Alice on the cover of Leslie's Weekly, 1902. Library of Congress.
Theodore become president after President William McKinley was assassinated, on September 14, 1901. At the time, Alice was 17 and fully embraced the public attention that came with her father’s new status. She became a teenage celebrity and was wildly popular. She led the fashion trends, establishing her signature color, Alice Blue after her coming out ball, songs were even written about her.
Throughout much of Theodore’s presidency she proved to be very useful to him and he often sent her as his representative. For example in the fires of 1904 in Baltimore Maryland she was the supportive and sympathetic voice of the first family and Theodore’s government. This was just the one of many trips she went on during her father’s presidency. In 1905, she traveled with the Secretary of War, William Taft, on a tour of Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, China, and Korea. In the spring of 1903, she served as her father’s emissary to the American embassy in Puerto Rico.
Despite her assistance to her father, Alice’s rebellious and defiant attitude continued and she was often seen smoking, riding in cars unchaperoned, and staying out late partying. Alice was known to interrupt her father during political meetings to offer advice. One time, she interrupted her father so many times that he famously said, "I can either run the country or I can attend to Alice, but I cannot possibly do both."