Kermit Roosevelt | |
|---|---|
 Kermit Roosevelt in 1926 | |
| Born | (1889-10-10)October 10, 1889 Oyster Bay, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 4, 1943(1943-06-04) (aged 53) Fort Richardson,Alaska, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation(s) | Soldier, businessman, writer, explorer |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
|
| Parent(s) | Theodore Roosevelt Edith Roosevelt |
| Family | SeeRoosevelt family |
Kermit Roosevelt Sr.MC (October 10, 1889 – June 4, 1943) was an American businessman, soldier, explorer, and writer. A son ofTheodore Roosevelt, the26th President of the United States, Kermit graduated from Harvard College, served in both World Wars (with both theBritish andU.S. Armies), and explored two continents with his father. He fought a lifelong battle with depression and died by suicide while serving in the US Army inAlaska duringWorld War II.[1]
Kermit was born atSagamore Hill, the family estate inOyster Bay, New York, the second son of Theodore Roosevelt, (1858–1919) andEdith Kermit Carow (1861–1948). He had an older half-sisterAlice Lee Roosevelt (1884–1980), from his father's first marriage toAlice Hathaway Lee (1861–1884), an elder brother,Theodore III (1887–1944), a younger sister,Ethel Carow Roosevelt (1891–1977), and two younger brothers;Archibald Bulloch "Archie" Roosevelt (1894–1979) andQuentin Roosevelt (1897–1918).
As a child, he had little resistance to illness and infection. He had a flair for language, however, and read avidly. He showed a writing talent that led to recording his experiences inWorld War I in a book.
After attending theGroton School, he enrolled atHarvard College. In 1909, as a freshman, he and his father (recently out of office as president)—both of whom loved nature and outdoor sports—went on ayear-long expedition in Africa funded by theSmithsonian Institution. After this trip and a swing through Europe, Roosevelt returned toHarvard and completed four years of study in two and a half years, graduating with the Class of 1912. Like his father, while at Harvard he was a member of thePorcellian Club, a student social organization.
Roosevelt became active in theBoone and Crockett Club, a wildlife conservation organization that had been co-founded by his father. One commentator wrote that Kermit embodied the ideals of the club perhaps more purely than anyone, including his father.[2]
One of Theodore Roosevelt's most popular books,Through the Brazilian Wilderness, recounted the expedition into theAmazon Basin Brazilian jungle in 1913–14. The father and son went on what would become known as theRoosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition, exploring the Brazilian jungle with explorer ColonelCândido Rondon. During this expedition, they explored theRiver of Doubt, later renamedRio Roosevelt in honor of the President, as well as a branch of that river named the Rio Kermit in his honor. The source of the river had been discovered by Rondon earlier, but it had never been fully explored or mapped.[3]
At the time of the expedition, Roosevelt was newly engaged to Belle Wyatt Willard, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Spain. His mother Edith was concerned about her husband's health and the difficulties of a new expedition, and asked Kermit to accompany his father. He did so, reluctantly delaying his marriage.
The scope of the expedition expanded beyond the original plans, leaving the participants inadequately prepared for a trip tracing the River of Doubt from its source through hundreds of kilometers of unchartedrainforest. The climate and terrain, inadequate gear and food, and two deaths (one drowning, the other murder) turned a scientific expedition into an ordeal. Roosevelt's father contractedmalaria and a serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound, weakening him to the point that he considered taking a fatal dose of morphine rather than being a burden to his companions. Roosevelt told his father that he was bringing him back literally "dead or alive" and if he died, he would be an even bigger burden to the expedition. Although Roosevelt contracted malaria as well, he downplayed his sickness to savequinine for TR, nearly dying himself before the physician insisted on giving him the medication by injection. Roosevelt's determination and his rope- and canoe-handling skills were instrumental in saving his father's life. Nonetheless, TR was plagued by flareups of malaria and inflammation so severe that they required hospitalization.[4]
Although Kermit and TR faced skepticism about their claims of navigating a completely uncharted river over 1000 km long, they eventually silenced their critics through TR's oratory and his popular book,Through the Brazilian Wilderness. The 1913–14 expedition was later recounted inThe River of Doubt byCandice Millard (Doubleday 2005).
After the Amazon trip, in 1914 Kermit married Belle Wyatt Willard, daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain,Joseph Edward Willard. They had four children:Kermit Roosevelt Jr.,Joseph Willard Roosevelt, Belle Wyatt "Clochette", and Dirck. His daughter, Clochette Roosevelt, marriedJohn Gorham Palfrey, who was dean ofColumbia College and a member of theUnited States Atomic Energy Commission.[5]
From 1914 to 1916, Roosevelt was assistant manager forNational City Bank inBuenos Aires.
In 1917, as he was about to be transferred to a Russian branch, the U.S. entered the World War. He attended the Plattsburg School for officers from May to July 1917 but resigned from the U.S. Army to join the British Army. On August 22, 1917, Roosevelt was appointed an honorarycaptain in the British Army.[6] He saw hard fighting in the Near East, later transferring to the United States Army. While his other brothers had had summer training atPlattsburgh, New York, Roosevelt had missed out on this training.
