Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley reports to President Roosevelt of his visit to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although the conspiracy was formed in New Mexico, Cooley observes that the main case can be brought in the District of Columbia because the overt act was committed there. Cooley details his conversation with George Curry, who expects to see the president in Saint Louis, Missouri, on October 1. After Albert B. Fall and William H. H. Llewellyn leave, Cooley does not expect to have any difficulties in New Mexico.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-10

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley returns Philip Battell Stewart’s letter to President Roosevelt. He also includes a report from Stewart’s attorney wherein he tries to cast doubt on Cooley’s account and the propriety of Roosevelt’s choice to remove Herbert J. Hagerman from the position of territorial governor of New Mexico. Cooley cites multiple cases that give precedent to his claims. He feels that Hagerman was treated leniently.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-23

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley provides President Roosevelt with a preliminary report on the circumvention or violation of laws relating to the disposal of public lands in the Territory of New Mexico, including the involvement of the Territory’s governor, Herbert J. Hagerman. Cooley presents evidence that Hagerman’s actions were both “illegal and unjustifiable.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-12

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley signs a receipt for a certified letter from William Loeb.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-16

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley has been resting since having a “little upset,” which kept him from expressing his concern for Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt after her accident. He hopes she is well now. The campaign in New Mexico has been “a contest of vituperation.” 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-04

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley shares with Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt how much he enjoyed the clippings detailing Theodore Roosevelt’s testimony before the Senate investigative committee regarding the acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company. He agrees entirely with Roosevelt’s ideas, especially those concerning governmental control of large corporations. However, the issue of restoring competition remains. Cooley and his wife, Susan Dexter Dalton Cooley, enjoyed seeing the “charming and delightful” Kermit Roosevelt. The doctor gave Cooley a clean bill of health, although he intends to rest for a few months before returning to work. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-20

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-14

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Publication Date

2025-09-18

Alford Warriner Cooley is disappointed Theodore Roosevelt will not be able to visit Silver City, Arizona, during his Western trip. Hopefully, spring will bring improved health, permitting him to accept Roosevelt’s invitation to the Grand Canyon. He is interested in what the Democrats will do with their opportunity and comments on the ridiculous nature of political parties. Voting for the proposed constitution of Arizona is forthcoming. Cooley predicts it will be adopted by a substantial majority and favors Dave Leahy as governor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-09

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Cooley happily received word from Solicitor General Henry Martyn Hoyt and President Roosevelt that he “was back in the world again.” Both Ward and Elihu Root have promised to assist him with navigating the incoming administration, and Cooley and his wife, Susan Dexter Dalton Cooley, are grateful for the support of their many friends. He finds the end of Roosevelt’s presidency bittersweet, and wishes that the entire “Tennis Cabinet” could keep their jobs. He is very sorry that Secretary of State Robert Bacon and Secretary of the Interior James Rudolf Garfield will likely “not be retained.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-31

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley recommends Harry Skinner, current Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, to President-Elect Taft for the appointment as District Judge. Cooley cites Skinner’s handling of Internal Revenue Service cases as evidence of his qualification and notes that he was an “outspoken Taft man” despite popular support for Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou. Cooley hopes he has not troubled Taft with the letter, as he has already communicated its contents to President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-11

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley is deeply grateful for President Roosevelt’s letter and decision to reappoint him to his previous position. He will plan to have his doctors reexamine him at the beginning of February, and will ask them to communicate with Roosevelt. Cooley is sure that neither would consent to him returning east unless he is entirely fit to do so.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-04

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Former assistant attorney general Alford Warriner Cooley has been told that he should be able to go back to work in the early spring. Cooley does not think he should remain in the west, and would have liked to start up a practice in New York, except that he has been advised by his doctor to avoid the strain. It seems that resuming his job in the Department of Justice makes the most sense for his financial and physical health, and he asks Roosevelt’s advice of how to raise this question with President-Elect William H. Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-21

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley informs President Roosevelt that he has written to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte tendering his resignation, which will take effect whenever Bonaparte sees fit. Cooley does this because he has been instructed by his doctor that, for his health, he should not do any work for some time, and he realizes that the department cannot keep him on in this manner indefinitely. Cooley hopes to be well enough to see Roosevelt again before he departs on his African safari after leaving the presidency.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-12

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley returns several letters to William Loeb, and will talk with him about them tomorrow.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-28

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley has read and returns Booker T. Washington’s letter about the political situation in Alabama. He believes that Charles H. Scott should be kept in line until the Republican National Convention, and is happy to use whatever influence he has with him to get him to change his demands. Both Scott and Joseph O. Thompson are beholden to the Roosevelt Administration for their influence in Alabama, thus it should be possible to achieve the arrangement President Roosevelt wants. Cooley wishes that Scott and others who supported Secretary of War William H. Taft before Roosevelt’s declaration would understand that Assistant Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock is not against them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-06

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley informs President Roosevelt of the developments surrounding Representative Parsons’ arrangement with William Randolph Hearst in New York County. Cooley thinks it would be prudent of Roosevelt to make some kind of statement after he returns to Washington. New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes has been non-committal to this point, although he may have had prior knowledge, according to Parsons.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-16

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley recounts a conversation he had with Martin A. Knapp regarding a meeting with Charles S. Mellen of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company. At a meeting at the White House at which Roosevelt was present, Mellen seemed unsure if keeping steamship lines operated by his railroad might violate the Sherman Antitrust Act. Knapp’s recollection was that Roosevelt declined to express an opinion in the matter. In light of this, Cooley sees no reason not to proceed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-03

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley writes President Roosevelt concerning an issue of political corruption in New Mexico. Governor Herbert J. Hagerman illegally sold New Mexican land to Willard S. Hopewell, which Hopewell then transferred to the Pennsylvania Land Development Company to build the Santa Fe Central Railroad. Cooley meticulously looks at a letter that Hagerman sent to Roosevelt and points out the fallacies of his logic.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-23

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley writes to fulfill President Roosevelt’s request for a statement of Cooley’s legal experience for use in his confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cooley details his educational background, his legal experience in New York, and his work as Civil Service Commissioner and the Commissioner of Immigration at the port of New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-06

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Alford Warriner Cooley encloses the extract from the Congressional Record showing Senator Eugene Hale’s connection with the amendment to the agricultural appropriation bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-15

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913