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| In death, as in life, Theodore Roosevelt Jr.'s
identity and accomplishments are overshadowed by the legacy of
his father. Ted was without a doubt one of the most illustrious
citizens of Oyster Bay. He attained the rank of Brigadier
General, was awarded every combat decoration including the Medal
of Honor, served his country in many capacities including
Governor General of the Philippines, Governor of Puerto Rico, and
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a position also held by his
father.
As a young boy Ted was pressured greatly by the
lofty expectations his father had for him. This resulted in Ted
suffering a nervous breakdown at age ten. Thereafter TR eased up
but Ted continued to sense the burden of carrying through life
his father's name. He adored his father and was driven with a
strong desire to prove worthy of him. Shortly before TR's death,
Ted's wife told TR about how Ted had always worried that he would
not be worthy of him. In her book Day Before Yesterday, Eleanor
Butler Alexander Roosevelt quotes TR's reply: "Worthy of me?
Darling, I am so very proud of him. He has won high~honor not
only for his children but, like the Chinese, he has ennobled his
ancestors. I walk with my head higher because of him."
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was born at Sagamore
Hill on September 13, 1887, the eldest childofTheodore Roosevelt
and Edith Kermit Carow. Ted attended numerous public and private
schools wherever the family happened to be living; Oyster Bay,
Albany and Washington. He enrolled in a six year college
preparatory program at the Groton School but left after four
years, covenng the remaining work with a tutor. He entered
Harvard University shortly before his eighteenth birthday and
finished the four year B.A. program in three years, graduating in
1908. While at Harvard Ted played on the freshman football team
and later was second string on the varsity until a badly broken
nose and a broken ankle caused him to give up football. TR is
acknowledged to have been against football; however he supported
Ted in his desire to play. Because ofTed's small size TR
counselled him to play some other game, but if football was to be
the game of his choosing then to give it all he had. Ted took a
position with the Hartford Carpet Company in Thompsonville,
Connecticut in October 1908. He worked in the mill from 7:00 am
to 10:00 pm fivedays plus five hours on Saturday for a salary of
$7.00 a week. Shortly thereafter he met Eleanor Butler Alexander.
They were married on June 20, 1910 at the Fifth Avenue
Presbyterian Church in New York City, two days after TR returned
from his African safari. The newlyweds immediately moved to San
Francisco, where Ted worked in the San Francisco office of the
Hartford Carpet Company. Ted and Eleanor had three sons, Theodore
III, Cornelius Van Schaak, Quentin II, and a daughter, Grace
Green. Grace was the firstborn while Ted and Eleanor were living
in San Francisco.
 Theodore Roosevelt Jr. at Harvard
Grace Green was born in 1911 and was named
after Eleanor Butler Alexander's mother. Grace married William
McMillan, Jr. When Ted and Eleanor were planning their Old
Orchard home at Sagamore Hill they called upon the talents of
their architect son-in-law, William McMillan.
Theodore III (Teddy) was born in June 1914,
graduated from Harvard and married Anne Babcock of Louisville,
Kentucky. Teddy served in the Navy in World War II and was
decorated for valor.
Cornelius Van Schaak was born October 23,1915
in New York City and was named after his great-great grandfather.
Like his father, he attended the Groton School, then Harvard, and
in 1938 graduated with honors from M.I.T. He then worked in
Mexico as a mining engineer. Cornelius served in the Navy in
World War II in the Office of Naval Research, which later became
part of the C.I.A. After the war he continued his service with
the Central Intelligence Agency, retiring in 1973. He died in
Washington, D.C. on August 3, 1991. He never married.
Quentin II was named after his uncle who died
in France in World War I. Quentin II served in the Army in World
War II, rising to the rank of Major. He participated in the North
Africa campaign and the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944. He was
wounded and was three times decorated for gallantry and valor.
