because poor President McKinley is all dead and shit. And they didn't really open up the White House till New Year's, but they kept everything kind of on the low

until Alice had her debut at the White House, her debut, Tant debut at the White House, her debut, at the White House in 1902. Coming out party. Oh, and everything about this party was very well documented. And Alice was very sad because her frugal stepmother absolutely ruined it for in some ways because they had punch instead of champagne. And they didn't put up a dance floor.

And yeah. So it was a lame party. She considered it a very lame party and she was disappointed. However. Well, if you got, if you don't have booze and you can't dance, I mean, you don't check, check, lean birdie. Thanks for the punch, mom. So Alice was a little upset, but the press was very complimentary. They thought it was elegant and beautiful. And Alice, Alice wore this blue gray dress that actually became Alice blue. It was her, became her not only just her signature color, but it was a nationwide sensation.

Literally created a color. She created a color trend to the point where there were poems and songs written about it. There was a play that actually had a song written called Alice Blue. So she is a fashion influencer at 17 years old. At 17 years old she was not only just a fashion influencer but she was also like a feminist icon because she was just wild enough to be interested. I can imagine that any young woman who's reading about the exploits of Alice is like, man, I wish I could mouth off and have fun and do whatever I wanted and said it, just being put in my place and married off to some asshole.

So yeah, everything about Alice was very, very well documented. In 15 months, they say she attended 407 dinners, 350 balls, and 300 parties. And this list goes on. There's so much other. Well, I imagine so. I mean, because she's part of the first family, the White House itself records all of the shit She does there and then you got the press following her around the press. I mean the only thing that we can I can even like Modernly say what would be similar would be how the press was so obsessed with Princess Diana, right? because

We don't have anything like this anymore. We don't like any of our people. Well, and I mean, granted, it's like celebrity stuff now has kind of its own space, but I mean, when people, in the time where people didn't have televisions and only had radios and newspapers, they would push real like news stories back

and put frivolous shit about her on the front page. Of course, because that's sold the papers. Because that's, you want to move some paper, you've got the pretty teenage girl, not the tragedy in the death and the oppression and all that. Yeah, and it is said in her purse, you know, tragedy in the death and the oppression and all that. Yup. And it is said in her purse, she carried a dagger, a copy of the Constitution and her

green snake. Okay. I think that last one bears a little clarification. She had it. She had a green snake that she named Emily Spinach because it was as thin as her old ant Emily and was spinach cream So Emily Spinach she would wear her snake around her wrist or her neck like jewelry her snake would just hang out on her own

What hang out with her or if she she would get real mischievous and like put it under platters at dinner parties at the White House. There was so much, every time I've listened to any interviews or anything, they always like to use the word scandalous. And I think that that's a misnomer because she wasn't scandalous. She was outrageous. She was pearl clutching, but she never did anything that would get her like shun from the side. She wasn't like doing sex scandals or anything like that. Exactly. Exactly. But she's a young lady and supposed to be of a high society and her acting this way is so against the social norms. So of course, I mean, by the standard of the

tribe, it is scandalous. It was. She's not acting like a proper lady. She was outrageous, but she in the best ways, but again nothing so much that she would get like Not invited so sure no everybody so clearly everybody loved her even while they love talking about her Oh my goodness and again, and she was and she was a debutant and she would have been a debutant regardless in fact An Alice being Alice she came out by herself, but she also went to her cousins because there was five Roosevelt girls. And they all kind of came out in the same year.

And all five of them quote, came out together, although Alice was already, she already had her her debut on ball, but she's still, her debut however, she's still debuted with her cousin. So she re debuted. Yeah, she re in it was, yeah. So she kind of just was there out shining everybody. So she's an eligible young bachelor at, and she thought her father for the line light. So she's an eligible young bachelor at Washington, DC.

Thought her father for the line light. And he got, he would be very upset with some of her stuff. It like a, I assume anything, like how frustrating would be for him to say the name Roosevelt on a newspaper and then see not his name attached to it, that will not do. And it was all the time. And for some things that he wouldn't have been.

A wild teenager's way more fun than the mustache he owed, you know, stuff he president. Oh yeah. And I always love to do things like she loved to drive in cars. And again, she was, it was very scandalous because her and her friend would drive unshapuroned. Oh my goodness.

And at one time, they drove all the way from Newport to Long Island by themselves. Yes. And I think she actually holds a record for driving alone from one span to another being the first woman to do that by herself Which is kind of funny, but yeah her and her friend Marguerite Cassini because she had rich friends like Alice was Alice was rich

Like her grandparents her Lee grandparents were very wealthy. Wait, you were telling me the hood ruse of it? We're wealthy, among the jets setting. They were, but they were of a lower tier. Yeah, they weren't the... They were rich, but they weren't like ultra rich. In today's terms, it would be like millionaires versus billionaires. Kind of deal. But she hung out with the ultra ultra rich. Like her friends were one of them

was Margaret Cassini and she was diplomat's daughter and she had like serious foreign money. And I want to say Grace Astor was also one of her good friends. And she was like the Astor 400, like the coveted social spots. So she was included in that. She was big shit. And she would complain because, first of all, scandalous. Alice was a big gambler. She loved to play poker and she loved to bet on horses. In fact, there is a picture of her that was in the papers, paying a bookie. And her parents were fucking livid.

