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Theodore Roosevelt agrees with William Dudley Foulke on the subject of national defense and is glad Foulke wrote to Perkins about it. Roosevelt hopes Foulke will see the next Metropolitan in which Roosevelt discusses the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-05
Theodore Roosevelt agrees with William Dudley Foulke that the Monroe Doctrine must be maintained and the Army and Navy kept adequately prepared. Roosevelt disagrees strenuously with President Wilson about neutrality.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-29
Theodore Roosevelt agrees with William Dudley Foulke’s letter except that he believes Governor Johnson would be a “first-class President.” Roosevelt agrees that it is too early to discuss nominations or even an individual’s availability. He would consider acting with the “scoundrels” that control the Republican Party but only because the Wilson administration is handling foreign affairs and military preparedness so poorly. Roosevelt is uncomfortable with Albert J. Beveridge’s attitude towards Germany as it seems to be influenced by the idea that German Americans will have a longer memory regarding what side a politician supports. He believes that German victory or a German-Japanese alliance would lead to conflict with the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-12
Theodore Roosevelt thanks William Dudley Foulke for his letter and his wife, Mary T. R. Foulke, for the amusing postscript. Roosevelt then invites the couple over to stay the night at Oyster Bay to further discuss the contents of the letter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-12-17
President Roosevelt sends love to Mary T. R. Foulke and praises an attack speech by William Dudley Foulke.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-28
President Roosevelt thanks William Dudley Foulke for the letter, and would like him to help if the government is able to pursue a libel suit against Delavan Smith. Roosevelt asks Foulke to tell Richard Henry Dana that Roosevelt does not dislike him, but rather holds him in high regard.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-22
President Roosevelt acknowledges receipt of William Dudley Foulke’s letter and does not have anything to add to it. Roosevelt announces the classification of all fourth class post offices in Eastern and North Central states, as he thinks it would be good to get it done as soon as possible. He also returns a letter regarding Delevan Smith, and asks that Foulke wait to publish it until after his message goes to Congress.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-02
President Roosevelt believes the statements made by Delevan Smith in the Indianapolis News are patently false, and that refuting them will bring them undue attention. Because William Dudley Foulke insists that a reply be made, however, Roosevelt writes to refute the charges of a scandal involved in the purchasing of the Panama Canal zone from France. Roosevelt particularly refutes the charge that the affair has not been transparent, as documents related to it have been freely available. Roosevelt has refuted other false charges leveled against his administration, but the newspapers continue to print them, so he doubts whether his denial will be effective.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-01
President Roosevelt tells William Dudley Foulke that he is “amused” by the attacks the Civil Service Reform Association is making against him. He clarifies that the only instructions he gave officers and civil servants regarding the nomination for the presidency is that they should not nominate him again. President-elect William H. Taft was nominated fairly. He asks if Foulke would like him to write a “perfectly colorless statement of facts” regarding Panama, in response to statements made about the canal since the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-23
President Roosevelt thanks William Dudley Foulke for recounting his phone conversation with the editor Delavan Smith. He agrees with advice from Foulke and Lucius B. Swift that he should not take any public notice of Smith and others like him. He is sorry that Swift cannot come see him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-09
President Roosevelt informs William Dudley Foulke that Lucius B. Swift does not believe that he should respond to falsehoods by Delavan Smith. Roosevelt agrees and notes that Smith knew that he was lying about the Panama controversy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-07
While President Roosevelt agrees with William Dudley Foulke that Delavan Smith of the Indianapolis News is bad, the publishers of the New York Sun, New York World, and Evening Post are just as bad or worse. Certain newspapers publish so many lies about Roosevelt that if he were to respond to all of them, he would spend most of his time refuting lies. Roosevelt outlines several lies that have been printed about him in various papers, and invites Foulke to visit and look over the papers that prove them false. Roosevelt would like to speak with Foulke and Lucius B. Swift about whether or not he should respond to Smith and other publishers like him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
President Roosevelt does not think there is any use in publishing the letter. However, he hopes that William Dudley Foulke and Lucius B. Swift will visit after the election to discuss if it is worth writing a letter to settle the matter. In such a letter, Roosevelt would take on all of the newspaper editors he takes issue with at once.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-26
President Roosevelt responds to William Dudley Foulke’s request to call the Indianapolis News to account for the falsehoods they are spreading. Roosevelt explains that he does not believe it will do any good, because the paper is simply on par with other papers like the New York World, New York Sun, and New York Evening Post. Such papers will simply repeat their falsehoods and spread new ones if they are corrected. Roosevelt believes that it is useless to deny false stories in the news because papers do not attempt to prove their assertions. In particular, Roosevelt mentions false stories about his raising campaign funds and the purchase of the Panama Canal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-24
President Roosevelt explains to William Dudley Foulke that he does not think that it is worth responding to the three false editorials in the Indianapolis News. This paper, under editor Delavan Smith, is just as bad as the New York Sun and New York Evening Post. Roosevelt refutes these editorials, but does not think it is worth making public; if he were to deny all of the falsehoods and stories based on rumors that were printed about him, it would take him all day, every day.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-24
With a series of excerpts from relevant letters, President Roosevelt strongly refutes allegations from anonymous sources quoted by William Dudley Foulke. These sources allege that Roosevelt had planned to nominate John K. Beach to succeed William K. Townsend on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but then withdrew his promise to appoint Beach in favor of Walter Chadwick Noyes, in order to secure a delegation favorable to William H. Taft to the Republican National Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-06
President Roosevelt describes the process by which he appointed a judge in Connecticut to William Dudley Foulke. Roosevelt vehemently denies reports that he promised the appointment to John K. Beach but later appointed another man in order to get a delegation favorable to nominating William H. Taft at the Republican National Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-03
President Roosevelt thinks William Dudley Foulke is following the right course, but asks him to write to William H. Taft directly. Roosevelt offers to write to Taft as well in support of Foulke.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-31
President Roosevelt received the articles William Dudley Foulke sent him and says the statements made by Louis Ludlow are false. Roosevelt comments on his nomination of Samuel G. Victor for the position of marshal in Oklahoma following Senate’s failure to confirm Grosvenor A. Porter. Victor has been strongly recommended to Roosevelt, who has heard that his frequent opponents Senators Joseph Benson Foraker and James A. Hemenway, his frequent opponents, are trying to delay Victor’s nomination. Roosevelt does not know of any charges that would be a discredit to Victor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-14
President Roosevelt thanks William Dudley Foulke for the letter and clippings, and appreciated the speech that Foulke made. Roosevelt did his best to have Grosvenor A. Porter, a supporter of Secretary of War William H. Taft, appointed, but the Senate refused to confirm him. The article by the Indianapolis News is ironic, then, because it claims that by rejecting Porter, the Senate allowed Roosevelt to appoint someone who turned over the delegation to Taft. Roosevelt thinks this is funny, because it frames the situation as one in which the supporters of Joseph Gurney Cannon and Charles W. Fairbanks acted against Roosevelt’s wishes to appoint someone in favor of Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-12