Quentin and his father both won the Silver Star. April 12,1944
Quentin II married Frances Webb of Kansas City at the Church of
St. Peter and St. Paul in Blandford, England. His father served
as his best man. After the war Quentin II and his wife Frances
lived in Shanghai, China, while Quentin worked for two years for
the China National Aviation Corporation, an affiliate of Pan
American World Airways. In late December 1948 on a business
flight to Hong Kong, the pilot was blinded by a sudden fog.
Quentin II and 34 passengers and crew were killed in the crash
and resulting fire on Basalt Island in Hong Kong Harbor. Frances
Roosevelt returned to Old Orchard at Oyster Bay with her three
daughters.
Having aspirations of a career in public
service, Ted left San Francisco to make his fortune as an
investment banker with the New York firm of Bertron Griscom &
Company in 1912. His objective was to earn enough to become
financially independent so he could then devote his efforts to
public service. In 1914 he was offered a position as a partner in
the Philadelphia investment banking firm Montgomery, Clothier
& Tyler, to run their New York office. This position turned
out very well, as he earned $150,000 in 1915.
Ted's plans to enter public service were
delayed by the outbreak of war in Europe. Following his father's
bugle call to the nation to prepare itself fot war, Ted took
training at Plattsburg, N.Y. in the summers of 1915 and 1916.
When the United States finally entered the fray in 1917 Ted was
in the first units sent over, having been given command of the
1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Division. He saw considerable
action at St. Mihiel, the MeuseArgonne, Mouzon where he won the
Silver Star, Cantigny where he won the Distinguished Service
Cross, and Soissons where he was shot in the leg. He earned the
unwavering support and respect from the men who served under him
by being the man who got things done and being always ready to go
wherever he was commanding his men to go. In a letter to Ted,
George C. Marshall, who was at the time an aide to General John
J. Pershing said: "..your record as a fighting man (is) one
of the most remarkable in the A.E.F among the finest examples of
leadership, courage and fortitude that came to my attention
during the war.
After the war Ted joined with other veterans to
form the American Legion. It was their hope that such an
organization could continue the camaraderie established during
the war to help overcome some of the divisions of race, religion,
and class that caused so many problems. In 1919 the American
Legion held the first Memorial Day parade in Oyster Bay, and Bro.
Roosevelt was at the head of the procession. Many of the brethren
of Matinecock Lodge attended Ted's installation as Commander of
Quentin Roosevelt Post #4, American Legion on October 20, 1937.
Following the death of his father on January
6,1919 Ted began his career of public service by being elected to
the New York State Assembly, as his father had thirty-eight years
earlier. Shortly after his election he took a second step
following in his father's path, being initiated into Matinecock
Lodge #806 on November 26,1919. He was passed on February 4,
1920, and raised on March 17,1920. When he signed the Register of
Matinecock Lodge he dropped the 'Jr'. TR had also stopped using
'Jr' upon the death of his father.
In the primary elections in 1923 Ted was
running for delegate to the Republican National Convention and
had been making a number of speeches denouncing the activities of
the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan mounted a vigorous campaign against
him in upstate New York and to a lesser extent on Long Island.
Shortly before the primary he had to make a speech at Auburn, New
York, and he asked his wife to telegraph anyone she could think
of to enlist their support for his cause. She mistakenly sent a
telegram to Judge Townsend Scudder, the leading Democrat in
Nassau County at the time. Judge Scudder, an Honorary member of
Matinecock Lodge, Past Grand Master of Masons in the State of New
York, and an eminently fair and honorable man, telegraphed back:
"CONFINED TO MY HOUSE WITH SICKNESS BUT WILL REACH PROPER
PEOPLE AND DO MY UTMOST." Ted was elected.
