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ROOSEVELTS AT HARVARD: A FAMILY MATTER
James Roosevelt, Franklin's father, received his ll.b. from Harvard Law
School in 1851. Theodore Roosevelt enrolled in the College in 1877, FDR
in 1900. Thereafter, Roosevelts came to Harvard in droves. In 1936, the
tercentennial year, when FDR ran for a second term, nine Roosevelts were
registered in the College, including three sets of brothers.
FDR's Harvard progeny included three of his four sons-James '30, Franklin
Jr. '37, and John '38-as well as four grandsons and a great-grandson. Eleanor
Roosevelt's brother Hall '13 and his two sons also went to Harvard. Several
of FDR's Delano uncles and cousins, including his uncle Fred-class of 1885,
twice an Overseer, and president of the Alumni Association in 1932-33-were
Harvard men.
Theodore Roosevelt, of the Oyster Bay branch, sent all four of his sons:
Theodore '09, Kermit '12, Archibald '17, and Quentin '19. His daughters
Alice and Ethel made it a clean sweep by marrying Harvard men (Senator Nicholas
Longworth, A.B. 1891, and Dr. Richard Derby '03, who followed FDR on the
Board of Overseers). Six of TR's grandsons, seven great-grandchildren, and
a half dozen great-great-grandchildren have gone to Harvard.
Most of the 17 other Roosevelts on the alumni rolls were or are descendants
of TR's four uncles, and thus belong to the Oyster Bay branch. TR's sister
Corinne Roosevelt Robinson had two Harvard sons and a Harvard grandson (the
late columnist Joseph Alsop '32).
No one named Roosevelt has graduated from Harvard since 1993, and no Roosevelt
is currently enrolled.
Back to Frank Roosevelt at Harvard. Also see "Roosevelt History Month"
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