Lost in the Shadow of Fame
Lost in the Shadow
of Fame
The Neglected Story of Kermit Roosevelt; A Gallant and Tragic American
William E. Lemanski
Lost in the Shadow of Fame
Copyright © 2011, by William E. Lemanski.
Cover copyright © 2011 by Sunbury Press, Inc.
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FIRST SUNBURY PRESS EDITION
Printed in the United States of America
January 2012
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-62006-011-7
Mobipocket format (Kindle) ISBN: 978-1- 62006-012-4
ePub format (Nook) ISBN: 978-1-62006-013-1
Published by:
Sunbury Press
Camp Hill, PA
www.sunburypress.com
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania USA
For the vilified yet virtuous, who
wore the uniform many years ago.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter I - The Early Years
Chapter II - Safari in Africa
Chapter III - Stumbling Through Misery on the River of Doubt
Chapter IV - Settling Down in Civilization
Chapter V - Action in the Great War
Chapter VI - Conducting Postwar Business
Chapter VII - Adventures in Distant Lands
Chapter VIII - Returning to Combat: World War II
Chapter IX - Descent into Oblivion
Chapter X - A Speculation on Human Tragedy
Epilogue
Additional Reading
Illustrations
Kermit and Theodore Roosevelt
Kermit and Theodore Roosevelt on Safari
Route of African Safari
River of Doubt Expedition Members
River of Doubt Expedition Members Sharing Meal
Route of River of Doubt
Kermit as Businessman
Kermit and Belle Roosevelt
Army Service Pistol
Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (Kim)
Mohammad Mosaddegh
USS Kermit Roosevelt
Preface
When considering the Roosevelt dynasty, Theodore, Franklin, Eleanor, and even the sharp-witted and acerbic Alice come to mind. However, Theodore’s second son, Kermit, both a brilliant and tragic member of the Long Island Roosevelts has generally been neglected from the popular history of that illustrious twentieth-century American family. While all of the Roosevelt boys were exceptional and also forgotten in the public’s contemporary memory, Kermit held a special place within the family and perhaps imposed a greater influence on his parents than any other member of the family.
Kermit was the embodiment of a very disparate combination of character traits that encompassed his father’s love for adventure, courage and physical vigor along with his mother’s sensitivity and intellect. But unfortunately he was afflicted by another Roosevelt trait: severe depression and alcoholism.
Kermit was a multi-lingual intellectual, author, soldier, big-game hunter, explorer, world traveler, writer and corporate executive. Unlike his gruff extroverted father, he was a somewhat moody, introspective and deep thinker who could display the contrasting traits of dreamy sensitivity along with, when necessary, the action of a courageous combat soldier and rugged pursuer of blood sports. In a letter to his daughter Ethel while on safari in 1909 Africa, Theodore commented about his companion Kermit:
“It is rare for a boy with his refined tastes and his genuine appreciation of literature - and of so much else - to be also an exceptionally bold and hardy sportsman. He is still altogether too reckless; but by my hen-with-one-chicken attitude, I think I shall get him out of Africa uninjured; and his keenness, cool nerve, horsemanship, hardiness, endurance, and good eyesight make him a really good wilderness hunter.”
On many occasions throughout his life, Kermit displayed great courage in the face of personal danger equal to the many harrowing exploits of his famous father. In fact, during Theodore’s famous exploration of the Amazon’s “River of Doubt”, Kermit actually saved the life of our twenty-sixth president.
Having lived through the first half of the twentieth century, he participated in many of the major events that formed the present day United States. In 1898, the Spanish-American War along with the acquisition of the Philippines and Hawaii established the country as an imperial nation. President Roosevelt’s dispatch of the “Great White Fleet” on its around-the-world tour in 1908 and Roosevelt’s mediation of the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 ending the Russo-Japanese War established the nation as a world power; laying the groundwork for the United States becoming the world’s preeminent superpower by the end of the twentieth-century. Kermit had a front row seat to these events as well as participating in both the First and Second World Wars and personally suffering financial loss as a corporate executive in between the wars during the Great Depression.
Despite his many adventurous exploits and achievements, Kermit was unable to cope with the same demons that ended the life of his uncle, Theodore’s brother and Eleanor Roosevelt’s father, Elliot. He eventually succumbed to the same alcoholic horror ending in middle-age (as officially recorded) in a violent, self inflicted death. After leading a vibrant, adventurous life, Kermit’s decline into alcoholism broke his mother’s heart. She died in 1948 never learning the true story of his death. Which was also not revealed to the public by the family for another thirty-years following his demise.
