Philip Roosevelt

Philip James Roosevelt (May 15, 1892 – November 1941) was a World War I captain for the United States Army, Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps (predecessor to the United States Air Force), editor of Aviation and Aeronautic Engineering (later known as Aviation Week, then Aviation Week & Space Technology), banker, yachtsman, and a cousin of United States President Theodore Roosevelt.[1] Philip was close to the president's children and accompanied them on trips.[2][3]

Philip Roosevelt, first cousin once removed of Theodore Roosevelt, standing at the gate outside Mercy Hospital where his cousin was taken after a 1912-10-14 assassination attempt (1912-10-15)

Early life

Roosevelt was born on May 15, 1892. He was the youngest son of Emlen Roosevelt and Christine Griffin (née Kean) Roosevelt (1858–1936),[4][5] His elder brother was George Emlen Roosevelt.[6]

His maternal grandparents were Col. John Kean and Lucy (née Halsted) Kean (a daughter of Caleb O. Halsted, president of the Bank of the Manhattan Company). Among his extended family were uncles, John Kean and Hamilton Fish Kean, both of whom served as United States Senators from New Jersey.[7]

He was a 1912 graduate of Harvard University.[1] He served as the 1914 President of The Harvard Advocate.

Military service

He was an original member of the Raynal Bolling's 1st Aero Company of the New York National Guard. He did not qualify as a military aviator due to his eyesight, but as a military-aviation journalist he was a prominent aerial warfare expert. Immediately after United States Congress declared war on 6 April 1917, the Signal Corps summoned Roosevelt to Washington to help plan the aviation mobilization. He impressed Benjamin Delahauf Foulois and accompanied him to France. Foulois paired Roosevelt with major Bert Atkinson, but they had the command organization that resulted from the American Expeditionary Force’s inexperience in coalition warfare. They operated under the French Sixth Army, but two different American headquarters (including Colonel Billy Mitchell's 1st Air Brigade headquarters) felt that they held jurisdiction. The two planned America's first-ever air-land battle at a time when the US Army was still learning the nuances of command relationships between the pursuit and observation groups and the corps and armies they supported.[1]

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified as ratified on January 29, 1919, and the National Prohibition Act, passed in the United States Congress over United States President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28, 1919. In November 1919, during prohibition, Roosevelt served as president of a joint venture with Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Kermit Roosevelt, Archibald Roosevelt, Ethel Roosevelt Derby and her husband Richard Derby, opening a coffeehouse named the Brazilian Coffeehouse at 108 West 44th Street in Manhattan, New York.[8] The coffeehouse was renamed the Double R, and moved to 112 W. 44th in 1921. It was managed by the Roosevelts until 1928.[9]

Later life

He would later become partner in Roosevelt & Son and supposedly became a trustee of the estate of James Roosevelt, Sr. on behalf of distant cousin and United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A Time story of a repartee between cousins in a series of written notes about the effects of fiscal policy and estate interests was very humorous, but denied as false.[10]

Personal life

In 1925, he married his own cousin Jean Schermerhorn Roosevelt (1891–1984), daughter of John Ellis Roosevelt.[11] Their common great grandfather, Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt, was Theodore Roosevelt's grandfather.[12] Together, they were the parents of:

  • Philippa Roosevelt (1926–1986), who married Benjamin Eustis Jeffries in 1958.[13][14]
  • Phillip James Roosevelt Jr. (1928–1998), who married Philippa Buss, a daughter of Robert D. Buss of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1969.[15][16]
  • John Ellis Roosevelt (1931–1985), who married Helen Catherine Daae Sparrow, a daughter of banker Edward Grant Sparrow, in 1959.[17]

He died in November 1941 of drowning, presumably after a heart attack, while sailing a dinghy in Oyster Bay, New York.[18]

References
  1. Frandsen, Bert (Winter 2003). "America's First Air-Land Battle" (PDF). Air & Space Power Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  2. "Roosevelt Boys in St. Louis" (PDF). The New York Times. 1904-07-30. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  3. "Roosevelt Arrives for London Lecture" (PDF). The New York Times. 1914-06-14. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  4. "Mrs. W. Roosevelt Dead in Hospital; Widow of Financier a Sister of Former Senator Kean of New Jersey. Active in Aiding Charity Had Cooperated With Husband in Philanthropic Work -- Headed Institution". The New York Times. March 1, 1936. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  5. "Bank History, Central Trust Company of New York". 2008-04-12. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  6. "George Emlen Roosevelt Dies; Leading Banker and Yachtsman; Second Cousin of President Aided Bull Moose Drive-- N.Y.U. Board Chairman Skipper of the Mistress Aided the Long Island". The New York Times. September 4, 1963. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  7. Jordan, John W. (2004). Colonial And Revolutionary Families Of Pennsylvania. Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 9780806352398. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  8. "Roosevelts Start Coffeehouse Chain" (PDF). The New York Times. 1919-11-26. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  9. Reyes, Joshua (March 2007). "The Roosevelts' "Brazilian Coffee House"" (PDF). The Rough Writer. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  10. "Trustees". Time. Time Inc. 1934-11-19. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  11. "John E. Roosevelt, A Retired Lawyer. Cousin of Theodore Roosevelt Dies in Florida at 86". The New York Times. March 10, 1939. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  12. "untitled". Time. Time, Inc. 1925-05-18. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  13. Times, Special to The New York (4 May 1958). "Miss Roosevelt, Vassar Alumna, To Be Married; Oyster Bay Girl Is the Fiancee of Benjamin Eustis Jeffries". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  14. York 'rimes, Special to The New (18 May 1958). "Miss Roosevelt Married on L. I. To B. E. Jeffries; Wed in Her Mother's Home in Oyster Bay to Harvard Alumnus". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  15. "Son for Mrs. Roosevelt". The New York Times. 24 September 1972. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  16. "Paid Notice: Deaths ROOSEVELT, P. JAMES". The New York Times. 30 November 1998. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  17. "Helen Sparrow Bride Of John E. Roosevelt". The New York Times. 31 December 1959. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  18. "Died. Philip James Roosevelt, 49". TIME. 1941-11-17. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
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