She likes to go to the track. She did. She liked going to the track. She loved fast cars. She loves fast horses. She did. She liked going to the track. She loved fast cars. She loves fast horses, like her cigarettes and playing poker and back rooms. I like her. Yeah, she was really, really bad ass. And for every scandalous thing that she did, her dad also used her as a good will ambassador. So she actually was sent because her stepmother really didn't like doing

the, a lot of the, you know, first lady duties going out and like doing kind of the traveling and some of the social stuff. So I mean, you were doing all these events and ribbon cuttings and so a lot of the times they would send Alice. So one of the very first things she did was Chris and a boat for Kaiser Wilhelm. Our girl buddy, the Kaiser. The Kaiser. But yeah, so Kaiser Wilhelm was so impressed with Alice that even though she, when she christened the boat,

the meteor years later, he had a boat commissioned the Alice Roosevelt. Oh, that's interesting. I wonder, did the Alice Roosevelt go to battle against the United States? It's very possible. That's interesting. Okay. She was also invited to go to, which king was it, King Edward VIII's coronation.

So we're talking talking not just travel, but she's going to like to go to go to Europe and all over the place. Yeah. And so because there was so much speculation and she was going to be like considered a princess, in which she had already been dubbed Princess Alice, in the press, which her parents did not like.

So she was not allowed to go. And she was really upset. That sucks. She didn't get to be a princess. She didn't get to be a princess. However, instead, they sent her to Cuba for a month. So she spent a month in Havana as a goodwill ambassador. I had such a great time in Cuba. And she had a fabulous time and they were really taken with her and her trip was a marvelous success.

I've heard Havana is a pretty cool town. Yeah, she was having a great time. And so then things get a little serious. So in 1905, Teddy Roosevelt wanted to negotiate a treaty between Japan and Russia. They had been fighting. They sure had. They kind of wanted to stop, but nobody wanted to lose face.

So Teddy Roosevelt decided to send his secretary of war, William Taft. Oh, good old Ta of War, William Taft. Oh, good old Taft. Good old Taft. So he's to go negotiate this treaty, except for they needed it to be super secret. And the problem with something like that with Taft is that he was a very large man.

And he was very hard to mess. So he was like, he's a very large man. And he was very hard to mess. So he was like, he's not a large guy. So he couldn't exactly do anything stealthily. So instead, they decided to make it a mission to go see the Philippines and to go check out Hawaii and the Philippines. And while we're there, we are going to go to Japan and see some of these other... She happened to stop by and see the Emperor in the Zarr, you know, me and my 500 pound friend. Mm-hmm. So this delegation was sent,

and Alice was told she needed to be a distraction. And so she was. She decided that when the trip got boring, she needed to liven it up. So like on the train, she decided to shoot at the telegraph. She was shooting telegraph boxes. From the train. For fun, Zees, at one point, she set off fireworks in the train, declaring it was the

fourth of July, which by the way, I don't even know if it was the fourth of July, or she just declared it was the Fourth of July, which by the way, I don't even know if it was the Fourth of July, or she just declared it was the Fourth of July. It is now, bitches. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now.

It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now.

It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. It is now. New York. If anyone could have understood that her father could have. They said she wanted a distraction. And at one point Alice decided to, like when they were in New York, she snuck away from all of her shaperones and entourage and spent the night by herself in Chinatown. Nice. Doing God knows what. But she was back bright item, but she told the next morning. I even bootleg coach bags and smoking opium. Pretty much. She, but she was back bright item, but she told her next morning. I ain't even bootleg coach bags and smoking opium. Pretty much. She, but she was having a good time in

Chinatown. And finally, when they made it to San Francisco, they decided to load up on the ship. And the captain had put a little pool on the top, on the top deck for her amusement, a little swimming pool. So she jumped in it fully closed. Well, I mean, at least she was fully closed. That's what she said, and it's like this made headlines everywhere that she jumped in this pool fully closed, and she was like, like, what, you wanted to be mean? Yeah, yeah, that was the response. She was like, I thought it would only be scandalous

if I had to take my clothes off. Fuck you. What do you people want for me? So she did. She went to the Philippines and she went to Hawaii. And the whole time she was traveling. She was literally told to be obnoxious in a distraction. So that's amazing. Yep. For once they used her powers to their advantage. For good.

But yeah, but another thing that she was really excited about on this trip was one of the guys that her and her friend, Margaret Cassini, had been fighting over. Nicholas Longworth was on this trip. So this becomes her guy. And like, they're flirting all over this trip and like, taft was almost concerned being her shaperone. So you're up too fat to keep up with you too. Yeah, yeah, and he was like, uh, you shouldn't hang out with him unless you're engaged and she basically said as good as. But so the trip was a marvelous success.

And especially in Japan, she met the Dowager Empress. And this woman was like a bitty that had her own son killed. And it was like, she was a hardcore, like there was even rumor that she was going to have her nephew assassinated. The Emperor was assassinated because she wanted to maintain her power. But I don't know if that happened. She was like the queen of thorns from Game of Thrones. She really is. So even with an interpreter, this old bitch loved Alice. Absolutely adored her. Oh, I see a fellow woman who takes no shit. So they bonded and now Alice, and you have to understand, like, when Alice went on this trip,

which by the way, I don't think that our news people are as quippy and is interesting as they used to be because some of the things that they had had lined with her were just great. And one of them was when she was going on this trip, It was Alice's adventures in Wonderland, which cute, whatever. When she came back, they called it Alice's Adventure in Wonderland because she had so much shit. She was given bolts, cloth and jewelry and all kinds of bullshit. Like they just, the people of everywhere loaded her down. And I mean, she couldn't even keep up with it. She was like, there were rings and she was like lost those.