My interest in pursuing the writing of this book and selection of the title is based upon two observations. As an admiring student of Theodore Roosevelt for many years, I noticed Kermit continually moving in and out of much of the voluminous material published both by and about Theodore‘s personal and public life. Kermit’s presence and level of influence on his father’s life appeared many more times and with a higher level of significance than any of his siblings and arguably anyone else during Roosevelt’s life, except perhaps Theodore Senior and his wife, Edith. Of his four male children, Kermit was the one who accompanied Theodore as both companion and protector on lengthy and dangerous expeditions to both Africa and South America. Of the family members, Kermit was his father’s confidant. And also his major worry within the family circle.
This frequency of appearance and involvement on the one hand, offset by the limited and almost nonexistent published biographical material on the enigmatic Kermit, puzzled me. The conflicts within the official documents pertaining to Kermit’s death and the potential for evil, unscrupulous conduct at the highest levels of government simply add to the mystique of Kermit’s story. Having lived a fascinating and complex life while engaged in some of the major events of the first half of the twentieth-century, surely he has been lost in the shadow of his family’s fame and was worthy of a dedicated, published story if not a combined Hollywood adventure and mystery drama.
My other reason for pursuing and recording the various exploits of Kermit’s life is my fascination with persons in history who have displayed the generally incompatible character traits of both action-oriented and yet sensitive, intellectual lives.
My goal is to introduce the many fascinating and heretofore fragmented detai
ls of Kermit’s life with the expectation that the reader, once informed about the life of this extraordinary yet tragic American, will also share my fascination and ponder my speculations.
I am indebted to many for the tedious review of the numerous draft versions and subsequent refinements and additions to Kermit’s story as it developed. Bob Quinn, editor at the Hudson Valley’s Straus Newspaper Company, scrutinized the manuscript as only a skilled professional could. Surely Bob wore-down many pencils addressing my endless struggle with and misuse of commas, apostrophes, and the other quirky little blots of ink that comprise the printed page. Additional thanks to editor, Allyson Gard of the Sunbury Press for many insightful comments during the editing process. My wife Pat provided endless input for the duration with her sharp eye for misspelled words and run-on sentences.
Others who painstakingly picked over and commented on various iterations of the manuscript were Nassau County Police Detective Lieutenant (Ret.) Robert Lucas, Raymond Peretin and Vincent Longo.
Valuable detailed information was gleaned from the following sources: Smithsonian Institution; Explorers Club of New York; the personal diary of George K. Cherrie in the American Museum of Natural History; Harvard University Library; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library; Library of Congress; National Archives; the Groton School’s Archivist, Douglas V.D. Brown and Robert Alexander, Alan Simcock and Judith Lappin of the United Kingdom who provided historic details on the 14th Light Armoured Motor Battery (LAMB) in World War I Mesopotamia and the Liddell Hart Center for Military Archives at King’s College, London.
Any factual errors, omissions or misstatements in this book are solely the fault of the author and whenever or wherever they may exist are published with his deep regret and apology.
Bill Lemanski
Tuxedo Park, New York
October 7, 2010
Introduction
He was considered Theodore Roosevelt’s most sensitive child, yet it was Kermit who accompanied his father as companion and protector on two dangerous and extraordinary expeditions to remote and uncharted lands at the turn of the Twentieth Century. While in the unknown jungles of Amazonia, braving frightful suffering and starvation, he actually saved the former President’s life.
He was a complex combination of character traits. He immersed himself in literature, languages and natural history but he was compelled to engage in adventure and war with an unbridled obsession.
He distinguished himself in World War I, serving with the British in the Middle-East where he skirmished with Arab bandits and Turkish soldiers; on one occasion even liberating a Turkish officer and freeing his harem. His extraordinary language skills were a particular advantage to his British Army superiors.
Kermit’s intellect enabled him to complete his education at Harvard in two and a half years; he later developed some of the largest and most important shipping companies in America following the Great War. Even if he were not the son of a remarkable President – or perhaps because of it - while not engaged in international shipping, he traveled the world securing rare and unknown species of animals for America’s great natural history museums.
He crossed paths with Lawrence of Arabia and befriended such notable characters as Denys Finch Hatton and Rudyard Kipling. He hobnobbed with international sportsman and high-ranking military officers and maintained a personal friendship with Winston Churchill.
In the days before the Internet and satellites and cable television, intelligence came from personal conversations. With his wealthy friend, William Vincent Astor, Kermit even conducted a clandestine, amateur spy organization during the Fascist’s rise to power in Europe and Asia. The group met periodically in a secret New York brownstone with many prominent international travelers where they compiled random intelligence information on world events for Kermit’s cousin, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Traveling with Astor on his yacht or commiserating with many of the dignitaries he’d met on his journeys, Kermit would provide FDR with an informal, but valuable sense of the world.
