The most conspicuous young woman in the world
February 10, 1906
Summary
The whole world takes notice when Miss Alice Roosevelt is married because “it is not every day that the daughter of the president gets married.”
Transcription
The most conspicuous young woman in the world
The White House Wedding
Nuptials of Miss Alice Roosevelt and Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio in the East Room of the Executive Mansion on Feb 17--- The groom and His Ancestor--- Miss Roosevelt’s Interesting Career--- The most conspicuous Young Woman in the World-- Preferred a Man Rather Than a Title-- Her Piquant, Independent, and Vivacious Personality
It is not every day that the daughter of the president gets married, nor is it every president that had a daughter like Alice Roosevelt. So it is not to be wondered at that the American people- and the whole world, for that matter, are interested in the event of Feb 17th. Even the kings and emperors are sitting up and taking notice. Practicality every potentate of Europe is to send a wedding present. It is said that the pope will honor the occasion by a token of remembrance, and it is not improbable that the sultan of turkey, the empress dowager of China and the mikado of Japan may get into the game. Your Uncle Samuel has grown big enough to be the fashion, even though his republican notions are not exactly acceptable to the royalties who remain to pester the world.
Let it be said that the honor of Miss ROosevelt that she decided to marry a man rather than a title. That the man is an American is all the better. After the alliance of so many of our heiresses to princes, dukes, counts, and other weaklings with novel nicknames this is a grateful variation. This is an age of men, not of titles: of deeds, not of seemings. In America this is especially true, for ours is a land of men and of deeds, and it is well that the daughter of a president who is himself so demoncratic should thus honor the genius of her country.
Yet high society in Washington long predicted that the daughter of the White HOuse would wed a title. Rumor in that city of rumors has it that there is not an unmarried titled member of any foreign legation at the national capital that had not had designs on her. Besides, the castles of Europe are full of more of the sort. Then there is Asia. She might have been sultanate of Sulu. True, she denied that story about the sultan of many wives offering her his hand and the upper left hand corner of his heart, but others of the Taft party insist that the proposal actually took place. It is too good a tale to be snuffed out be a mere denial. Why spoil so exciting a romance by the proxy statement that this is not a fact?
Washington rumor also says-- but what does it not say?-- that Congressman Longworth had to propose seven times before he was finally accepted. There is a man after our own heart. He deserves her. All the world loves a lover and especially a lover who knows what he wants and will not take no for an answer. Lucky seven! The mystic number that had been sung by oriental poets and is held in reverence by people even further west. Never did it turn the trick in a better cause. That union, dependent on a seventh “popping of the question” by a persistent lover, should be a happy one.
ONe other thing is there that should not be overlooked. Mr. Longworth-the Hon. NIcholas Longworth-- to whom be all honor for his good taste, luck, and perseverance, hails from Ohio. Does that not solve the riddle? The state that gave to the world a Grant, a Sherman and a Sheridan; where were born a Stanton, a Howells and an Edison; that was the home of one Harrison and the birthplace of another and that was both the home and birthplace of three other presidents; the state of Corwin, Giddings, Chase, Thurman, and Taft-- to say nothing of Hanna, John, Sherman and Rockefeller! There are people who have gone so far as to say that the only thing President Roosevelt lacks is an Ohio birthplace, but if he cannot have a BUckeye birthplace, he can at least afford a BUckeye son-in-law. He can have the state related to him by matrimony if not by maternity….
The White House Wedding
Nuptials of Miss Alice Roosevelt and Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio in the East Room of the Executive Mansion on Feb 17--- The groom and His Ancestor--- Miss Roosevelt’s Interesting Career--- The most conspicuous Young Woman in the World-- Preferred a Man Rather Than a Title-- Her Piquant, Independent, and Vivacious Personality
It is not every day that the daughter of the president gets married, nor is it every president that had a daughter like Alice Roosevelt. So it is not to be wondered at that the American people- and the whole world, for that matter, are interested in the event of Feb 17th. Even the kings and emperors are sitting up and taking notice. Practicality every potentate of Europe is to send a wedding present. It is said that the pope will honor the occasion by a token of remembrance, and it is not improbable that the sultan of turkey, the empress dowager of China and the mikado of Japan may get into the game. Your Uncle Samuel has grown big enough to be the fashion, even though his republican notions are not exactly acceptable to the royalties who remain to pester the world.
Let it be said that the honor of Miss ROosevelt that she decided to marry a man rather than a title. That the man is an American is all the better. After the alliance of so many of our heiresses to princes, dukes, counts, and other weaklings with novel nicknames this is a grateful variation. This is an age of men, not of titles: of deeds, not of seemings. In America this is especially true, for ours is a land of men and of deeds, and it is well that the daughter of a president who is himself so demoncratic should thus honor the genius of her country.
Yet high society in Washington long predicted that the daughter of the White HOuse would wed a title. Rumor in that city of rumors has it that there is not an unmarried titled member of any foreign legation at the national capital that had not had designs on her. Besides, the castles of Europe are full of more of the sort. Then there is Asia. She might have been sultanate of Sulu. True, she denied that story about the sultan of many wives offering her his hand and the upper left hand corner of his heart, but others of the Taft party insist that the proposal actually took place. It is too good a tale to be snuffed out be a mere denial. Why spoil so exciting a romance by the proxy statement that this is not a fact?
Washington rumor also says-- but what does it not say?-- that Congressman Longworth had to propose seven times before he was finally accepted. There is a man after our own heart. He deserves her. All the world loves a lover and especially a lover who knows what he wants and will not take no for an answer. Lucky seven! The mystic number that had been sung by oriental poets and is held in reverence by people even further west. Never did it turn the trick in a better cause. That union, dependent on a seventh “popping of the question” by a persistent lover, should be a happy one.
ONe other thing is there that should not be overlooked. Mr. Longworth-the Hon. NIcholas Longworth-- to whom be all honor for his good taste, luck, and perseverance, hails from Ohio. Does that not solve the riddle? The state that gave to the world a Grant, a Sherman and a Sheridan; where were born a Stanton, a Howells and an Edison; that was the home of one Harrison and the birthplace of another and that was both the home and birthplace of three other presidents; the state of Corwin, Giddings, Chase, Thurman, and Taft-- to say nothing of Hanna, John, Sherman and Rockefeller! There are people who have gone so far as to say that the only thing President Roosevelt lacks is an Ohio birthplace, but if he cannot have a BUckeye birthplace, he can at least afford a BUckeye son-in-law. He can have the state related to him by matrimony if not by maternity….
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Emma Roberts
Citation
“The most conspicuous young woman in the world,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 27, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/380.