Captain Roosevelt recovering from wounds received during World War I in 1919
Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt
(1894-04-10)April 10, 1894
Washington, D. C., U.S.
|Died||October 13, 1979(1979-10-13) (aged 85)
Stuart, Florida, U.S.
Evans School for Boys
|Alma mater||Harvard University|
|Children||5, including Archibald Jr. and Theodora|
Edith Kermit Carow
Archibald Bulloch "Archie" Roosevelt (April 10, 1894 – October 13, 1979), the fifth child of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, was a distinguished U.S. Army officer and commander of U.S. forces in both World War I and II. In both conflicts he was wounded. He earned the Silver Star with three oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster and the French Croix de guerre. After World War II, he became a successful businessman and the founder of a New York City bond brokerage house, as well as a spokesman for conservative political causes.
As a child, Archie was very quiet but very mischievous – especially when he was with his brother Quentin; growing up, Archie and Quentin were very close. They rarely left each other's side and had very few fights. But as for the other siblings, Archie was not close to either Kermit or Ethel, because they would gang up on him. Ted would help beat up Kermit for him and would also tell their mother, Edith, about Ethel, who would often get in trouble. Alice was ten years older than Archie, and he barely remembered her being around, since she would often go places with other family members and friends. Archie was an avid reader and very good at putting puzzles together quickly. His father remarked to him, "Archie, my smart boy, never give up your smartness; that goes for you and your brother Quentin."
Archie first attended the Force School and Sidwell Friends School. After being expelled from Groton, Archie continued his education at the Evans School for Boys, and graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., in 1913. He went on to Harvard University, where he graduated in 1917.
Archie was born in Washington, D.C., the fourth child of President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr. and Edith Kermit Carow. He had three brothers, Ted (Theodore III), Kermit, and Quentin, a sister Ethel, and a half-sister Alice. Archie was named for his maternal great-great-great-grandfather Archibald Bulloch, a patriot of the American Revolution.
In the summer of 1932, Archie, former President Calvin Coolidge, former Solicitor General William Marshall Bullitt, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, and General James Harbord, among others, formed a conservative pressure group known as the National Economy League, which called for balancing the federal budget by cutting appropriations for veterans in half.
World War II: the battle for Roosevelt Ridge in New Guinea
During 1943, following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt petitioned President Franklin D. Roosevelt to put his battlefield-honed leadership skills to worthwhile use supporting the war effort. The president approved his request and he rejoined the Army with a commission as a lieutenant colonel. Roosevelt was given command in early 1943 of the US Army's 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment also called the 162 Regimental Combat Team, (RCT), 41st Infantry Division in New Guinea commanding this unit until early 1944. Working with the Australian 3rd Division, Roosevelt and his battalion landed in New Guinea's Nassau Bay, on July 8, 1943.
Overcoming significant command ambiguities between American and Australian forces because of overlapping spheres of operation, Roosevelt played an important role in the Salamaua campaign. His service was recognized when one of the hotly contested ridge-lines northwest of the island's Tambu Bay was named in his honor. This piece of key terrain during the campaign was originally referred to as "Roosevelt's Ridge" to mark the ridge nearest his battalion to higher HQ. Later, it was referred to as "Roosevelt Ridge" as it was depicted in the official American and Australian campaign histories as well as the US Army Air Force World War II Chronology. See left map.
On August 12, 1943, Roosevelt was wounded by an enemy grenade which shattered the same knee which had been injured in World War I and for which he had been earlier medically retired, earning him the distinction of being the only American to ever be classified as 100% disabled twice for the same wound incurred in two different wars. At the time of his injury, command of his battalion passed to his executive officer, Major Taylor. Archie returned to his unit in early 1944. For these actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations, Roosevelt was awarded his second and third oak leaf clusters to the Silver Star in lieu of additional awards.
- Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Jr. (1918–1990), who married Katharine W. Tweed, daughter of Harrison Tweed, and later Selwa "Lucky" Showker Roosevelt (born January 13, 1929)
- Theodora Roosevelt (1919–2008)
- Nancy Dabney Roosevelt (1923–2010)
- Edith Kermit Roosevelt (1927–2003) married 1948-1952 to Alexander Gregory Barmine; parents of Margot Roosevelt
In 1971, Archie's wife, Grace Lockwood Roosevelt, died in an automobile crash near her home on Turkey Lane in Cold Spring Harbor, with her husband at the wheel.
On October 13, 1979, Roosevelt died of a stroke at the Stuart Convalescent Home in Stuart, Florida. He was 85 years old, the last child of Theodore and Edith to die (although his half-sister Alice would outlive him by four months). He is buried with his wife at Young's Cemetery, Oyster Bay. His tombstone reads: "The old fighting man home from the wars."
- Zygmund, Dobbs. Red Intrigue and Race Turmoil. Forward by Archibald B. Roosevelt. New York: The Alliance, Inc., 1954.
- Zygmund, Dobbs. The Great Deceit: Social Pseudo-Sciences. Forward by Archibald B. Roosevelt. Sayville, NY: Veritas Publishing, 1964.
- Quentin and his brother Archie and their father Theodore Roosevelt on film during World War I
- Theodore Roosevelt Association for short biographies on Archie and his family as well as other siblings
- Roosevelt & Cross
- U.S. Army in World War II, The War in the Pacific – Operation Cartwheel, The Reduction of Rabaul, New Guinea, US Army War College