As a committed conservationist, President Theodore Roosevelt didn’t believe in cutting down trees for Christmas decorations. His White House had no tree in most of the years of his presidency, with him either forbidding them or simply not ordering one.
Instead of a tree, Teddy threw a carnival for children, featuring dinner, dancing, souvenirs, and Santa-shaped ice cream. However, Roosevelt’s son Archie defied the Christmas tree ban in 1902, and smuggled a small tree into a closet.
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old spirituals 
I love that TR lived his values… but I feel a little sympathy for Archie too!
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Does anyone know why he forbade cutting down trees? I guess perhaps there were no “Christmas tree farms” back in the day and he didn’t like nature being destroyed so that it could be tarted up and then thrown out.
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Teddy’s prohibition of displaying real cut trees applied only to the White House, not the entire Country.
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Oh yes, I assumed that! I can’t imagine the outcry if he had banned them from the entire country. My goodness….
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