Roosevelt joined theBritish Army to fight in theMesopotamian campaign ofWorld War I. He was attached to the 14th Light Armoured Motor Battery of theMachine Gun Corps, but the British High Command decided they could not risk his life and so they made him an officer in charge of transport (Ford Model T cars). Within months of being posted to Mesopotamia, he mastered spoken as well as written Arabic and was often relied upon as a translator with the locals. He was awarded aMilitary Cross on August 26, 1918.[7]
Roosevelt relinquished his British commission on April 28, 1918, and was transferred to theAEF in France.[8] In 1918, he learned that his youngest brotherQuentin, a pilot, had been shot down over France and had been buried by theGermans with full military honors.[9]
He was commissioned a captain in the United States Army on May 12, 1918, and commandedBattery C, 7th Artillery of the1st Division. He participated in theMeuse-Argonne Offensive near the end of the war. He returned to the United States on March 25, 1919, and was discharged from the Army two days later.[10]
After the war, Roosevelt went into business; he founded the Roosevelt Steamship Company and theUnited States Lines. He continued to enjoy outdoor activities with his brothers. In 1919, he joined the Empire State Society of theSons of the American Revolution, to which both his father and elder brother belonged.[1]
In 1925, Roosevelt accompanied his brotherTed on a hunting expedition across the Himalayas, over uncharted mountain passes rising from theVale of Kashmir through the ancientSilk Route into China, in search of the legendary bighorn wild sheep calledOvis poli. He and his brother Ted documented the trip in their bookEast of the Sun and West of the Moon. Several trophies collected during this expedition are on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. This expedition, financed by Museum trustee James Simpson, is sometimes called the"James Simpson-Roosevelt Asiatic Expedition of the Field Museum of Natural History".[11]
In 1928–1929, Kermit Roosevelt and his brother Ted were members of theKelley-Roosevelts Asiatic Expedition. The Roosevelt brothers told the story of their part in the expedition in their bookTrailing the Giant Panda, in which they shot and killed a raregiant panda, which at the time was thought to be extinct. The discovery of the animal turned the panda into a big-game animal prized by hunters and a target for those seeking to steal cubs to display in American zoos. By the late 1930s, the panda was poised to disappear.[12]
Partly out of regret for the consequences of the panda hunt, Roosevelt and his brother Ted began working to shift attitudes in the scientific community. Where once scientists hunted and killed endangered animals in the name of biological discovery, Ted and Kermit advocated for reformed practices. Kermit was president of theAudubon Society from 1935 to 1937, where he argued for the preservation of bison and for the protection of a grove of Sitka spruce near the entrance toYellowstone National Park.[13] He also served as vice president of theNew York Zoological Society from 1937 to 1939.[14]
By October 14, 1939, when Britain was at war with Germany, Roosevelt had negotiated a commission as aSecond Lieutenant in theMiddlesex Regiment with the assistance of his friend,Winston Churchill, who was by thenFirst Lord of the Admiralty.[15]: 229 [16] His first task was to lead a contingent of British volunteers for theWinter War in Finland.[15]: 230 According to a contemporary story published inPicture Post, he had resigned from the British Army to lead the expedition. Among those photographed in the article are John Hurman and Edward Graham. Hurman describes himself as half-Irish and half-English and going as a pilot. His friend, using the pseudonym Edward Graham, also a pilot, was White Russian emigre Prince Emanuel Galitzine the son of PrinceVladimir Galitzine.[17] However, before the expedition could be launched,Finland made peace with Russia. Roosevelt served with distinction in a raid intoNorway and was later sent to North Africa, where there was little action at the time.[15]: 230 While in Norway, he was injured during theBattle of Narvik.[18] He resumed drinking and was debilitated by an enlargedliver complicated by a resurgence ofmalaria. At the end of 1940, he returned to England and was discharged from the army on health grounds on May 2, 1941, by which time he had once again reached the rank of captain.[15]: 230 [19] Roosevelt appealed this discharge all the way to the British Prime Minister,Winston Churchill, who upheld the medical discharge.[citation needed]
When he returned to the US, he turned to drinking to forget his problems. His wife enlisted the help of his cousin, PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt, who ordered theFBI to track him down, and he was brought back to his family. In late April 1942, his brotherArchibald sought to have him committed to a sanitarium for a year; at month's end, he agreed to a four-month stay at an institution inHartford.[20] To extricate him from his current situation, the President gave him a commission as a major in theUnited States Army, and had him transferred and posted toFort Richardson,Alaska, where he worked as an intelligence officer and helped establish a territorial occupation militia ofInupiat andAleut individuals. He was a member ofVeterans of Foreign Wars Post 1685 inAnchorage, Alaska.
Roosevelt died in Alaska on June 4, 1943, in his room atFort Richardson, from suicide by a gunshot to the head.[15]: 232 [21] He was discovered by Dr. Sanford Couch Monroe, who later filed the autopsy report. His death was reported to his mother, Edith, as a heart attack.[22] He was interred inFort Richardson National Cemetery near Anchorage,[22] where a memorial stone gateway was erected in his honor in 1949.[23]
Three towns in the United States are named after Kermit Roosevelt:Kermit, Texas (he had visitedWinkler County, Texas, a few months earlier to huntantelope),[24]Kermit, West Virginia,[25] and Kermit, North Dakota. TheLuzon-class repair shipUSS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) was also named in his honor.
There is an annual lecture series given in the United States by aBritish Army general officer and in the United Kingdom by aU.S. Army general officer named in memory of Kermit Roosevelt.[26]
Kermit Roosevelt appears as a minor character in theWilbur Smith novelAssegai on safari in East Africa with his father.
Kermit Roosevelt appears in the second episode of 1992'sThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series.
He also appears fleetingly (in a dream) inWilliam Boyd's novelAn Ice-Cream War.
The bookRoosevelt's Beast byLouis Bayard is a fictitious story of the Rondon-Roosevelt expedition, narrated by Kermit Roosevelt.
Kermit Roosevelt appears as a main character in theJames Ross historical fictionHunting Teddy Roosevelt about the safari in East Africa with his father.
Kermit Roosevelt appears in the fiction bookThe President's Daughter byKimberly Brubaker Bradley which is based on Kermit's sister Ethel Roosevelt Derby and their time in the White House.
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