It's like where did they go? But yeah, like she had so much shit she couldn't even keep up with it. And so she came back and her neck engaged. So it's official. So officially official that Alice Lee Roosevelt was to become Alice Roosevelt long worth. And so she marries this 30 year old balding congressman, which everyone said he was so handsome and you see pictures of him and you're like, I don't get it. I mean, really? And now Brandon, she had like serious daddy issues. So she liked older men. Early, you know, 1900s handsome is different than 2023 handsome, I think.

Exactly. Yeah. So in 19 December 1905, she became engaged, and the wedding took place in February of 1906. And so unfortunately, the things that she really dug about him in certain ways was also the things that were going to kill her marriage. Like, he was kind of a playboy, And again, that's sexy when you're dating. He was so bald handsome. He was very bald handsome, apparently, girl. Women could even keep their hands off him. Women could not keep their fucking hands off him.

It was really weird. Like, she had to fight her friends for him. And then she got him and he did nothing but cheat on her. Like, it was said, like he started cheating on her on the honeymoon, basically. Like they were barely married when he started infidelity. There was never any hint

that he was going to just be a one woman man. No, and I mean, I'm sure she thought that that's what was going to happen. So I'll tame this one. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure she had that that's what was going to happen. I'll tame this one. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure she had, I'm sure it was a shock. And the thing that shouldn't have been a shock was that he was also a part of here. He drank too much.

And she liked it once again. And she liked it when she, you know, when he was a fun party boy, but it's not much fun when you're the wife at home waiting for your husband to get home drunk at three o'clock in the morning. And it really became a contentious part of their marriage, but he was an alcoholic. He was a horrible alcoholic. So Alice gets married and Nick is a congressman from Ohio

and she loved being a congressman's wife. Like the political scene. In fact, one of the reasons that she picked Nick is because he was an up and coming like star. Well, that was, you know, her life was being around. That was her life. And her entire goal was to get back in the way house. I couldn't imagine she would want to just go

and just be some housewife somewhere after being a 17 year old superstar. Yeah, and it's very funny because she said that after she was married, she spent more time in the White House as when she was married, then she did when she lived there. Because when she lived there, her entire life was partying.

So she was only there to sleep and change clothes. But once she was a married woman and partying was no longer her life, she spent a lot more time with her family. And she especially tried to spend time with her father. And the time when they were leaving the White House, when Taft became president, she called it being expelled from the Garden of Eden. So she really loved the White House. And her whole goal was to get back there. So she marries this up and coming star senator from thinking he's gonna be the guy but then he turns out to be just a

Philantering drunk. No. Oh. No, he becomes he's a star senator and he her home becomes a kind of base of operations for a lot of the Republican Party and like her home is where a lot of policy gets made. She hosts congressmen and senators and her world becomes a political powerhouse. And so eventually her husband becomes speaker. Second in line to be president, isn't it? Bad. Okay, so Alice was very pissed off about leaving the White House. In fact, to the point where, okay, you like this little hint, Jamie.

Alice was not a Christian. She considered herself to be a pagan. Interesting, that's at a time when that's not a popular thing for a nice young white woman to say. Yup, but yeah, so she made a voodoo doll in the likeness of Mrs. Taft and variegated in the White House lawn. Oh, that's amazing. Yes, so somewhere on the White House is a voodoo doll that Alice buried a Mrs. Taft. She didn't have enough material to make a Mr. Taft at all. Uh, but yeah, so her husband and Taft were really good friends.

They were both from Ohio, they were both in the Republican Party, and originally he was hand picked by Theodore Roosevelt to take his place, because Teddy was like, I'm not going to run a third term. And then so after he was out of the White House for a few years, he was like, I really just want to get back in that bitch. Theodore Roosevelt decided to run against Taft, and it put Nick in a huge bind, because they're both from Ohio. They're also really good friends.

So like personally, his decision might not have affected him because they even told him they were like, do what you gotta do, dude. This is part of it. We met about it. We know how the game has played. But theodore actually told him he was like, this could hurt you, run with Taft,

which made a lot of sense for Nick as a politician. However, it did not make sense for him as a husband. Alice is like, not cool, dude. Well, Alice understood because she, I mean, Alice was very politically savvy. I mean, she was, and... Politically aware, and she literally had been sent on fucking diplomatic missions and shit. And at this point in time, she was also being used as her husband and her father's closest visors.

Like, they were going... They trusted her judgment on things in the order to hear what she had to say. Yes. Very much so. And especially at this point, she became like a campaign strategist for her dad. So, because-

Well, she knew how to work the press. She did. And before this, like her image really helped Nick. Like they got married and she went to go campaign with him, are ran on Cincinnati and like they were almost crushed at one point. Like he was, they were, she was just sitting on a stage and he was giving a speech.

And they wanted her so badly that they rushed the stage to the point where she had to escape inside a window, into a building, to go through another building, to be picked up. Like, Beetlemania for Alice. Exactly. Like, she was almost crushed to death a couple of times because of crowds. She called it like, she said it was terrible, but she didn't go and tell the papers that

she's bigger than Jesus. No, she did not. Which is a good call in America in the early 1900s. So she's campaigning for her dad and at first, he's running primary as a Republican. And William Taft did shady, shady shit with the Electoral College and fucked him. Well, you mean the perfect institution that is the Electoral College? It's never let us down even once.

Nope, that's the one. So, but yeah, so he basically even though he had the theater Roosevelt had the votes for the primary. However, because of the way they finagled the electoral college and because the sitting president could maneuver things, he ended up getting the nomination, which pissed off Teddy Roosevelt to the point where he decided to split the Republican party and start the bull moose party. I knew the bull moose party was coming into this.

So Alice became fucking hog wild for the bull moose party. She thought the progressive party she was like, I read it and it's the best thing I ever read, I read it again and again and again and everyone should be a progressive. Oh my God. And this became her Bible. Like what were the tenants of the bull moose party? I remember a little bit, but it's like,

I, you know, I don't even remember because it was so unimportant to the party because he lost. He sure did. You'll notice that he was at two terms. There's only one more than two term Roosevelt or two term any of President ever. Y'all. So not only did her dad lose the election, but because of the hub hub hub, her husband also lost his seat. The many many failures of third party runs. So her husband lost his seat and this was kind of the split in their marriage where she had enough that you're at cheating drunk, but now you're out of power. Well, and honestly, she blamed herself because she was told that she was not allowed to,

even though she could do things from the background and the sidelines, she was not allowed to be seen in public at some of these rallies for the Progressive Party, and she broke those rules and was seen anyway. She went to two different rallies. She was photographed. It was really bad for Nick and he lost his seat. So your own wife's campaign against you, you asshole. Sort of, even though he was, you know, Congress, it was because of the taft debacle, he lost his seat

and like he was upset about it, she blamed herself. He was an alcoholic. She was disgusted by it. And there... So the writing was on the wall for their marriage. At one point, she wanted a divorce. And then it was like that's bad for politics.

So they stayed married and just became friends. The roommate situation. Yeah, and I mean, they were still really close. And he already had girlfriends all over the place. So it didn't hurt his ex-wife any. Girlfriends all over the place. And it wasn't even just like, I mean, he slept with her friends. It was, it was a key.

So yeah, just not just, you know, not just a guy couldn't keep it in his pants, but he was just an absolute dick about it. Exactly. It was early in their marriage. She actually was like walking down the street and caught him canutling in the grass with another woman. Couldn't even walk down the street without seeing her husband.

Like, fucking around. That's great. Yeah. Good job, Nick. Yeah. Nick was pretty stellar. However, Nick was also a great politician and he earned his, he, she helped campaign and they earned his seat back and eventually he became the speaker of the house. Yeah. And that was the was the only time he lost a race was the time that she was partying with his political enemies. Pretty much. And you can't blame her. That was her dad. So she had a successful political partnership. She had a successful political partnership. Despite the fact that they had a sterile, loveless marriage at that point. Yes. And speaking of sterile, Nick, was.

So he's shooting blanks into every woman he meets. Yeah, at no point in time did any mistress ever come forward saying that? Which is handy for your flandering, but terrible for the establishing a family at home. So eventually Alice started her own covert affairs. Which is only fair. Only fair at this point. And he's been like a hundred other women so she has a couple of dudes every now and then. Yeah and I mean Alice also, she didn't like to be touched. She had an aversion to being touched.

So I'm sure that the hyper-flandering guy and she was like, stay off me, dude. But she did get lonely occasionally. And so she started hanging out, not only in the family observation for the House, but she started going over and checking out the Senate. And while she was checking out the Senate, she was checking out the leader of the Senate.

The Senate majority or leader? Mm-hmm. So she started... Oh, she got horrible vision. We're getting a crush on Mitch McConnell. Well, this guy was named William Borough. Okay, I never heard of him or at least don't remember him. And they called him the Lion of Idaho

because he had this big like mane of hair. How have I never heard of the Lion of Idaho? Mm-hmm. What a weird juxtaposition. I mean, you have Idaho the most boring potato Lion of Ido. Mm-hmm. What a weird juxtaposition. I mean, you have Ido, the most boring potato, laden, state, ever, and then you got a lion. So it's like a potato with a lion's mane on it in my head.

Anyway, go ahead. Let's hear about it. So yeah, so she started this long-term affair with Senator William Borough, and Alice at 40 years old gets pregnant. Whoopsie. Suddenly she's with a man who isn't shooting blakes. However, her husband is thrilled. He couldn't have been more thrilled. It's a last. Somebody put a baby in there.

And again, it was his baby. As he claimed it, it's his, that was his daughter. And so they had a little joke that before she was born, that she was gonna name her Deborah, as in Deborah. Oh, gotcha. And he was like, with so many rumors, her and her husband was like, with so many rumors around, you really want to do that. Like, hilarious, but how about no?

Yeah, so she named her Paulina and which, oh, I'd have to look it up, but it was like some kind of like Greek tragedy with infidelity involved. Oh, so she, so even the name was a jabitor. There was, it wasn't really a jab, but more like a joke for her. It's like, haha. There was, it wasn't really a jab, but more like a joke for her. It's like, haha. Yeah, it's like my infidelity caused this baby, but she really, really loved Senator Bora. So, who I assume was also married. He was also married, and they weirdly, like, the four of them became friends.