However, despite his growing wealth and phenomenal success in the shipping industry during the 1920s, as with many talented business leaders of the period, the 1929 Stock Market crash severely affected his financial stability.
Unable to wait for the United States to enter World War II, he once again volunteered with the British securing a commission from the King. Suffering from his many physical ailments contracted during years of rough wilderness travel, coupled with a severe alcohol affliction, he was cashiered from the British Army after serving valiantly in the debacle of the Norway campaign.
Upon his return to the United States, he would beseech his cousin for a military commission. But concern for Kermit’s aberrant behavior led FDR to arrange a posting in the far reaches of Alaska, perhaps to avoid a scandal that would hurt the President and threaten national security.
But for all of Kermit’s many gifts, there was a darker side to Kermit Roosevelt. Later, at the behest of FDR, the FBI would watch him for more than a month as he disappeared while he lived in a hotel and carried on an affair with a shady woman. His mounting indiscretions became a major problem for the Roosevelt Administration.
And then there is the manner of his death in 1943 which the New York Times reported the cause and location unknown, although presumably it was natural. For two-decades the circumstances of his death were concealed by the government. Even into the 1970s there were efforts to suppress any information.
Was it suicide, which eventually was released as the official cause of death? Or was there a more sinister reason for his demise? A thorough review of the classified government documents will reveal numerous inconsistencies and improbabilities. One report says he is missing a finger from his left hand; another says it’s a missing finger on his right hand. Much conflict exists in the testimony taken from military personnel with no follow-up or corroborating testimony. Even the official time of death conflicts between the autopsy report and the Army’s investigation.
The Army rushed to expedite and close the case with no forensics, no ballistics investigation and no follow-up questioning of witnesses. Almost thirty-years later when a general officer requested information on “how he died,” the government replied “Died as a result of self inflicted gunshot wound…this information is not to be released.”
Who was this multidimensional, brilliant man? Perhaps as Kermit himself wrote: “…it is when men are off in the wilds that they show themselves as they really are.”
Sadly, the contemporary memory of this enigmatic and gifted American is as isolated and forgotten as his many achievements. As a member of one of our country’s most notable political families, he lived an extraordinary life of great success and accomplishments. His tragic decline and mysterious demise, foreshadowing a possible government cover-up makes his story all the more poignant.
Chapter I – The Early Years
“When Nature wants to drill a man
And thrill a man,
And skill a man,
When Nature wants to mould a man
To play the noblest part;”
“When Nature Wants a Man” Angela Margan
The latter 19th and early 20th Century, still steeped in Victorian virtue, was an auspicious time to come of age for a person with a romantic character and adventurous spirit. Exploration of the remote regions of the globe was a major endeavor for the western nations as many of the blank map spaces previously depicted as terra incognita were now being filled-in by the courage, sacrifice and endurance of wilderness exploration. The major world powers were locked in a struggle for colonial acquisition and, prior to the awakening horrors of the Great War, were still steeped in boundless confidence, romanticism and greed; spreading tentacles of influence across the wild and isolated regions of the world. The United States was a growing and dynamic nation, fast becoming a world power, having recently spanned the east and west coasts with communications, transportation and settleme
nt.
Science, technology and the advances of the Industrial Revolution were marching ahead as never before. Application of the new internal combustion engine provided a reduction in labor along with dazzling improvements in manufacturing and production. The introduction of the automobile and airplane were reducing both travel distance and time. The expanding usage of electricity in urban areas ended gas lighting in both street and home and enabled the development of many modern homemaking conveniences. International voice communications became a reality with the laying of the transatlantic cable while medicine and the science of physics leaped forward with the discovery of x-ray and the theory of relativity. Countless other dazzling innovations and discoveries would surface in the span of one or two generations. This was indeed, a breath-taking and exciting period to experience, participate in and savor.
v
On Thursday, October 10, 1889, Kermit Roosevelt, the second son of then U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, was born at Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. The name Kermit was derived from his mother’s maiden name, Edith Kermit Carow, the name originating in honor of her great-aunt’s husband, Robert Kermit. Edith was a quiet, serious and studious woman who loved to read. Fortunately for the family, she also had a skill for managing money, which in later years became a critical asset that offset his father’s lack of financial acuity and failure in his business enterprises.
Edith was in many respects, the opposite of Kermit’s father. She was quiet and demure while Theodore was outspoken and boisterous. Having attended finishing school at Miss Comstock’s School1 in New York, she was a feminine and reserved Victorian Lady whereas as a youngster, he was schooled at home and was a bundle of energy, movement, and noise.