Teddy Roosevelt Bans Christmas Trees
Theodore Roosevelt and his wife absolutely loved Christmas, but he was concerned about conserving the national parks and forests. He did not want Americans to carry on the tradition of cutting down Christmas trees, because he believed that the trees were too precious. He told his children that they were going to set a good example for the rest of the country by refusing to have a tree in the White House. He ordered the U.S. Forest Service to contact newspapers around the country to discourage Americans from cutting down Christmas trees. Many people began to have the opinion that cutting down a tree that was alive for years just to enjoy it for a couple weeks was incredibly wasteful and irresponsible.
The U.S. Forest Service did the job of spreading the word that cutting down Christmas trees was irresponsible for the environment. In a 1902 edition of The Hartford Courant, one article said, “the green has become a nuisance, there is so much of it. Everything from a church to a saloon has to be decorated. The result is that the woods are being stripped and an altogether endless sacrifice is going on, not in obedience to any real need but just to meet the calls of an absurd fad.”
In 1901, the Roosevelt kids moved into the White House, and they were able to enjoy a Christmas tree at their cousin’s house, even though they did not have one in their new home. However, the next year, their father announced that they would not have a Christmas tree, because it was far too wasteful.