Lewis L. Gould. Edith Kermit Roosevelt:Creating the Modern First Lady. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2013. viii + 171 pp. $34.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-7006-1902-3. Reviewed by Sidney Bland Published on H-SHGAPE (January, 2014) Commissioned by Julia Irwin (University of South Florida) Lewis Gould is a familiar name in American for the public and the private Edith were often po‐ history circles. Currently Professor Emeritus, Uni‐ lar opposites. While she was, Gould argues, “an versity of Texas, Austin, Gould produced signifi‐ aristocrat to the tips of her fngers” (the title of cant works on American politics including, among chapter 1) and exuded “a sense of inner confi‐ others, Theodore Roosevelt (2012) and The Mod‐ dence and assurance about her place in the ern American Presidency (2009). His scholarship world” (p. 23), she guarded her privacy from the on frst ladies has been equally substantive. As ed‐ so-called camera fends, preferred books to peo‐ itor of American First Ladies: Their Lives and ple, could be tart and sharp-tongued with her chil‐ Their Legacy (1996), in which he contributed es‐ dren and her husband, and ultimately burned says on Edith Bolling Wilson and Lady Bird John‐ many of her letters. The secularized saint/man‐ son, he oversaw a seminal work. He has also been agerial genius images of Edith Roosevelt in the both scholar and editor for the series Modern press and contemporary literature often contrast‐ First Ladies, published by the University of Kan‐ ed with the physical and emotional toll of preg‐ sas Press, to which he contributed volumes on nancies and miscarriages, demands of family, Lady Bird Johnson and Helen Taft. This, his latest maintenance of households in several locations, volume in that series, is tinged with sadness, for the burdens of Theodore’s celebrity, and some‐ his wife of over forty years died during the writ‐ what surprisingly, her racial views. ing, and it was she, he notes, who frst suggested Rising above numerous challenges, Gould the idea for the Modern First Ladies series. makes a most convincing case for Edith Roosevelt Gould has given us a more thorough, nu‐ as the frst truly modern frst lady. Inheriting a de‐ anced, and complex portrayal of Edith Kermit teriorating structure and a White House ill- (Carow) Roosevelt than any we have yet encoun‐ equipped to cope with an unruly, boisterous fami‐ tered. He faced numerable challenges in doing so, ly, an activist president, and a fast-paced social H-Net Reviews agenda quite different from her those of hus‐ Paderewski and Pablo Casals to the White House. band’s immediate predecessors, Mrs. Roosevelt Her highly visible sponsorship of and attendance orchestrated major renovations and repairs at the global opera favorite Hansel and Gretel (by through the hiring of famed New York architect German composer Engelbert Humperdinck) on Charles McKim. New executive offices (including behalf of the New York Legal Aid Society brought the current West Wing), upgraded plumbing, considerable visibility (and enriched coffers) to lighting, and heating, replacement of greenhouses both the organization and the Metropolitan with “colonial gardens” and a tennis court, Opera. Roosevelt, however, more often followed a stripped Gilded Age ornamentation, and an en‐ policy of quiet, private donations and benevo‐ during White House china collection and frst lence, particularly demonstrated with her “hand‐ ladies’ portrait gallery are significant legacies. So, kerchief bureau.” too, is the employment of and reliance on a social Our favorable view of Edith Roosevelt takes a secretary. Isabelle “Belle” Hagner, who would re‐ sharp turn downward with Lewis Gould’s impres‐ main a lifelong friend to the Roosevelt family, be‐ sive new fndings of the frst lady’s strong anti- came a prototype for future frst lady staffers. black views and overt racist language. “Chocolate “Discreet and efficient” Hagner became “indis‐ drops,” “darkeys,” and “colored servants” (Edith pensable” to Mrs. Roosevelt and a valuable confi‐ preferred whites), “little nigs,” “tar brush,” and dant to the president’s children (p. 30). “scraps of humanity” are among the pejorative In Gould’s biography Edith Roosevelt also racial terms appearing in her letters (pp. 93-95), emerges as a much more activist, politically especially in the many she directed to her son aware “woman of influence” than other scholar‐ Kermit. Impressed by the white supremacy schol‐ ship suggests. She read four newspapers a day arship of southern-born journalist Francis War‐ and served as a back channel for relaying infor‐ rington Dawson (his father was the noted South mation to Theodore. Gould’s evidence suggests Carolina newspaper man), the frst lady confided she often intervened in the selection of individu‐ to him: “am still frmly convinced that any mix‐ als for government posts and played a substantial ture of races is an unmitigated evil” (p. 93). Her role in dumping the “dull, older and musicales had several performers who perpetuat‐ (un)interesting” (p. 105) British ambassador Sir ed prevailing racial stereotypes in their “coon- Mortimer Durand in hopes of replacing him with song music.” Gould argues that this household the best man in their London wedding, Cecil voice of bigotry should trigger further scholarship Spring Rice. Edith made her own special contribu‐ on the Roosevelt presidency beyond the well- tion to presidential retreats and rejuvenation, lat‐ known racial incidents like Brownsville and the er formalized with Camp David, in purchasing the Booker T. Washington dinner. rustic cabin south of Charlottesville (she named it The Roosevelt marriage was an affectionate Pine Knot) for TR’s hunting and treasured mo‐ one, marked by sexual compatibility, a deeply ments with nature.. shared love of literature and reading (Edith regu‐ In the arena of charitable endeavors and sup‐ larly patronized Loudermilk’s bookstore in Wash‐ port for the arts, Edith Roosevelt foreshadowed ington for both rare and new books), and a mutu‐ later twentieth-century frst ladies in achieving al love for the out-of-doors, especially horseback “an admirable record” (p. 67). Over the course of riding. A near-tragic fall in September 1911 from the seven-plus years of the Roosevelt presidency her favorite horse, “Pine Knot,” resulted in an ex‐ she arranged and hosted some thirty musicales tended recovery but did not dissuade her hus‐ and brought such classical artists as Ignacy band from doing battle with his long-time friend/ 2 H-Net Reviews now enemy William Howard Taft in 1912. Edith Roosevelt spent most of her years following TR’s death in global travel and a charitable cause close to her heart--needlework, to produce garments for the poor and sick--before her death in 1948 at age eighty-seven. She appreciated her children’s visits, though she was estranged from Ted and her frequent travel companion and confidant, Kermit, became an alcoholic and committed suicide. Lewis Gould’s bibliographic essay is rock-sol‐ id, both identifying a wide-ranging variety of ma‐ terials vital to his understanding of Edith Roo‐ sevelt’s role as frst lady and targeting sources, in‐ cluding those on the Internet, which could aid fu‐ ture researchers. He graciously acknowledges the vital scholarship of two predecessors, Sylvia Jukes Morris and Stacy Cordery, to our overall under‐ standing and appreciation of Edith Kermit Roo‐ sevelt. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-shgape Citation: Sidney Bland. Review of Gould, Lewis L. Edith Kermit Roosevelt:Creating the Modern First Lady. H-SHGAPE, H-Net Reviews. January, 2014. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=40367 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.