So this was this sort of like understood arrangement one of those kind of situations. We don't know because it was never talked about, it was never written about. But they socialize together? But they socialize together. So in other words, okay, I'm gonna go ahead and plant my flag and say they totally had a

understanding. They had to have. And I mean, even if, I mean, Nick obviously knew. I mean, even, yeah, I mean, there was no question. I haven't touched this one within years. Yeah, but it was debatable on how much his boris wife knew. But even in her memoirs long after her husband was dead, she talked about her beloved Billy and how kind and lovely and what a good friend Alice was.

And Alice would bring little Paulina, or Paulina, I've heard it said both ways. She would take her daughter over to the Boris House socially and let this woman, his wife. And they all enjoyed her, Nick, adored the shit out of her and would like take her in and would sit her down on his lap during sessions and she would bang the gavel. This other guy gave him a kid that he could have. I'm sorry.

So he had no reason to be upset about it. I'm not gonna get to see. He was at least aware and cool enough that, you know, he would based on his own behavior and his own limitations. Yeah, and again, it would be even one thing if, you know, he would have accepted it and moved on, but he really did adore this child.

He wanted her to feel. Maybe he always wanted to be a dad but couldn't, and this was his natural shot. Yeah, this was a shot, so he took it, and he loved her. Unfortunately, Nick. No, there's an unfortunately coming. Nick being the gross, disgusting alcoholic that he was finally like died of liver cirrhosis. Like when she was six. Sorry, Nic. So you went to the way of many drunks. Yeah, and it's really sad

because there was, if like the Rose of Elf family, there was so much alcoholism all through it, like several uncles. And she married into alcoholism. Several uncles died from alcoholism, nephews died. It was, it was bad. They had a lot of alcoholism running around a bit. And so, Alice was a moderate drinker. And again, we're going gonna backtrack a little bit because, you know, prohibition was also during this time

when her husband was a raging alcoholic. And- So her husband's raging alcoholic when it's illegal to get a drink? Uh, it's only illegal if you're poor. Apparently, that didn't stop any of our elected officials from drinking. Never. Alice, in fact, her butler was brewing beer and something else in the basement. Like, they actually, like, bought him a still. Well, that's the thing. I mean, the temper and

some movement you got to, well, that's for these, that's for these other people, these poor people who can't control. Well, and again, it wasn't even like our most of our officials didn't want it. It was literally they gave 50% of the population the vote. And women were sick of... They're drunk. They're drunk. and spending their money on booze instead of being in their families. So they thought that this was going to cut down on violence and domestic abuse and crime. And it totally didn't. And then the like,

It backfired and it made it so much worse. Like, I made everything worse. And now it's illegal for me to get drunk too. Shit. Yeah, but apparently our elected officials did not give a fuck about those rules because And rich people kept having their, you know, great-gatsby parties the whole time. The whole fucking time. In fact, it was very funny because the president at the time, oh, I can't even remember his name and it's gonna bother me. But anyway, the president at the time

didn't have a wife, so his sister was taking over. And so there was a big kerfuffle about when she was gonna be sat down. Like, there was so much precedence about who sits where and when they get sat and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so she should have been in theory like after all the diplomats and the senators' wives and things.

Like the official wives get to sit down and then she would. And the president was like, no, she's my official hostess. Fuck you. And so it was said that Alice refused to go to some of these dinners and parties because this woman was going to be sat down in front of her. She's like, oh hell no. And yeah, so that she was like, fuck no. However, Alice laughed about this.

And she was like, no, Nick didn't want to go because they had dry parties. So he didn't want to go to a dry dinner. So he used his wife as an excuse. And she looked like a total bitch. And she was like, I'm not facing's so sweet. And she was like, I'm not facing these people sober. Are you out of your goddamn mind?

Yeah. And so it's like she looked like a bitch. And she was like me, you think I give a shit about precedent? Have you met me? And so time goes by. She goes to one of these dinners. And she's hugging, holding the woman's hands and being very friendly

And she was like this isn't a thing you guys made this up I just canceled dinner because my husband is a drunk Drunk husband didn't want to be bored here damn dinner pretty much, but that was the kind of Shit that went around and so here we are Shit that went around. Gotcha. And so here we are, poor Nick is dead,

and Alice is still running DC. Washington is still her hub. They are still in her living room, even though there's no reason. Right. She has no official reason to be hostessing anything, but she don't stop. Yeah, but I mean everybody,

it's already, she's already got it. She's just got to keep going. Yeah, and again, and it was also one of the most popular places to be. Everyone loved going around. She's certainly an awesome person to hang out with. Yeah, and again, it's like the wine was always good and the food was always good

and the conversation was always stimulating. Like it was always good and the food was always good and the conversation was always stimulating. Like it was always fun. And she was funny. She was absolutely hysterical. Like some of her wetacidisms are great. Like one of the things that she said about her father because he was such a narcissist was, he was the bride at every wedding, the baby

and every christening and the corpse at every funeral. I'm using that exact same quote in my episode. That's hilarious. Yeah, because and that is exactly what I know. I know what what event that we've quote came from. That was at her own wedding when her dad showed up immediately taking up this spotlight and talking and the whole room stopped paying attention to the bride. And that was when she was like, yeah, my dad cannot stand to not be the center of attention. He's jealous of the corpse at a fucking funeral. Yeah, it was like, no, he has to be the center of attention.

