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Representative Reed tells Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt that he has a “big fight” on his hands and whether Roosevelt is right or wrong, Reed will not hinder him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-12-16
Poet and novelist H. C. Bunner thanks Police Commissioner Roosevelt for being an American and not cowardly like the “made in England” kind in New York. Bunner also reports that he is getting over his “bad time,” but is still shaky. He wishes Roosevelt a happy New Year, and plans to see him soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-01-01
Senator Lodge informs Police Commissioner Roosevelt he believes that things are improving for Roosevelt in New York because the Republican Legislature in the state cannot afford to go back on his policy. Lodge then tells Roosevelt his letter to the Harvard Crimson is a great success. Remarking on the success of Roosevelt’s letter to the Harvard Crimson, Lodge notes his amusement at Roosevelt’s use of “baboo” since he had suggested that he substitute it for “grocer,” and he predicts that “baboo” will become as popular as “cuckoo.” Lodge believes they will come out successful in Venezuela and vindicate the Monroe Doctrine.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-01-11
Receipt for $269.77 taxes paid by Theodore Roosevelt to the town of Oyster Bay, New York, on property assessed at $13,500 and personal property assessed at $2,000. Inscribed at bottom, “Please pay E.K.R.” and stamped “Please return receipted bill to Douglas Robinson, 55 Liberty St., New York.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-02-07
Senator Lodge is glad to hear from Commissioner Roosevelt that his note to Mrs. West Roosevelt pleased her. Lodge is also glad Roosevelt likes reading works of Gustave Le Bon. From his experience seeing socialism in Europe last summer, Lodge understands why men in Europe are carried away by fear of it. The best thing Lodge likes about Le Bon is what he said in regard to races. It was the best exposition of about races that he has come across anywhere. Lodge informs Roosevelt that Eliot’s speech did not go well at the peace meeting. Eliot declared that their misfortunes were because of having men in the Cabinet who were taken from the bar without training in public affairs. It seems to Lodge that people like Eliot are always against having politicians in office and it appears they are against having people without political training in office. Supposedly, the result would be a government by college professors, giving Lodge a pleasing picture.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-04-30
Speaker of the House Reed tells Police Commissioner Roosevelt that his wife, Susan Prentice Merrill Reed, is impatient to get back to Grand Beach, Maine, where from a “happy distance” they can observe “the struggles of police commissioners and candidates for the presidency and other kinds of unfortunate beings” doing reform work that is going unrecognized.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-05-13
Speaker of the House Reed believes it was his duty to “go in again” and that his refusal to stand for reelection would make things unsatisfactory in his state given present conditions. Reed expresses distaste for Chairman of the Republican National Committee Marcus Hanna’s “coarse ways,” but it will not deter Reed from doing what “ought to be done.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-07-28
Vice presidential candidate Thomas E. Watson writes Police Commissioner Roosevelt regarding Roosevelt’s recent article in the Review of Reviews, which criticized Watson’s populist platform. Watson explains his position as tied into his advocacy for the poor, upon whom the burdens of government most often fall. He believes Roosevelt has misjudged him and asserts that if the two spent time together, Roosevelt would see that they have much in common.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-08-30
Thomas E. Watson gives Police Commissioner Roosevelt permission to use his previous letter as Roosevelt proposed. Roosevelt does not need to send Watson his article before it is published, as Watson is sure there would not be anything objectionable in it. Watson will unfortunately not be able to come visit Roosevelt in New York because of some important law cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-11-07
H. H. Lyman is not too sure what Senator John Raines meant in his statement. Raines led him to believe that his statements were off the record. Lyman and others appreciate the work Commissioner Roosevelt has done enforcing the excise law in a city as large as New York, although there are issues with fake clubs and hotels.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-11-28
Senator Lodge writes Commissioner Roosevelt about a lunch he recently had with Presidential Nominee William McKinley. The pair talked about McKinley’s plan for his time in office, including policy on Hawaii and McKinley’s desire not to go to war over Cuba. They also spoke extensively about McKinley’s plans for his cabinet. Lodge assures Roosevelt that his chances of an appointment in the naval department are good, though McKinley sought assurance that Roosevelt did not have “preconceived plans which he would wish to drive through the moment he got in.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1896-12-02
Thomas E. Watson praises Police Commissioner Roosevelt for a recent article in the Review of Reviews which gave him “good reason to congratulate myself for having written you.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-01-04
Commissioner Roosevelt has paid $323.30 for taxes due to the town of Oyster Bay, New York, on real property assessed at $15,000 and personal property assessed at $2,000.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-01-23
Receipt from the Metropolitan Club Restaurant for a meal that included blue points, broiled potatoes, duck, potato salad, and Camembert. Theodore Roosevelt paid eleven dollars and thirty cents for the meal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1898-04-04
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt’s bill for a meal at the Metropolitan Club Restaurant shows that he ordered mutton, toast, and a glass of milk for 45 cents.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1898-04-15
Chairman of the Republican State Committee of Maine Joseph H. Manley invites Theodore Roosevelt to speak in Maine and support the Republican campaign there.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1886-08-11
“Red-headed Mike Finnegan” writes Theodore Roosevelt from the State Penitentiary in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he was imprisoned for having stolen Roosevelt’s boat on the Little Missouri River in April 1886. Finnegan asks Roosevelt’s assistance in having his prison sentence commuted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1887
John Jay responds to an inquiry from Theodore Roosevelt, who was writing his biography of Gouverneur Morris, regarding a loan that Morris made to Louis Philippe, later King Louis Philippe I of France, son of Phillipe Egalité, the former Duke of Orléans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1887-09-08
Mary H. Sumner Long is sending to Theodore Roosevelt a copy of the Memoirs of General Robert E. Lee, written by her husband, General A. L. Long. She was inspired to send the book because of the “beautiful tribute” Roosevelt paid the General in his biography of Thomas Hart Benton. Sumner Long explains that some critics have charged her husband with partiality, but she thinks Roosevelt will agree that the biographer has done justice to Lee’s “genius as a soldier” and his “character as a man.” She then tells Roosevelt that she is one of his greatest admirers and loves reading his articles.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1887-11-22
Admiral Luce commends Theodore Roosevelt on his Naval War of 1812 as “the very highest authority we have on the subject.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1888-02-13