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First Family Life

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First Children

What was it like to grow up in a home where some of the most important political decisions are being made at the same time as you are trying to pass your driver's license exam? We all remember our childhood firsts, but for most of us, these quintessential memories did not take place in one of the country's most famous

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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day": Family Life

Family life in the Roosevelt White House was lively and often hectic. In 1933, when FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) moved into the White House, the two youngest Roosevelt sons, Franklin, Jr. (1914-1988) and John (1916-1981) were still in college. The three eldest children Anna, (1906-1975) James (1907-1991) and Elliott (1910-1990) were married and had started families of their own. (A

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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day": Christmas

The Roosevelts celebrated Christmas with a flurry of public and private activities. The non-stop action began the week before Christmas as children, grandchildren and other family members began arriving at the White House. "I think this old house likes the sound of children's voices," Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) wrote in one of her December columns. "It certainly is an ideal place

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Theodore Roosevelt Family's Horses

Theodore Roosevelt's love of fine horses was legendary and played a part in shaping his vigorous personal image and his advocacy of the "strenuous life." Roosevelt had been a rancher in the Dakota Territory, and his volunteer-mounted "Rough Riders" emerged as national heroes after the famous charge at San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War. After the assassination of