White House History Quarterly 54 - Weddings - Roosevelt

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ALICE ROOSEVELT weds

Nicholas Longworth

A First Daughter’s Wedding in the East Room SELWA “LUCKY” ROOSEVELT

one of the great events of President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration was the marriage of his daughter Alice on February 17, 1906. The groom, Congressman Nicholas Longworth, was an old friend of hers, and even though the parents were not completely happy (TR thought him vulgar), it was an elegant affair. This painting captures the scene and leaves some questions. The march down the Grand Staircase is the primary question. Yes, the stair was a typical Roosevelt entrance, but Alice always said that the wedding party descended in the elevator across the house. The bride marched into the East Room on her father’s arm, and the ceremony took place on a platform in front of the triple windows, banked in palms and flowers.

The event was commemorated by a photograph, but not like one would imagine. Instead of the East Room, or Red or Blue or Green Room, the setup for the picture was a table covered with oriental carpets in the State Dining Room, where bride and groom and presidential father lined up without

emotion. A wedding breakfast followed the mar riage with abundant food created by guest chefs and favors provided for the ladies.

With the details overseen by the bride’s step mother, Edith Roosevelt, who had an acute sense of propriety, the wedding was one of the most mem orable events in White House history. Following the ceremony, Alice demonstrated her appreciation for her stepmother with a kiss.

The painting, published here for the first time, is one of several made by William Baxter Closson to record events at the Theodore Roosevelt White House. They have since enjoyed proud positions in Roosevelt parlors scattered throughout the family. My late husband Archibald Roosevelt Jr. fell heir to this oil on board painting through his father. Now more than one hundred years old, it com memorates his grandparents, Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, and the bride and groom, Alice and Nick, intimately.

previous spread Alice Roosevelt on her wedding day.

opposite

A march down the Grand Staircase was a typical Roosevelt entrance for formal events, as depicted in this work by William Baxter Closson.

below

The East Room is seen decorated with flowers ahead of the ceremony. Ropes separated the wedding party from the guests.

LEFT: LIBRARY

CONGRESS

OPPOSITE: PRIVATE COLLECTION

President Theodore Roosevelt posed for a somber wedding day portrait (left) with his daughter Alice and her new husband Nicholas Longworth. Fifty years later, Alice Roosevelt Longworth posed for another photograph in the White House, this time with newlyweds Luci and Patrick Nugent (opposite top). The following year she returned as a guest at the wedding of Lynda and Charles Robb (opposite bottom left), and in 1971, she waved to the press as she and her granddaughter Joanna Sturm were escorted to their seats in the Rose Garden for the wedding of Tricia Nixon (opposite bottom right).

LEFT AND OPPOSITE TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

BOTTOM LEFT: WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION