Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World by Hugh Brewster Read Free Book Online Page A

began on April 8, 1908, and it wasn’t long before Archie had endeared himself to President Theodore Roosevelt, joining him for vigorous games of tennis and on horseback jaunts in Rock Creek Park. The president soon put Archie in charge of the White House stables, including the care of his own horses. The two men also bonded over their shared Southern heritage—Roosevelt’s mother had been from Georgia—and soon the ebullient Teddy would be styling Archie and himself as “two old Southern gentlemen” as they swigged mint juleps in their tennis clothes and made jibes about New England Yankees.
    First Lady Edith Roosevelt, too, found Archie to be an amiable addition to the White House staff and a suitable escort to take her to the theater or social functions when the president was engaged. In late July she invited him to join the family for a few days at Sagamore Hill, their summer retreat on Oyster Bay, Long Island, and it was here that Archie was virtually assumed into the Roosevelt family. In four letters to his mother. Archie describes balmy days at the “summer White House” with “endless tennis and swimming and boating and riding … and I am keen for it.”
    Archie’s high spirits made him popular with the six Roosevelt children, and he describes one family swim after tennis where “everyone joined in the water fight and sides were chosen to see who could clear the float [swim raft].” When Archie climbed out of the water, his leg was bleeding from scratches inflicted by the barnacles under the raft. The president asked Archie how this had happened and he jokingly replied that another guest, a wealthy young New Englander from the State Department named William “Billy” Phillips, was responsible. Roosevelt hooted loudly and later announced to a group of visitors that “Phillips had worn his spurs in the water and that I [Archie] had said that if Phillips was a gentleman he would cut his nails.” Archie went on to describe how Phillips, who was “the most ultra-type of a cultured Bostonian, could see no humor in the remark at all.”
    Billy Phillips and his “water spurs” became a running gag that continued even after their return to the White House. That October, Archie decided to repay his hostess by inviting her and her daughter Ethel to a lunch at his home. As soon as Theodore Roosevelt got wind of this, he invited himself along—instantly making it an occasion of greater import since the president rarely dined outside the White House. Despite his claim that bachelorhood was “a miserable existence,” Archie actually managed the domestic details of his life with considerable aplomb. He kept a well-furnished home staffed by a cook and Filipino houseboys, with rooms that he rented to other bachelors. Archie describes the planning of the presidential luncheon in loving detail to his mother—from the table setting (place mats rather than a tablecloth) to the planning of the Southern-style menu and the selection of the other guests. One of these would be the ultra-refined New Englander from the Sagamore Hill visit, Billy Phillips. During the soup course, Archie (with the president’s encouragement) had arranged for Phillips to be served a bowl of water in which were placed a pair of spurs with a scroll attached. Phillips gamely unrolled the scroll, which announced:
GEORGIA recognizes New England’s right to set a new fashion in warfare, and in token of such recognition Mr. William Phillips of Massachusetts is hereby created KNIGHT of the WATER SPURS by direction of the President with the consent and advice of his Aides.
     
    The stunt was a huge success, as was the entire luncheon, and the presidential couple lingered to admire Archie’s Spanish furniture and the collection of Chinese fans he had acquired during his time in the Philippines. Archie’s description of this happy occasion, however, would comprise one of the last letters he sent to his mother, who would die only days later. Archie