In 1920 Ted became active in the Presidential
election campaign of Bro. Warren G. Harding, who was running
against Ted's distant cousin Bro. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ted made
a number of speeches calling FDR a maverick and not having the
brand of the Roosevelt family of Oyster Bay. Thus began the feud
between the Hyde Park and Oyster Bay Roosevelts. During Ted's
campaign for Governor of New York in 1924 the feud intensified
when Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR's wife, stumped all over New York
State in a car having a mockup of a giant tea pot on its top,
trying to link Ted to the Teapot Dome scandal. Although Ted
carried 56 of the state's 62 counties, he lost the election to Al
Smith by 108,589 votes.
Like his father had done many years earlier,
Ted consoled himself by going off on an extended expedition.
Together with his younger brother Kermit he went to Central Asia
for six months to obtain large mammal specimens for the Field
Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Ted and Kermit told of
their adventures in their book East of the Sun and West of the
Moon.
Over the next few years Ted busied himself with
wnting several more books, including Rank and File in 1928, and
All in the Family in 1929.
In 1929 while Ted was on another expedition
with Kermit to Indochina, President Herbert Hoover appointed him
Governor of Puerto Rico. He studied Spanish during the long
voyage home so that he could deliver his Inaugural Address in
Spanish. This won him the good will of the people of Puerto Rico.
In 1931 Ted gained further support from the people of Puerto Rico
when he stopped a run on the banks by putting up his own personal
note for $100,000.
The following year President Hoover appointed
Ted Governor General of the Philippines. Ted doomed his chances
to stay on as Governor General by broadcasting from Manila a
campaign message advocating the reelection of Hoover. Ted was
removed from office immediately after FDR's Inauguration. Ted
spent the 1930's as a vice president of Doubleday, Doran &
Co. in Garden City, New York, continuing his writing and
campaigning for anyone running against FDR. He took advantage of
every speaking opportunity to argue against FDR's New Deal.
In 1937 Ted acquired some of the acreage at
Sagamore Hill upon which he had his Old Orchard home built. The
house was designed by his son-in-law William McMillan, was
completed in 1938, and was Ted and Eleanor's first house after 27
years of marriage.
 Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. with son Quentin
Roosevelt II. TR Jr. and Quentin both received the Silver Star for
Gallantry in the North African campaigns, and both
were in the D-Day invasion at Normandy.
Realizing that American involvement in World
War II was not far off, Ted applied for active duty and was given
command of his old regiment, the 26th Infantry, 1st Division, in
April 1941. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ted was
promoted to Brigadier General and paid a visit to FDR at the
White House to bury the hatchet in support of a greater common
cause. The visit was well publicized and afterwards Ted told the
press that "this is our country, our cause and our
president." Ted's unit was sent overseas in June 1942. Their
first engagement was the invasion of Algeria. Ted's reputation as
a fighting General grew with comments in the press referring to
him as the soldier with too much guts for one man.
During the course of the war Ted's regiment
distinguished itself in battles at Sicily and Sardinia. Ted was
revered by the men under him for his courage and leadership. The
brass, on the other hand, were dissatisfied with General
Roosevelt's lack of spit and polish and what they perceived as
his utter disregard of discipline. One officer described General
Roosevelt as the most disreputable looking general he ever met,
and that he looked like the most beat up G.I. you ever saw, but
he was simply a marvelous officer.
 Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
General George Patton recorded in his diary that he "was
one of the bravest men I ever knew."
After the campaign in Sardinia, General
Roosevelt was placed in the position of Chief Liason Officer
between General Mark Clark and General Juin of the Free French
Forces, for which service he was awarded the Legion of Honor. It
was during this service that he learned of the upcoming invasion
of Europe. He wrote to several Generals asking to be reassigned
to a combat unit for the invasion. He even had his wife Eleanor
write to General Marshall. His request was finally granted by
General Omar Bradley, and General Roosevelt was assigned as
Deputy Commander of the 4th Division under Major General Raymond
Barton.
