Rough Rider Portrait in the North Room
The portrait was a gift from Marie and Bellamy Storer. T.R. and the Storer’s had become friends in Washington DC. Bellamy became Archie’s godfather and as president T.R. appointed Bellamy Ambassador to Austria-Hungary in 1902. Maria Longworth Nichols Storer was the aunt of Nicholas Longworth who married Alice on February 17, 1905
In mid-summer of 1895 Roosevelt was in the political wilderness. After his missteps as President of the NYC Board of Police Commissioners and backing Thomas Brackett Reed for the 1896 nomination, T.R. was in need of a job. To dig himself out he invited Bellamy and Maria to Long Island.
The Storer’s were good friends of McKinley. After notes McKinley signed for a friend were called in the Panic of 1893 the Storer’s helped him financially avoiding hardship. T.R. knew of the closeness of the two families and was looking for their help.
During their visit TR took Maria for a private row in Cold Spring Harbor. Maria said he rowed like he spoke, “spasmodically and absentmindedly.” She said he poured out his heart.
“I should like to be the Assistant Secretary of the Navy,” but he knew McKinley would never give him the job. He told Maria she and Bellamy were the only ones who could get him the appointment.
It worked. T.R. saved his political career in a rowboat at Sagamore Hill.
In December of 1902 T.R. wrote Maria. "Just at this time I could have received no other present which would have appealed to me so much as the picture by Encke, and I thank you for it with all my heart. I took an immense fancy to the picture. I cannot say that I think it looks particularly like me, but most emphatically it does look the way I should like to have my children and possible grandchildren think that I looked! I have always wanted to have a picture taken in uniform, although I have felt shamefaced about sitting for such a picture in view of my very brief military career. So, I do wish you to feel that you have given me the very thing of all others I wanted" (Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Library of Congress).
North Room Portrait of Roosevelt painted by Fedor Encke in 1902.