Quentin Roosevelt (1897-1918)

Figure 1.-- Quentin was probably his father's favorite, as is often the case of the youngest. This is a detail from one of the best-known photographs of the Roosevelt family which we believe was taken in 1903. Quentin is wearing a tunic suit. All of the Roosevelt boys enlisted in World War I. Quetin was killed as a fighter pilot in aerial combat over France. The President was never the same and died a year later.

Quentin was the Roosevelt's youngest child. He was was also born in Washington DC before his father became president. Quentin was probably his father's favorite, as is often the case of the youngest. Quentin and Archie becamne very famous as the press reported their White House exploits in great detail. All of the Roosevelt boys enlisted in World War I. Quetin was killed as a fighter pilot in aerial combat over France. The President and Edith were crushed. This great personal tragedy caused his father to rethink his attitude toward war in his later years.

Parents

Childhood

Quentin, the youngest child, was also born in Washington DC. Quentin was probably his father's favorite, as is often the case of the youngest. His father was concerned that he was a little "soft". He called him "Qunitikins". Quentin and Archie becamne very famous as the press reported their White House exploits in great detail.

Childhood Clothes

Quentin and Archie are the best chroinicled of the Rossisevelt childrem because they were the youngest. As a result they were the subject of enormnous press interest. And just as the Roosevelts moved into the White House, the technology of photo lithougraphy had reduced the price of printing photoigraphs, thus you begin to see photograpohs in both newspsapers and magazines. Quentin was often depoicted wearng sailoir suits ad tunic suits. Thus the public was delighted with images of the boys. We see Quentin wearng a tunic suit. Colorized postcards usually show the tunic suit as yellow. We notice a chromolithograph showing the tunic as pink. We are not sure what the actual color was.

Education

The President's Letters

President Roosevelt's letters are full of comments about his children. There are also many letters to them. The letters tell of intimacies with the children as well as interesting comments on world decelopments and meetings with foreign dignataries.

Oyster Bay, Aug. 18, 1906: DEAR KERMIT, Quentin is the same cheerful pagan philosopher as ever. He swims like a little duck; rides well; stands quite severe injuries without complaint, and is really becoming a manly little fellow. Archie is devoted to the Why (sailboat). The other day while Mother and I were coming in, rowing, we met him sailing out, and it was too cunning for anything. The Why looks exactly like a little black wooden shoe with a sail in it, and the crew consisted of Archie, of one of his beloved playmates, a seaman from the Sylph, and of Skip very alert and knowing.

World War I (1917-18)

Presdent Roosevelt had a romantic notion of war. The Spanish American War and the Rough Riders charge up San Juan (Kettle) Hill was a very different experience than the slaughter and trench warfare of World War I. Roosevelt wrote admiringly of war and delivered belicose speeches criticising President Wilson for keeping America out of World War I. All of the Roosevelt boys volunteered and served in the military after America finally entered the War (1917). Quentin became a fighter pilot. Flying was glamerous. It was also virtually the most dangerous service imaginable. I do not think that either Quentin or his father were fully aware of the dangers involved and the high probability that he would not survive the War. Quentin was tragically killed in aerial combat over the trenches in France (1918). His parents had just received word of his heroics in the air over France when the next day they learned that he had been killed. The President and Edith were crushed.

After the War

Quintin's death was shattering for the Roosevelts. The President was heard to cry "Quintikins, Quintikins," afterward. His father, grievously afflicted, wrote this tribute to his son: "Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die, and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joys of life and the duty of life. Both life and death are part of the same Great Adventure." Roosevelt was never quite the same after Quintin's death. One wonders how this must have affected his view of war. He died not long afterwards (1919).

Sources

Wead, Doug. All the President's Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Familirs (Atria: New York, 2003), 456p.