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President Roosevelt thought over what Secretary of the Navy Newberry said about Admiral William Sowden Sims, and is obliged for the suggestion. When the captain of the Minnesota comes, Roosevelt will speak on the lines that Newberry suggests. Roosevelt encloses a letter that he thinks should be put in Sims’s record.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-16
President Roosevelt orders that a Department of Naval Hygiene and Physiology be established at the United States Naval Academy. The senior medical officer at the Academy should be the department’s head and be given a spot on the academic board.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-13
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Newberry an enclosed letter from Commander William Sowden Sims that commends Arthur Wallace Dunn’s account of the Navy’s target practice. Roosevelt would like this letter kept for reference in case Dunn wishes to observe the target practice again, as he was particularly good at giving an accurate description of it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-11
President Roosevelt urges Secretary of the Navy Newberry to extend courtesies to the bearer of this letter, W. Sloan Simpson, a member of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders regiment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-09
President Roosevelt questions Assistant Secretary of the Navy Newberry about the statement concerning delegates interfering with activities at a conference in London. Roosevelt does not recall anything about it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-24
President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of the Navy Newberry to expend the $800,000 appropriated by Congress for the agreed-upon cause of aid for the victims of the 1908 earthquake in Messina, Italy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-18
President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of the Navy Newberry to assign Commander William Sowden Sims to the USS Minnesota.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-18
President Roosevelt approves of the way Secretary of the Navy Newberry has carried out Roosevelt’s directions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-16
President Roosevelt shares Commander Albert L. Key’s letter with Secretary of the Navy Newberry. Roosevelt is unsure whether a court-martial is appropriate, but believes “action of a drastic kind should be taken” against Admiral W. L. Capps, Admiral Philip R. Alger, and Key for their public statements about the Department of the Navy. Roosevelt also requests that Newberry report back on the accusations against Capps.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-08
President Roosevelt agrees with the two questions Secretary of the Navy Newberry has asked, and would like him to go ahead with the meeting with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Herbert Livingston Saterlee and two others. Roosevelt hopes they will devise a plan that will make the Navy more efficient and prepared for any future war.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-07
President Roosevelt is of the opinion that the punishment for desertions of a particular type is often too heavy, as it tends to punish enlisted men to a greater degree than officers. In the particular case he writes about, Roosevelt thinks that six months of punishment is all that should have been imposed, as the man turned himself in to stand trial. He asks for Secretary of the Navy Newberry’s opinion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-06
President Roosevelt introduces National Rifle Association President James Andrew Drain to Secretary of the Navy Newberry. Secretary of State Elihu Root, while previously serving as Secretary of War, found Drain to be “the very best man connected with the national guard,” and Roosevelt considers Drain an old personal friend.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-05
President Roosevelt has spoken with U.S. Navy Surgeon General Presley Marion Rixey, and found that he had misunderstood Rixey’s position. He has accordingly prepared a new general order, and sends it to Secretary of the Navy Newberry to issue. Roosevelt additionally informs Newberry that he is not satisfied with the matter of reorganization of the Navy, because while it may help the navy’s business efficiency, he is not sure it would help the navy as a fighting force. Roosevelt plans to get advice from line officers, and will speak with Newberry about the details.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-04
President Roosevelt confirms his previous verbal orders to Secretary of the Navy Newberry that the Celtic be sent to Messina, Italy, immediately, and the Culgoa be sent there after giving the necessary supplies to the Great White Fleet. (Both ships were sent to Messina with supplies to assist with disaster relief in the wake of a recent earthquake.)
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-02
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of the Navy Newberry that he has received his report with the endorsement of Chief Constructor W. L. Capps regarding remarks that Capps made in his annual report. Far from agreeing with Capps’s defense of his report, Roosevelt regards his actions as “gravely reprehensible,” and orders that the order conferring the duties of Chief Engineer on Capps be revoked, with possible further action to follow.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-02
President Roosevelt approves Secretary of the Navy Newberry’s suggestion regarding the Culgoa, and directs that it proceed to Messina, Italy, as soon as it has distributed the necessary supplies to the Great White Fleet. (Italy had recently suffered a major earthquake, and supplies were needed there for disaster relief.)
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-02
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Newberry a list of the people who he appoints as principals and alternates to the United States Naval Academy for 1909.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-02
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Newberry if there is currently, or is likely to be, a vacancy in his department. Roosevelt hopes to transfer Isabella Hagner to a government clerkship position, and is looking for a suitable opening.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-29
President Roosevelt has had his attention called to the annual report of Rear Admiral W. L. Capps, Constructor of the Navy, in which Capps made comments concerning criticisms by Commander Albert L. Key about the design of the North Dakota. Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Newberry that this is the “most flagrant possible violation of my directions as to avoiding public recrimination between officers,” and says that if Capps has any explanation for this, he would like to hear it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-29
President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Newberry that he does not believe a recent order issued by the Bureau of Navigation regarding the physical fitness of naval officers is a good one. Roosevelt encloses a letter from Surgeon General of the Navy Presley Marion Rixey that he believes would be a better sort of order, and feels that the tests should be administered yearly, and be uniform among all officers of the armed services.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-26