and stacey cordery is the author of a biography of alice roosevelt. welcome, the both of you. e 1900 election. it does not last very long because an assassin has other things in mind for president mckinley. tell the story that brings the roosevelts in that very moment momentous time into the white house. >> it is traumatic because theodore roosevelt is climbing the mountains in the adirondacks when he hears the news mckinley was shot. he comes to buffalo. at first, it looks like mckinley will survive. then, blood poisoning sets in. then t.r. comes to washington. nation.er a mourning it is a national tragedy. it is hard to come to the presidency because of an assassination. he reassures america and turns out to be a very successful president. >> a quick snapshot of how much experience he brings to the job, he was 42 years old. >> very young but he had a lot of experience behind him in government. >> new york state assemblyman, assistant secretary of the navy, civil service commissioner, new york city police commissioner. >> governor of new york. >> politics defined his life? >>

even though alice roosevelt but she confessed in her diary at last said she no longer has lost for me. at last she ran away with the life of another diplomat. you might be surprised that he didn't meet as mrs. roosevelt would have thought. he was sent to russia and he was -- she went up in france and he became one of the most disrespected and fasteners and year out but he didn't have anything to do with that. among the lafayette and ancestors many of whom had died in a stone's throw in the guillotine during the french revolution. it was occurring to diplomatic always been. there were public perceptions and private houses. very few among the embassies. more for the lack of space than anything else they were crammed in the houses. people come in the public perception that and they would run them out the back because they were so crowded. some hostesses' announced weekly most public perception, some advertisers dhaka reception would be every tuesday for the season. secretaries, school girls and boys, all assembled on the sidewalks to be admitted promptly at 2 p.m.. they were addressed an

there's the famous incident of alice roosevelt longworth and er child deborah, which is amed, or she wanted to name it deborah, it becomes pauline, but that's the daughter of senator eborah, a famous guy. and franklin roosevelt cheating on eleanor roosevelt in 1917. the rich have their prerogatives and they take them. >> one of our viewers on facebook i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks -- asked, how did mrs. harding respond to rumors of harding's wandering eyes? >> that's an interesting question. we'll have some debate about the extra marital relationships harding had. he had an affair with carrie phillips. old friends. they were both -- the phillips and hardings were all related in a connected way in ohio. and what happens over time is warring falls in love with carrie and florence finds out about this. sometime between 1905, when florence gets sick for the first time, and 1911, she discover this is affair. they were still friends, they were still vacationing together. your caller asks how was this happening? and how did florence react to this? well, not very ha

even alice roosevelt was one time the object of his arkansas door, but she confessed in her diary at last, charlie says he no longer has lust for me. [laughter] at last, charlie ran away with the wife of another dip promat. you might be -- diplomat. you might have been surprised that he didn't meet ruin. he didn't at all. he was sent to russia, did exceptional work. he was, he went up, up, up in france. he became one of the most respected ambassadors in europe, diplomats in europe. he was, in fact, eventually shot by a woman, but it didn't have anything -- [laughter] it didn't have anything to do with that. it was a fascist who hated him, and she shot him on one of the bridges in paris, and he lived. he lies today in a cemetery in paris beside his wife and among his lafayette ancestors, many of whom had died within a stone's throw of the guillotine during the french revolution. entertaining here in another massachusetts -- and in other massachusetts avenue houses had public receptions in the private houses. more for lack of space, i think, than anything else. they were crammed and re

i am traveling with alice roosevelt. instantaneously, the station madison -- stationmaster got her on the train. the taft family teased her about that. was there a lot of traveling going on at that time? point with trains and steamships, it was more common. was oftenary of war called the secretary of peace in the newspapers because he was going and putting down conflicts in cuba. he was more of a peacemaker than he was focusing on defense. there is a great story about his time at secretary of war when the empress of japan gives helen a tapestry. she loves it, she wants to keep it. taft says that we have to give it back to the smithsonian. she wanted to keep it so she takes it to roosevelt. roosevelt says, you can keep it. that shows the difference between taft and roosevelt. taft was very much by the law. roosevelt would push the envelope a little bit. >> that become a fundamental difference -- became the fundamental difference between how they do the president's -- viewed the presidents. it had to be explicitly allowed

roosevelt is our topic and you're on c-span. >> thank you very much. i would like to ask you what was the relationship like between eleanor and her cousin alice.d also another question there, is it true that franklin was seeing lucy that alice used to invite them to her home behind eleanor's back? >> no, the second question. that is part of the folk lor that surrounds the -- the franklin and eleanor sort of carrying on, so to speak. it was -- alice did not like eleanor. she just did not -- she spread wicked barbed stories about her. she would say, well, you know, you can't help but feel merry -- feel sorry for franklin because she was married to eleanor. she would say that franklin contracted polio because he had syphilis because he was married to eleanor. so alice was, as my mother would say, a piece of work. and the way to conceptualize alice is imagine you're walking into the parlor and you're there for tea and she will pass the sofa and say please come sit for me and there would be a needle pointed pillow on the sofa and say if you don't have anything nice to say, come sit next to me. >> what was teddy roosevelt's reaction with teddy roose