Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt thanks Lyman Abbott for his Christmas remembrance, noting that Mrs. Roosevelt was touched by the sentiment. Roosevelt also sends regards to members of the Outlook Company and notes that he will be visiting the following Wednesday morning.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-29
Theodore Roosevelt responds to Dr. Abbott concerning the demise of the Progressive Party. He is proud of the work of the party in 1912, and he expresses his opinion that the movement will continue.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-07
President Roosevelt informs Lyman Abbott of William Howe Tolman’s inappropriate request to Henry White, ambassador to France. Roosevelt notes that Tolman’s request to confer the Legion of Honor award upon William Bailey Howland is improper and requests that Abbott allow Howland and Tolman to see the relevant correspondence.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-19
President Roosevelt objects to an article soon to be published in The Outlook about the foreign policy of his presidential administration. The author, Scott, has “not the slightest sense of perspective” on the administration’s foreign policy. In a postscript, Roosevelt suggests that First Assistant Secretary of State John Callan O’Laughlin is better suited to write the article instead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-15
President Roosevelt feels similarly undecided about direct primary elections, which have been proposed in New York. Roosevelt can see strong reasons in favor of them, but, having seen them in practice in western states and imagining how political machines, like Tammany Hall, may abuse them, he has his doubts. Accordingly, Roosevelt does not want to speak on them until he better understands the proposal raised in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-11
President Roosevelt sends Lyman Abbott copies of his Sorbonne and Romanes lectures that he will deliver in the spring of 1910. They should not be published until he delivers the lectures, but once that is done Roosevelt wonders if The Outlook would be willing to arrange for their publications through press associations for whichever newspapers may wish to publish them.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-30
President Roosevelt agrees with Lyman Abbott’s position, and says that he went as far as he thought he could go in his public criticism of Judge Daniel Thew Wright. Roosevelt thinks that Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis helped corporations by imposing excessive fines, and that Wright did the same service for the worst labor leaders.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-29
President Roosevelt tells Lyman Abbott that the letter from A. M. Fairbairn is a fine one. Roosevelt wishes that Congress would provide for the circulation of volumes of the kind that Abbott mentioned more, but does not believe it will.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-10
President Roosevelt enjoyed seeing the cartoon that Lyman Abbott sent him. He asks Abbott to let his son Lawrence F. Abbott know that he will choose March 10th as the date to attend the editorial conference, unless he would prefer the 17th.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-11
President Roosevelt sends Lyman Abbott, editor-in-chief of The Outlook, two more articles on which he would like feedback, and which he expects will be the last ones he sends. Roosevelt will do his best to have criminal libel suits brought against the New York World and the Indianapolis News. While Douglas Robinson or Charles P. Taft had clear cases for libel suits, it is difficult for private individuals to proceed against newspapers, which is why he is taking the lead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-15
President Roosevelt tells Lyman Abbott that his reason for wishing that the letter not be made public was so that it did not seem like he was challenging the matter. He thinks that as long as Abbott omits some sections of the letter no harm could come from publishing it. Roosevelt also requests that Abbott send him a proof of his article on socialism, as he might have some portions to add to it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-27
President Roosevelt encloses his article on socialism with the changes that Lyman Abbott suggested. Roosevelt would like it to appear in The Outlook immediately after he leaves the presidency. He would also like all of the articles he writes to appear within six months of when he leaves America, in case things change in the time he is gone. He does not want to risk “accidental circumstances” that would make the articles seem improper.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-23
President Roosevelt encloses a copy of his letter on women’s suffrage. He asks Lyman Abbott not to say to whom it was originally written, and to leave out the first and last paragraphs, and one other line.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-21
President Roosevelt tells Lyman Abbott that Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is pleased that Abbott’s daughter can come visit. The two women will dine and go to the theatre, while Roosevelt, Abbott, and Abbott’s sons will have “a stag dinner.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-09
President Roosevelt discusses several dates when Lyman Abbott, and perhaps his sons Lawrence F. and Ernest Hamlin Abbott, could come for dinner. He would like to discuss political matters, but also editorial matters for The Outlook. Roosevelt also encloses a letter which he would like The Outlook to publish after March 4, when he starts his formal work there. He also encloses other articles, which can be published at Abbott’s discretion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-04
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Booker T. Washington because Lyman Abbott will like what he said about The Outlook. Roosevelt also encloses an article from the Richmond News-Leader because a Southern Democrat says nice things about him in it. He also encloses a speech by William Potter, in which he clearly describes the movement that Roosevelt and Abbott have been involved in for seven years. Roosevelt remembers that Abbott quoted something that Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson said about him and asks which speech it is from.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-05
President Roosevelt thanks Lyman Abbott for writing him on his birthday. He notes that he received many birthday wishes from strangers, and was touched that they wrote to him because they thought of him as their true representative. He is sending Abbott some things he has written for The Outlook, one to be published when he is announced as an editor, and others to be used when he sees fit. Roosevelt would like to see Abbott in Washington when possible, and would like him to look over his message to Congress.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
In light of recent comments being made about President Roosevelt coercing office holders, he believes that Lyman Abbott may be interested in a portion of a letter he just received. The only two “colored” men against William H. Taft that the writer spoke to were office holders.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-26
President Roosevelt encloses a letter for Lyman Abbott of The Outlook, and asks whether it is worth publishing. Roosevelt has doubts about the letter because the incident itself shows how far some in the media, such as the Sun, Harper’s Weekly, and the Evening Post will go to misrepresent matters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-06
President Roosevelt is pleased to be associated with Lyman Abbott, editor of The Outlook. Roosevelt says William H. Taft wants him to wait until his letter accepting the Republican nomination is released before Roosevelt releases his own letter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-29