On June 6, 1944, Brigadier General Theodore
Roosevelt came ashore with the first of the assault boats landing
on Utah Beach. He led his troops off the beach, over a sea wall
and inland, where they established secure positions. He then
returned to the beach, leading other groups over the sea wall to
the secure positions over and over again. For these actions on
June 6, 1944, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
General Eisenhower recognized General Theodore
Roosevelt's ability to instill vitality into a combat unit
anddecided to give him command of the 90th Division on July
12,1944. General Theodore Roosevelt never assumed his new
command, as he died of a heart attack in his truck on the evening
of July 11,1944. He was buried in the American Cemetery in
Normandy on Bastille Day, July 14, 1944.
 Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
in his "Rough Rider" Jeep in France, 1944.
The death of Brigadier General Bro. Theodore
Roosevelt was reported at the September 6,1944 Stated
Communication. Matinecock Lodge did not meet during the summer
months, the affairs of the lodge being delegated to the master
and trustees. They obviously had sent timely messages of sympathy
to the Roosevelt family, as acknowledgements were reported from
Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. A
special communication was held on the following Wednesday,
September 13, 1944, as a Lodge of Remembrance in memory of
Brother Brigidier General Theodore Roosevelt. Prayers were
offered by Bro. Rev. Alfred J. Penney. Bro. Rev. John J. Warren
spoke of Bro. Roosevelt's brilliant military record and his
popularity with the men he commanded. Bro. Warren also read from
a letter of war correspondent Clark Lee about the virtues of Bro.
Roosevelt. DDGM R:. W:. Bro. Cyril V. Nichols served in France
with Bro. Roosevelt in World War I and spoke of many
remembrances. Bro. Nichols provided the Benediction.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr.'s leadership and his
ability to inspire men was by no means limited to his military
exploits. The Reverend Bro. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, proponent
of the Power of Positive Thinking, was greatly inspired by
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. On the occasion of his acceptance speech
for the Theodore Roosevelt Association's Distinguished Service
Medal on April 20,1985, Brother Peale told how as a young pastor
in Brooklyn in 1926 he had been invited to give the invocation at
the Memorial Day observance at Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Upon
being seated and scanning his program, Dr. Peale learned to his
surprise that he was listed to make an address to be followed by
the orator of the day, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Dr. Peale rushed up
to the chairman of the observance to say how a mistake had been
made and he just couldn't make an address. Ted Roosevelt
overheard the discussion and said to Dr. Peale, "You are a
minister of our Lord. As such, surely you have something to say
to these women. Every one of them is even now thinking of a
little boy she reared, only to have him go off to war and die in
Flanders Fields. And all these people love our country just like
you and I do. Talk to all of us out of your heart. Put your trust
in God, love these people, and you will do a fine job." Dr.
Peale made his address and afterward Ted said to him, "I
knew you could do it. All you needed was to know you could do it.
When we forget ourselves, think of others, and try to be of help
to them, we can surpass ourselves. Always remember that."
Ted Roosevelt's masonic career closely
paralleled that of his father. He never held office in the lodge,
and his greatest enjoyment in masonry was the opportunity to meet
others on an equal level. He also followed his father's pattern
of reporting to the brethren about his travels abroad and his
numerous visits to lodges throughout the world. In the middle of
the action in Europe in May 1943 Bro. Brigadier General Theodore
Roosevelt took time to write a letter of thanks to Bro. Phil
Kursman for sending his Grand Lodge dues card.
He also addressed the brethren on special
occasions such as the 1920 celebration of the anniversary of the
raising of George Washington on November 4, 1752. On that
occasion Brother Ted Roosevelt spoke about the life of Bro.
Washington, emphasizing the patience and far-sightedness he
exhibited under the stress of circumstances at that time.
At the dedication ceremonies for the Theodore
Roosevelt Memorial Window on December 8,1926, Theodore Roosevelt
Jr. spoke of his father's feelings about masonry: "My father
was a firm believer in the order as an agency to propagate the
purest principles of democracy and sturdy Americanism."
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