Your TR Source
President Roosevelt commends Representative Foss for how he stood out in Congress and for defeating a proposal to divide the fleet which Roosevelt found absurd.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-03-02
President Roosevelt explains his concerns with the naval bill to Representative Foss of Illinois, chairman of the committee on naval affairs in the House of Representatives. Roosevelt thinks that having marines on fighting ships is unnecessary, but does not think this is the most problematic part of the bill. Rather, Roosevelt argues that provisions preventing the purchase of torpedoes and gunpowder inhibit the Navy’s ability to prepare for war. Roosevelt concludes by urging the speedy construction of a new dock at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and stresses the importance of keeping the fleet together to best protect the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-18
President Roosevelt informs Representative Foss, Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, that he has sent Senator Thomas Collier Platt a bill that would create the grade of vice-admiral, with an aim to appoint Robley D. Evans to that position. He believes that the position should have been created before now, and hopes that it will be done.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-22
President Roosevelt thanks Representative Foss for his letter. He wishes they could have gotten all four battleships, but note that they still got “a great deal.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-21
President Roosevelt urgently asks Representative Foss to meet the following morning. For reasons Roosevelt cannot reveal by mail, the Navy is in desperate need of ammunition, which Foss’ House Committee on Naval Affairs must provide. Roosevelt believes five million dollars should be dedicated to ammunition as a start.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-08
President Roosevelt hopes for two battleships this year. He tells Representative Foss, Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, that he is looking to them to help the Navy. In a postscript, Roosevelt notes the enclosure showing that the Unites States is far behind what foreign nations are doing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-23
President Roosevelt argues for the construction of two first-class battleships, describing the ways in which they are economically and tactically superior to other types of Navy vessels.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-11
President Roosevelt tells Representative Foss that he doesn’t want to lead the race for large ships, but does not want to fall behind either. Roosevelt states that the two most recent ships commissioned for the Navy are each about eighteen thousand tons. He notes this size is comparable to Japan’s new battleship, which is named the Satsuma, and closes by saying that they cannot take any chances with their navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-19
President Roosevelt invites Representative Foss and the House Committee on Naval Affairs to attend an upcoming naval review.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-20
President Roosevelt sends an enclosed draft of a bill to Representative Foss and asks if it would be possible to pass this version instead of naming the particular midshipmen concerned by the legislation. Roosevelt is willing to take responsibility for the bill if it would make it less trouble.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-10
President Roosevelt sends Representative Foss and the House Committee on Naval Affairs a draft of a bill authorizing the reappointment of three midshipmen formerly dismissed for hazing. When they were previously court-martialed there was no flexibility in the prescribed punishment, but that has since changed. Roosevelt believes that justice would be better served by their punishment coming in the form of being demoted rather than outright dismissed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-03
President Roosevelt was delighted to see that United States Representative Foss, Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, has provided for the building of one large battleship. Roosevelt believes that as long as the government has only authorized the construction of one battleship, it should be the best sort of battleship that can be built.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-28
President Roosevelt requests that Representative Foss, as Chairman of the House Committee on Naval Affairs, move forward with legislation to change the process by which midshipmen at the Naval Academy are punished for hazing. Currently they are tried by court-martial and, if found guilty, dismissed without input from other authorities. Although Roosevelt believes that hazing should be punished, he thinks that dismissal is too severe a consequence in most cases. He has pardoned John P. Miller, a midshipman who was recently dismissed for hazing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-01
President Roosevelt believes any proposition stopping the building up of the navy comes “at the expense of far-seeing patriotism” and finds no justification for it. He directs Representative Foss, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, to ensure this does not occur.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-13
President Roosevelt tells George Edmund Foss, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, that he hopes that there will not be a delay in the building up of the navy. Roosevelt has heard second-hand that a member of the committee said there would no new battleships this year, which he strongly disagrees with. In Roosevelt’s opinion, heavy cruisers are fine, but heavy battleships are what the navy needs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-10
“Is there any chance of legislation for the Naval Reserve?”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-05-03
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1898-01-10
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-12-16
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-12-13
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919