The Next Generation: William and Margaret Cowles and Corinne Alsop Cole

Abstract

Theodore Roosevelt’s sister Anna would have been president, several family members insist, had women been allowed to run. Her son William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. and his wife Margaret Krech Cowles spent hours with the Hagedorns discussing Anna’s life and her relationship with her brother, among many other matters. Joined by their cousin and TR’s niece Corinne Alsop Cole, the trio confer about several Roosevelt family members, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Alice Roosevelt Longworth. The most revealing aspects relate to Elliott Roosevelt, TR’s brother who suffered with substance addiction, and James “Tadd” Roosevelt, the reclusive son of “Rosy” Roosevelt. Their testimony illustrates the difficulties portraying any of the Roosevelts in monolithic portraits and intricacies of family dynamics.