" Theodore Sr. most certainly fit the usually definition of an influential philanthropist. Exuberant and full of life, Theodore Sr. was a man larger than life. Teddy's description of his father says a lot about the man."[T]he best man I ever knew but he was the only man of whom I was ever really afraid" (5).
By all accounts, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt was a beauty. Born and raised on a Georgia plantation, "Mittie" was a southern belle eternal (5). As small, vague, and very feminine, Martha Roosevelt contrasted her husband's large and disciplined manner. Martha had exquisite tastes and was a collector of antique furniture and art. It is said that her "everything that was beautiful" stretched even the Roosevelt's ample resources (6). Finally, Martha's letters have show that she had a good sense of humor. Few Americans have had the experience of being born into a home environment such as the Roosevelt's. A balance of male seriousness and feminine humor as well as Northern vigor and Southern refinement, will most certainly breed a child strong in character (8). .
The Chinese have a saying, "May you live in interesting times" ( Ancient Chinese proverb I attribute to Michael Creighton's Disclosure). Theodore and Martha Roosevelt's certainly lived in interesting times. Five months after Teddy reached his terrible twos, the residents of 28 East Twentieth Street (and the rest of the world!) were shaken by the onset of civil war. .
War between the North and South erupted was declared on April 12, 1861. The Civil War, or War of Northern Aggression, (depending on what side of the Mason-Dixon line you were raised), brought discourse in the Roosevelt home. Theodore senior was a strong Lincoln Republican married to a Southern Belle whose family owned plantations (9). Theodore Sr. could not enlist, he had a family to care for, but he also could not stand idly by and become a bystander to history. The Roosevelt family remained strong though.
