Book Talk: Edward F. O’Keefe — The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his senior thesis for Harvard in 1880 that women ought to be paid equal to men and have the option of keeping their maiden names upon marriage. It’s little surprise he’d be a feminist, given the women he grew up with.
His mother, Mittie, was witty and decisive, a Southern belle raising four young children in New York while her husband spent long stretches away with the Union Army. Theodore’s college sweetheart and first wife, Alice–so vivacious she was known as Sunshine–steered her beau away from science (he’d roam campus with taxidermy specimen in his pockets) and towards politics. Older sister Bamie would soon become her brother’s key political strategist and advisor; journalists called her Washington, DC, home “the little White House.” Younger sister Conie served as her brother’s press secretary before the role existed, slipping stories of his heroics in Cuba and his rambunctious home life to reporters to create the legend of the Rough Rider we remember today. And Edith–Theodore’s childhood playmate and second wife–would elevate the role of presidential spouse to an American institution, curating both the White House and her husband’s legacy.
A dazzling and lyrical look at one America’s most significant presidents as we’ve never seen him before, The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt celebrates five extraordinary yet unsung women who opened the door to the American Century and pushed Theodore Roosevelt through it.
Edward F. O’Keefe is the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation. He previously spent two decades in broadcast and digital media, during which time he received a Primetime Emmy Award for his work with Anthony Bourdain, two Webby Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award for ABC News coverage of 9/11. A former fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, he graduated with honors from Georgetown University. He was born in North Dakota and lives in New York with his wife, daughter, and son.
O’Keefe will be in conversation with Susan Page, the Washington Bureau chief of USA Today, is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author. Her books include Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power and The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, both New York Times bestsellers. Her biography of Barbara Walters, The Rulebreaker, is being published by Simon & Schuster in April 2024. Susan has covered eleven presidential elections, interviewed the past ten presidents, and reported from six continents. She has won every journalism award given specifically for White House coverage and served as president of the White House Correspondents Association and of the Gridiron Club, the oldest association of journalists in Washington. In 2020, she moderated the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. A native of Wichita, Kansas, she received a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern and a master’s from Columbia. She and husband Carl Leubsdorf have two sons, Ben and Will.
