Presidential Kids: From Lincoln to Bush
Lincoln and Roosevelt
By the contributors to Kaboose.com
In this article:
Now that the country has named Barack Obama as the new President of the United States, we can only wonder how much fun his daughters, Malia and Sasha, will have at the White House. Those walls have seen their share of headstrong toddlers, energetic school children, and rebellious teens and young adults.
TAD LINCOLN
President: Abraham Lincoln
Years in Office: March 4, 1861-April 15, 1865
Back Then: Thomas, the youngest son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln, was nicknamed “Tad” for “Tadpole.” Almost 8 when he hopped into the White House, Tad was a prankster—ringing the bells in the White House attic and switching the order of the calling cards. He charged a nickel for those wishing to meet his father, the president, or as a toll for using the White House stairway. He famously interrupted one of his father’s cabinet meetings to request a pardon for a doll, and disrupted one of his mother’s tea parties with a goat. The night his father was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, 12-year-old Tad was watching a performance of “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.”
Today: A few years after his father’s death, Tad traveled with his mother, Mary, to Europe. On the voyage home, he became ill and grew progressively worse before dying, at age 18, of suspected tuberculosis or pleurisy. He was buried in the Lincoln Tomb, next to his father and two of his brothers, at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Charities: During the Civil War, the Sanitary Commission raised money for hospitals, bandages, and tending the wounded. Tad was a cheerful fundraiser for this organization that performed works similar to the Red Cross, often selling snacks in the lobby to those waiting for an audience with his father.
ALICE ROOSEVELT LONGWORTH
President: Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Years in Office: September 14, 1901-March 4, 1909
Back Then: Of his oldest child, Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. once said, “I can either run the country or I can attend to Alice, but I cannot possibly do both.” With her father’s entrance into the White House, the willful 17-year-old beauty achieved instant celebrity, grabbing headlines wherever she went. “Princess Alice” smoked on the roof of the White House, stayed out late in the company of men, gambled, and carried a pet boa constrictor named Emily Spinach. On a diplomatic mission to Japan, she jumped into the pool of a cruise ship, fully clothed.
Today: A self-declared hedonist, Alice briefly turned Democrat during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations before she died in 1980, at the age of 96. During the Depression, she wrote her autobiography, Crowded Hours. She was married to Representative Nicholas Longworth in 1906 and had one daughter, Paulina, at the age of 40.
Charities: She became a Washington power broker, giving advice to her father, her husband (who served as Speaker of the House), and her lover, William Borah, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention more than once.
Quotation: “If you can’t say anything good about someone, sit right here next to me.”
QUENTIN ROOSEVELT
President: Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Years in Office: September 14, 1901-March 4, 1909
Back then: Teddy Roosevelt Jr.’s favorite and youngest son was the center of the playgroup known as the “White House gang.” Called Quentyquee and Quinikins, Quentin was the child considered most like his father—spirited, intellectual, and brave. Although Quentin was only 3 when he arrived at the White House, it wasn’t long before he was hurling snowballs at Secret Service guards from the roof, aiming spitballs at presidential portraits, and carving an unauthorized baseball diamond on the White House lawn. When his brother, Archie, fell ill, it was Quentin who brought the pony, Algonquin, in the elevator for a visit.
Today: Dropping out of Harvard to become an aviator, Quentin trained as a pilot at a Long Island airfield that was later renamed Roosevelt Field in his honor. Today there is a mall on the site. On July 14, 1918, Quentin took his last flight and was killed in aerial combat over France. He was hailed as a hero; his father, Teddy Roosevelt, died six months later.
Charities: His brother, Kermit, compiled a volume of his letters to serve as a testament to his short life. Quentin’s grave became a shrine to thousands of American soldiers. His body was eventually moved to the World War II American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, buried next to his brother, Ted. The original gravestone is on display at Sagamore Hill.
Quotation: “I see him occasionally but I know nothing of his family life.”—what the young Quentin said to a reporter who tried to trick him into talking about his father
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