That was the best ten rows of a quote I found. Which is also kind of great because it's like, she was the exact same way. She was just the, I mean, if there was an heir to Teddy Roosevelt, it would not be Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., which technically he's the third, which I always think is weird, because they should call him the third, but they always call him Jr.

Because I guess we don't think of Teddy Roosevelt as Teddy Jr. Yeah, but we come in a country where everybody nicknamed George W. Bush Jr. even though we wasn't. And El Gore was Jr. and we never called him that. So, you know, whatever Americans, we do what we want. Where do things go from? Where do things go from here?

So one of the things that happens is her brother Ted, who by the way, it's like, at this point, she wants to pour all of her political clout into her brother. It's like, this was going, because at first, she was like, maybe my husband will be my ticket to the white. She had three different tickets to the White House, either by her lover, her brother, or her husband.

None of them got her there. And one of the reasons that Ted got his, he got his political career railroaded. And in the meanest and worst way possible and by Eleanor Resfelt, the one like nasty thing she ever did. No, she wrecked Ted. Oh, she wrecked Ted.

Now granted, you have to, okay, we're even gonna have to backtrack a little bit before that because this feud started when Franklin Roosevelt got on the ticket for Vice President because it was the two sets of Roosevelt's. We're feuding. So Franklin is going around the country, you know, campaigning as Vice President. So instead of doing his own campaign, Ted decides to follow Franklin around saying he's

not really the real Teddy Roosevelt's because people were confused about the Roosevelt name kept referring to Miss Teddy Roosevelt's son. Right. And so that really pissed off Ted Jr. Sure. And he went around the country behind Franklin going, Nunu Nunu. It is all the West egg Roosevelt's. We are the East egg Roosevelt's. Yes.

Yes, they call themselves Roosevelt's instead of Roosevelt's. And yeah, it was just petty. Ellen were participated. Super petty. So when Ted decided he was going to get reelected for governor of New York, unfortunately him and his brother had gotten into a little kerfleffa with this oil scandal. So I don't want to go into it because it's complicated

and it's boring, but the thing you need to know about it is it was a financial scandal and it was called the T-Pot Dome scandal. Oh, I remember the T-Pot Dome scandal, yeah. That was a bunch of shenanigans. It was shenanigans. So Eleanor Roosevelt actually they had a car and they made it into a teapot

and would follow him around and. Let's remind everyone. Yeah, and so they would give speeches and do flyers and like they would try to be there like right before, right after he'd be given a speech in this T-pop car, and it was like the brainchild, Vellanore Roosevelt, and Alice could not forgive her for it. It was like this was...

That bitch. And yeah, and so... Oh, this is way, I love it, because your two favorite Roosevelts are on the opposite side. And now they're feuding. Because before this, they were always really good friends. And I mean, they grew up together. They were both orphaned.

They were both half raised by their ampai. But now they're ready for a cage match. They are ding, ding, ding. So Franklin Roosevelt wants to become president. He sure does, like a lot. And until he dies actually. A lot. And Alice could not have been more fucking furious.

She was so upset by this because her brother didn't get into the White House. Her lover didn't get into the White House and her husband didn't get into the White House. But her fucking ugly-ass cousin and her feathereduster of a husband, because that's what they liked to call FDR. They said that FD stood for feathered duster because he was a, they thought that he was an intellectual lightweight of the family. Oh yes. And FDR. Famous.

Famous intellectual lightweight. The dance of the group. Yes, but that is how they considered him. Sure. And a lot of it was just because Franklin liked to think before he spoke, which was an- The opposite of Teddy. The opposite of Teddy.

Never shut the fuck up with whatever thought was just tumbling through his ridiculous child man brain. Yes, yeah. So he was considered like the lightweight. Eleanor. She picked the wrong side. This inferior person in her mind And Eleanor it's like where you know she is gorgeous and Eleanor is not traditionally attractive

Which yeah Yeah, she was the ugly duckling Not help the feed into how our our petty beauty is feeling at the moment Oh, it is, yeah. And Elinor famously didn't give a fuck about her appearance either. As long as she looked tidy, that's all she cared about. She just wanted to look tidy. She wanted to look clean and tidy.

She didn't give a shit if the news papers tell me how beautiful she was. Because she wasn't gonna be. Yeah, she gave up on that and focused on her strengths. Yeah. Well, I mean, she never had that. She was, and both women, oddly enough, considered themselves very shy. And...

But one of them actually wasn't, because obviously, Alice does not sound shy. Alice doesn't, yeah, and she says she was shy because she could not do public speaking like that terrified her. I and it's like I have a phobia public yeah and that has nothing to do with shyness. I am not even a little bit but I still ship my pants if I and like I can talk to a microphone all day long to like you. Yeah. But when I actually give a speech I hate that. Yeah like but she couldn't stand up in front of crowds

of people. So she considered herself shy, which again, that's cool. She just misunderstood what stage fright versus... And again, well, and it's so funny, because it's like when you hear reporting of her and interviews and stuff, because she called herself shy, and she said she had no influence. Oh, they just repeated what she said.

She was just there. Well, it's just like everything that Teddy said, they would just repeat as if it were true. So, she goes down in history as the shy, non-fluential woman when in actuality. This is the shy woman who was in the cover of the newspaper all the time. Mm-hmm.

