Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 1841-1935

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Recipient

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 1841-1935

President Roosevelt would like to see Justice Holmes soon to talk over “a million or two things” that they left unsaid. He is glad Holmes approved of Lewis Einstein’s promotion, for which Roosevelt made a “special case of interference with the State Department.” Roosevelt has great regard for Einstein’s diplomatic and literary work.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-21

President Roosevelt tells Justice Holmes that the anecdote is interesting in form as well as in substance. He will leave the full discussion of the matter until he can see Holmes in person.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-16

President Roosevelt invites Justice Holmes to attend the Conference of Governors. The conference will address the conservation of natural resources, with its purpose defined by the Inland Waterways Commission. In addition to the governors, Roosevelt is inviting representatives of many national associations, United States Representatives and Senators, and other members of the federal government.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-20

President Roosevelt asks Justice Holmes for a copy of his speech so he can share it with Secretary of State Elihu Root.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-13

President Roosevelt is sorry to have not been able to see Supreme Court Justice Holmes. He has been reading Edward Alsworth Ross’s book on Holmes’s recommendation, and is very pleased with it. He hopes Holmes has a pleasant summer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-05

President Roosevelt thanks Justice Holmes for sending him a copy of a biography written by President Charles William Eliot of Harvard (probably John Gilley: Maine Farmer and Fisherman) and thinks that in time it may be considered a classic. Roosevelt reflects on Eliot’s message of how people are remembered after their deaths and for how long. Roosevelt thinks that ultimately it is best for a person to feel internally that they lived honorably and did not shirk any duties, regardless of how long civilization as a whole remembers them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-05

President Roosevelt returns the Montesquieu pamphlet to Justice Holmes, and muses about the passage of knowledge and discovery from one generation to the next.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-21

Theodore Roosevelt sends Oliver Wendell Holmes an excerpt of a speech by Charles Francis Adams. Adams believes that the most important issue facing the American people is the curbing of Senate powers, as evidenced by the fact that recent appointments in the judiciary (referring to those of Holmes and William R. Day to the Supreme Court) have been influenced by powerful Senators. Roosevelt says facetiously that he will try to find out who the “political heelers” were behind the appointments of Day and Holmes, so they can make sure that Holmes “swings [his] words properly this fall.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-02

President Roosevelt admits that Judge Holmes’s letter pleased him, and states “there were no people more rejoiced than Mrs. Holmes and you.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-27

President Roosevelt is not anxious to meet with Frank Parsons, as Oliver Wendell Holmes suggested, as he fears Parsons will be a “long-winded bore.” Roosevelt asks what Parsons wants to discuss and suggests it could be submitted to him in a letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-18

President Roosevelt is unable to attend a lunch, but invites Oliver Wendell Holmes and his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Pollock to lunch on November 4.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-24

President Roosevelt has a feeling that Oliver Wendell Holmes showing his July letter to Neville Chamberlain and others may have had an effect on the Alaska boundary decision.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-20

President Roosevelt provides his thoughts on the Alaskan boundary dispute and generally favors the claims of the United States. Roosevelt concedes that the British have a few small points of argument.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-25

President Roosevelt is proud that he was able to appoint Oliver Wendell Holmes to the Supreme Court. Seth Bullock sends Holmes his love. During the trip, Bullock “electrified [Secretary] Moody’s sound Massachusetts soul” with his anecdotes of his early political career.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-06-11

President Roosevelt has decided not to use a recess appointment to send Judge Holmes to the United States Supreme Court. Holmes’s appointment will wait until his confirmation by the Senate.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-21

President Roosevelt does not expect any difficulties with Senate confirmation of Judge Holmes’s appointment to the United States Supreme Court.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-19

President Roosevelt informs Justice Holmes that he agreed to a commission to arbitrate the boundary dispute between Canada and the United States because he wants to maintain good relations with Great Britain. Roosevelt asserts that he is prepared to unilaterally draw a boundary line without regard to either Canada or Great Britain, but that he hopes the commission can prevent this and thus avoid any offense to Great Britain.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1903-07-25

President Roosevelt tells Justice Holmes that he likes the book written by Charles William Eliot, the President of Harvard, and he wishes that Eliot could write more biographies of everyday Americans. Roosevelt also offers his thoughts on how people will be remembered once they have died. Roosevelt says some may be able to attain a degree of pleasure before they die knowing that those close to them will fondly remember them. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1904-12-05