Hissing Cousins: The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Summary (from the publisher): A lively and provocative double biography of first cousins Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth, two extraordinary women whose tangled lives provide a sweeping look at the twentieth century.
When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, his beautiful and flamboyant daughter was transformed into "Princess Alice," arguably the century's first global celebrity. Thirty-two years later, her first cousin Eleanor moved into the White House as First Lady. Born eight months and twenty blocks apart from each other in New York City, Eleanor and Alice spent a large part of their childhoods together and were far more alike than most historians acknowledge.
But their politics and temperaments couldn't have been more distinct. Do-gooder Eleanor was committed to social justice but hated the limelight; acid-tongued Alice, who became the wife of philandering Republican congressman Nicholas Longworth, was an opponent of big government who gained notoriety for her cutting remarks (she famously quipped that dour President Coolidge “looked like he was weaned on a pickle”). While Eleanor revolutionized the role of First Lady with her outspoken passion for human rights, Alice made the most of her insider connections to influence politics, including doing as much to defeat the League of Nations as anyone in elective office.
The cousins themselves liked to play up their oil-and-water relationship. “When I think of Frank and Eleanor in the White House I could grind my teeth to powder and blow them out my nose,” Alice once said. In the 1930s they even wrote opposing syndicated newspaper columns and embarked on competing nationwide speaking tours. Blood may be thicker than water, but when the family business is politics, winning trumps everything.
Vivid, intimate, and stylishly written, Hissing Cousins finally sets this relationship center stage, revealing the contentious bond between two political trailblazers who short-circuited the rules of gender and power, each in her own way.
When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, his beautiful and flamboyant daughter was transformed into "Princess Alice," arguably the century's first global celebrity. Thirty-two years later, her first cousin Eleanor moved into the White House as First Lady. Born eight months and twenty blocks apart from each other in New York City, Eleanor and Alice spent a large part of their childhoods together and were far more alike than most historians acknowledge.
But their politics and temperaments couldn't have been more distinct. Do-gooder Eleanor was committed to social justice but hated the limelight; acid-tongued Alice, who became the wife of philandering Republican congressman Nicholas Longworth, was an opponent of big government who gained notoriety for her cutting remarks (she famously quipped that dour President Coolidge “looked like he was weaned on a pickle”). While Eleanor revolutionized the role of First Lady with her outspoken passion for human rights, Alice made the most of her insider connections to influence politics, including doing as much to defeat the League of Nations as anyone in elective office.
The cousins themselves liked to play up their oil-and-water relationship. “When I think of Frank and Eleanor in the White House I could grind my teeth to powder and blow them out my nose,” Alice once said. In the 1930s they even wrote opposing syndicated newspaper columns and embarked on competing nationwide speaking tours. Blood may be thicker than water, but when the family business is politics, winning trumps everything.
Vivid, intimate, and stylishly written, Hissing Cousins finally sets this relationship center stage, revealing the contentious bond between two political trailblazers who short-circuited the rules of gender and power, each in her own way.
Review: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.
"They were born in the same year and neighborhood, shared the same friends, lived in the same houses (including the White one), married the same types of men. They were arguably the most famous women in the country, if not the world, for extended periods of their lives, important enough to command audiences with presidents and kings. They were writers and lecturers, terrible mothers but beloved grandmothers. Above all, they were politicians."
This dual biography covers the lives and relationship between cousins Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Eleanor Roosevelt. Alice, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt was a famous celebrity of the twentieth century and was known for her flamboyant disregard for propriety while Eleanor, wife to President Franklin Roosevelt, was known for her social work and revolution of the role of First Lady. The two women were childhood playmates and teenage confidantes but became rivals as adults. In many ways their relationship characterized the division between the Roosevelt family itself, which was split into two distinct camps of Democratic and Republican, Hyde Park and Oyster Bay branches.
Eleanor and Alice had a great many things in common. Born just eight months apart in 1884, Eleanor was the daughter of Elliott Roosevelt and Alice of Elliott's brother Theodore. Both lost parents at young ages. Both saw their aunt Bye as a mother figure. Yet throughout their lives, the press loved to emphasize the differences between the two famous ladies. "Eleanor was the saint, the woman who revolutionized the role of First Lady with her very public activism, obvious concern for the poor and oppressed, and outspoken passion for human rights. [...] Alice played the troublemaker. She relished any opportunity to tweak the stodgy establishment." Eleanor was seen as stuffy and dull where Alice was fun and lively.
Aside from their political differences of opinion, much of the difficulties in Alice and Eleanor's relationship seems to rest with jealousy on Alice's part. Alice, a media darling, seems to have felt trumped by Eleanor's marriage to her fifth-cousin Franklin, making her a Roosevelt twice over and Eleanor later claiming what Alice saw as her rightful place in the White House. Furthermore, Eleanor was seen as "the do-gooder chip off her uncle's block" to Alice's consternation: "the same sort of thing was said about my cousin Eleanor being more like my father's daughter than I was." Alice's goading of Franklin into possibly scandalous behavior couldn't have endeared Eleanor to Alice either. "Franklin and Alice were very compatible: fun loving and social, quick-witted and a little ostentatious."
Yet despite the public analysis of their troubled relationship, for the most part the two ladies kept their peace. While Alice seemed to love to rib Franklin and Eleanor in the press, as a family they were always cordial. Eleanor seems to have been infinitely patient with Alice, enduring condescending White House visits where Alice would remark to her, "You'll be able to learn after a awhile how to handle affairs like this." It seems that for "Princess Alice" the White House would always feel like her rightful home - a fact that the gracious Eleanor understood and tolerated. In fact, "she never - ever - chastised Alice publicly for the unkind things her cousin said about her and Franklin." Yet Eleanor has the final satisfaction of being beloved even decades after her death, while the famous Alice now seems like a footnote to history.
Although there is considerable overlap that lends itself well to a dual biography, in some ways this book felt like two separate biographies that occasionally intersected. I enjoyed learning more about the Roosevelt family and the social interactions between these two famous members, but wonder what separate biographies would further reveal.
Stars: 4
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