That's how, yeah, I'll tell you another shy. Yeah, she would give statements to the press, but she never gave interviews. That is until Eleanor Roosevelt started her own my day, little portion on the radio. So Eleanor started writing column in the newspaper. And so Alice started writing a column in the newspaper to counteract whatever Eleanor was saying. And so Eleanor had a spot on the radio. Alice got a spot on the radio.

So there's just this petty series of media appearances? Yes, going back and forth. And I found it very funny because I read several biographies. And one of her biographies, it was like there was some petty stuff about getting into the White House. There was a little petty stuff while they were at the White House,

but then that was it. I was like, huh. What about War were two? Did she not have anything to say? Did she not have any opinions? Because it was completely wiped. And I was like, that's really strange. And so I listened to another one.

And it was more, it was a combination of her and Eleanor Roosevelt called his, his in Cousins, which is a fun name. It's a fun read too. It's, but yeah, it's the back and forth between Eleanor and Alice, and then it's like we find out what Alice was up to, which was left out of her other biography, which I thought was strange.

So what was the deal? So Alice started, now granted this is before, this is when they were fighting over in Europe, but America hadn't joined the war yet, and Alice didn't want America to join the war. So she started up a little thing called America first. Oh, yes. Protesting, getting in the war.

And so they decided to put up the very famous Charles Linberg as their speaker. Oh boy. Their spokesperson, Charles Lindbergh, good friend of Alice Roosevelt. Okay. So, and she got her brother Teddy involved and they were big into this organization.

Nice to see her mixing with the common people. So she's protesting, not wanting us to get into it. Her brother's all in and they're all, yeah, America first. Don't want to get into another European war. And then Charles Limberg starts getting more and more anti-Semitic. And it was just like, fuck the Jews, it's their fault. And then Teddy Roosevelt was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I can't go there. I'm not going down this hall with you. So he quits, but Alice in America first actually puts out like statement supporting Charles and the perk. That is until Pearl Harbor. And after Pearl Harbor, they disband and shut the fuck up. Well, yeah, as you, as you do.

As one does. Because at that point, regardless of their feelings, the America had very clearly decided it is time. Yeah, it was time to get involved and everyone shut the fuck up and. And FDR just kept on being president until he croaked. FDR kept being president and Alice's brothers who they had all served in World War One.

They got all fucked up during World War One. And so... One of her brothers died, right? Yeah. Yeah, one of her brothers was shot down during World War One. And it was really sad too because According to Eleanor Roosevelt, she didn't know how he had gotten in the Air Force anyway because he had to have memorized the eye chart He didn't have good eyesight

so but yeah her brother Quentin was shot down during World War Two and her brother Kermit, was stationed overseas, kind of out of away from the fighting, but he was a bad alcoholic. He kept going in and out of sanatoriums for alcoholism and Eleanor Roosevelt kept having to call in the FBI to find him. So they kind of shipped him off somewhere quietly, and he committed suicide while in active duty.

Ease. So there was a lot of tragedy that surrounds the family during World War II. But again, at this point, Alice just shuts up and gets on board. Oh, yeah, America is fighting the Axis powers. Yeah, and it's like, so during World War II, she doesn't have a whole lot to say except for when FDR wants to run for that third term. That much really pissed her off.

And it pissed her off to absolutely no end. And she was, you know, this is a monarchy. You can't run for a third term, granted her dad ran for a third term and that was fine. That was different because he left office for a little while and he was gonna come back. And again, he wasn't elected that first time. He was kind of thrown into the situation.

So like she makes all kinds of excuses. And even though it's like some of her father's principles, like his political stuff, would have been the same as FDR's. One of the things was social security. FDR wanted social security. Teddy Roosevelt wanted social security, but because Franklin wanted it, Alistair was bad. Got it. Kind of deal. She shit on every fucking thing that he did pretty much. In fact, the only thing that she agreed with was putting Frances Perkins in office. She was all about... Something we all agree on.

We were all all about Frances Perkins, but I mean, and she was all for having women in office. She just didn't want to run herself. So Warworth too is kind of, she was quiet, Ish. Well, considering how she started things, I imagine it was that she spoke up, somebody might say, what about that thing your boy said about the Jews? So she made sense that she decided to keep her mouth shut. Yeah, I mean, and again, it's not like she was keeping her mouth completely shut.

I mean, her radio shows canceled. Right. Her column was canceled and, you know, kept that shit up until she was a very old lady and dying. I always got a little canceled, I guess. Yeah. Well, I mean, well, her publications got canceled. I mean, she also, she wrote a biography, she did some stuff, and even though it's like, privately, she was like terrible to Ellen Orizovale. Like she made fun of her and like even publicly spoke out

against the Roosevelt, but she was still going to the White House. Their children were, she would bring Polina to go see them. And like the family connection was always still there. Like when they were in the White House, they had one of her birthday parties there. Even though it's like they had run an official thing, it's like she was banned from the White House.

And that was, and it was so funny because there was actually a lot of news that she's like, oh yeah, she was banned from the White House several times. It's like, she was never banned from the White House. She just didn't get invited to the White House because sometimes she was mean. Got it.

