Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Cabot Lee
Subject(s): Capitalists and financiers, Corporations--Government policy, Mellen, Charles S. (Charles Sanger), 1851-1927, Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1839-1937, Standard Oil Company, Trusts and trustees
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President Roosevelt has received George Cabot Lee’s letter and the enclosed magazine, although he takes issue with the fact that the article about trusts and stakeholders in it does not account for the facts as the administration has to face them. The stakeholders of a corporation are responsible for the actions of that corporation, and many corporations are owned in large part by their stakeholders. Thus it is the stakeholders’s responsibility to ensure that the corporation’s officials are behaving properly. The problem currently is that corporate organization shields guilty parties from facing responsibility for their actions, with agents being imprisoned for misconduct and the owners “go scot-free” or the corporation gets fined, even though it is their orders that lead to the wrongdoing. He does not believe in “letting bygones be bygones” and wants to abide by the statute of limitations.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1908-01-13
Creator(s)
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Recipient
Language
English
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Repository
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Page Count
2
Production Method
Record Type
Multi-image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Cabot Lee. [January 13, 1908]. Theodore Roosevelt Papers. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o201261. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Cabot Lee. [13 Jan. 1908]. Multi-image. Theodore Roosevelt Papers. Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. November 25, 2025. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o201261.
APA:
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.: , [1908, January 13]. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Cabot Lee. Theodore Roosevelt Papers. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o201261.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Papers. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Papers. Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. November 25, 2025. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
APA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Papers. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
