In the mid-1990s, Mrs. Irene Harrison (1890–1999) several times stayed in the bed-and-breakfast my wife and I operated in Waynesville, North Carolina. Daughter of famed tire entrepreneur Frank Seiberling, this centenarian was a gracious lady with a distinctly conservative take on politics. Once when she and her son were discussing politics in the living room, I paused on some errand to ask, “Mrs. Harrison, who was the greatest president of your lifetime?”
“Roosevelt!” she exclaimed.
Given her viewpoints, her answer took me aback. Franklin Roosevelt?
“Theodore Roosevelt!” she chirped merrily. “He was the greatest president since Lincoln.”
Mrs. Harrison would have been 18 years old when Theodore Roosevelt left office. Had I been on my toes, I would have asked her whether she’d ever met the man. Her father’s fortune and status certainly made that a possibility….