Christmas a la Roosevelt

Few White House families were as robust and open for fun as Theodore Roosevelt, his wife, six children and a slew of pets. Nevertheless, very few stories, articles or even anecdotes are about how the TR’s celebrated Christmas. How come?

TR, (1858-1919) as he was called by the time he was President, was born and raised in a wealthy New York patrician family. He was Dutch by ancestry, and while Edith Carow Roosevelt, his second wife, was raised Episcopalian, Theodore had been raised in the Dutch Reformed Church. While he was always ecumenical in his religious practices, he basically adhered to the tenets of his upbringing. At home in Oyster Bay, Long Island with fewer options, he attended the Episcopal Church. In Washington, which had become a major city, populated by all sorts by 1900, he usually went to Dutch Reformed services. Nobody seemed to mind. 

But the Roosevelts were Victorians. The old Queen had died only months before TR became President in 1901, and traditions die hard. Christmas was still considered a) a religious holiday, and b) a family holiday. The major festivities were broad: people attended services at the venue of their choice, and usually feasted and exchanged gifts within their family circles. After that, what was put in stockings, served for breakfast, and generally celebrated within the household was up to the individuals.

To Tree or Not To Tree

Christmas trees, usually some kind of evergreen, decorated with candles, fruit, nuts, pine cones, ribbons and shiny objects and even small presents attached to the boughs, had been popular for nearly a half century by 1900. But not necessarily within the house. And not in every house. And not espoused by all people. And that included the White House and its President in 1901.

The White House documented its first Christmas tree during the Pierce Administration, but it was exclusively in the family quarters. It is said that President Franklin Pierce thought it might cheer his wife, still despondent over the death of their eleven year old son earlier in the year.

The next official Christmas tree “documentation” was nearly forty years later – during Benjamin Harrison’s Administration. And that too, was in the family quarters. It was a private celebration.

President Theodore Roosevelt, it was said, had a dilemma regarding a Christmas tree. He was, and had been since childhood, a ardent amateur natural scientist and believer in conservation.

Legend had it that he frowned on having a tree cut down merely to decorate the premises and please his children. They had never had one at home, and besides, the POTUS assured his six boisterous children, there would be gifts and festivities aplenty for everyone. No tree. 

Archie Roosevelt

Archie Bulloch Roosevelt (1894-1979) was TR’s 5th child and 4th son. He was seven years old when his father became President, and in short shrift, he and his younger brother Quentin became the leaders of what would be known as The White House Gang – a healthy, rowdy bunch of small boys recruited among their neighborhood schoolmates. They had the general run of the White House, under the watchful eye of Edith Roosevelt, and the hearty approval of their Gangster-in-Chief, President Theodore himself. They were all fine little fellows, but full of mischief and fun, as only single-digit-aged boys can be. 

In 1902, Archie was eight, and while perhaps the “quietest” of all the Roosevelt offspring, he was also the most willing to disobey – maybe. This Christmas, he decided to disobey on a grand scale. He wanted a Christmas tree. Seeing the one at church, or even the large decorated tree at their Auntie Bye’s (Theodore’s sister) was no longer sufficient. He was determined to take matters into his own hands. There would be a Christmas tree at the White House – even if it had to be secretly sneaked in. 

Fortunately he had some help among the White House staff. It took weeks of conspiracy. First, a suitable location to place/hide the tree. With the aid of one of the stewards and a carpenter, an empty storage closet was found – and shored up. Then an appropriate two-foot high tree was found and smuggled in. 

He personally decorated it – and arranged presents for his parents, his sisters Alice and Ethel, his brothers Ted, Kermit and Quentin – and their pets: Jack the dog, Tom Quartz the kitten, and Algonquin, Archie’s beloved pony. And on Christmas morning, Archie insisted that the entire family traipse over to the closet hiding-place to see the pint-sized tree he arranged for all of them to enjoy.

According to Robert Lincoln O’Brien, a Washington journalist who wrote an article about it for the Ladies’ Home Journal in 1903, “No one was more surprised than the President himself!”

The Legends of the the Roosevelt Tree

Of course it was a great story – and the LHJ article was reprinted and retold many times over the next few years.

One of the most persistent legends was that TR’s good friend and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot personally assured the President that forests would not be decimated by Christmas tree traditions. He also insisted that people should opt for the large, older trees: this way it makes room for new tree growth. Whether Pinchot was involved or not, the practice of reforestation – planting trees to replace those that are cut – is now an established way of maintaining our beloved forests. Having our cake and eating it.

Another legend claims that the TR family was large and encumbered with too much stuff…making it impractical to add an indoor tree to the mix. Maybe.

Another legend (probably true), is that an “Archie” Christmas Tree became an established tradition during the rest of the Roosevelt Administration. And perhaps beyond.

Sources: 

Hagedorn, Hermann- The Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill – Macmillan, 1954

Looker, Earle – The White House Gang – Amereon Ltd., 1940

https://foresthistory.org/president-bans-Christmas-tree/

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/christmas-cheer-president-roosevelts-surprise-tree

https://foresthistory.org/president-bans-christmas-tree/