But her daughter grows up and her daughter who she was a shy awkward little girl. An actual shy girl. And so when she would talk, she would start to stutter. And it would frustrate her mom. So her mom started finishing her sentences for her, which is like the worst thing in the world you can do for a child that stutters. So she grew up to be really shy and really introverted and like... Of course, you're

self-conscious about trying to talk. Well, and it's like, and her mom was so famous and it's like, even as a little girl, it's like they have so many pictures of her and it's like she's never smiling She's not a happy child. That sucks. It sucks. So Eventually, Plina grows up and she marries this guy Alexander Cormick and she has a daughter Joana and so Plina's husband dies in 1951 and then six years later So, Polina's has been dies in 1951, and then six years later, Polina dies of overdose. Ooh. Yeah.

What was she taking? Sleeping pills. So, she dies from sleeping pills, and Alice who emit she was a terrible mother. She did not do well by her daughter, and her daughter died sad and young, leaving this nine-year-old granddaughter, who Alice takes in and raises. And does she try harder this time? And she tries so much harder this time. Like, even though it's like, again, Alice famously hated being touched and, you know, didn't hug her daughter all the time.

So she made sure to hug her granddaughter all the time. Like she was overly affectionate. She was overly doding. She overcorrected. Yeah, sort of and it's like she became this mom grandma best friend and was super super close to her granddaughter Joanne. So... I mean there's both positive and negative things about that, but you know, you knew the best she can. Yeah, so at this point, Alice is becoming an old lady and she is still a fixture in Washington. Well, at this point, she's like an institution.

She is the institution of Washington. In fact, to the point where they started calling her the other Washington monument. That was her nickname. Everyone has to make a pilgrimage to see the Alice. So Alice became really good friends with the Kennedys and she also became really good friends with the Nixon's. Yeah, Paul these just these little nobody families that yeah aren't going anywhere. But she absolutely loved the Kennedys.

She thought they were great. Like her and Bobby would sit in a corner and gossip, like children in corners together. But also like Nixon. And yet also was friends with Nixon and helped him with some of his campaigns and helped him bring up, she helped bring him up politically. And so, and you know, Alice was a lifelong Republican. And the only time she ever crossed party lines and voted Democrat was for LBJ.

and voted Democrat was for LBJ. She loved LBJ. They were really good friends. And at one point, there's a quote from her. And he was like, why do you wear all these big hats? And she was like, oh, we're this big bram, big bram tattoo. You can't kiss me. Because that's the kind of bitch she was. Nice. She was very, very funny.

In fact, some of her like, widestisms were so scathing, like they hurt people's political shit. She demolished Thomas Dewey by calling him the bridegroom on top of a wedding cake. And the, which got into the papers, which kind of like destroyed him, which is very funny.

Although I have to say, my very favorite quote from her is Joe McCarthy. So this, the asshole, Joseph McCarthy, quote, he had jokingly remarked at a party, quote, here's my blind date, I'm going to call you Alice. She sarcastically said, Senator McCarthy, you are not going to call me Alice. The truck man, the trash man, and the policeman on my block

might call me Alice, but you may not. I'm like fucking Jimmy Carter. She was really good friends with Nixon, and like she supported him and was vocal for him all the way up to the water gate scandal And she was just like I can't do this no more Where she was like Well her endorsements are sketchy so you know Yeah, it's in miss I would say based on the story you told me.

She's very fun. And again, it's like someone who's such a mixed bag. It's very funny. So how do things end up for Alice? So Alice stays a strong institution in Washington throughout her entire life. She met every president pretty much from when she was six all the way up until she was 96. Damn. Yeah. She met all the presidents except

for the Carter's. She didn't meet the Carter. She refused to meet them. But she was going through breast cancer. So she actually had, she went through, she had this bitch had breast cancer twice and fought it. Yeah, and this is like she had a mastectomy, one mastectomy in like the 60s and then another one in her 70s. And she described herself as being the only um, topless oxygenarian in Washington.

She was a fun old bitch. And uh, yeah. And so she lived until she was 96 years old. I am almost made it to the 19th century. 1880. Wow. Was when she finally they were both alive at the same time as Alice I had no idea she lived that long and she was influential for that long although I think she stopped really putting being a vocal force for it after next right so yeah and there's only a few more years of her life there yeah yeah. And the fun that, but well, that's cool. But that is the story of Alice Roosevelt. Alice Roosevelt wild child turned into Nixon supporter. Alice Lee Roosevelt long worth.

May she rest in peace? Well, there you go. She was fun and interesting. Oh, yeah. She was just an interesting funny old bitch. I just think it's funny too, that she had this rival with your favorite Roosevelt of Elte of them all. She did, but you know what's funny,

but they were also very close. Like the silver cigarette holder that FDR is famous for, like his little signature thing, she gave it to him as a gift. It was like a Christmas present. It's like she was always there, especially considering she was born before Eleanor and died long after. Right, because she was lived forever. Man, bitches are hard to kill.

Well, she pickled herself with booze her whole life and preserved herself well. Well, that's the funny thing. She was only a moderate drinker. She was not a big drinker. Not like her husband. Yeah. Like, I mean, especially because all the alcoholics in her life kind of turned her off from booze, so. But yeah, she was not pickled. She, but she was a heavy smoker, lost to breasts.

Yeah, that'll get you. Well, cool. That's Alice Roosevelt. That was her bonus episode. Thank you, everybody, for listening. Be sure to check out chainsawhistory.com for our other episodes, full show notes, other cool stuff. In that case, we will catch you

on the next regular or bonus episode of chainsaw history. Oh.