Alabama

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Fleming

President Roosevelt likes William H. Fleming’s response to Judge Alexander L. Miller’s attack on Fleming’s recent speech on race. Roosevelt was surprised that Fleming received criticism from Miller, noting that he would have expected it only from men like Governor James Kimble Vardaman of Mississippi. Roosevelt has received letters from Judges Horace H. Lurton and Thomas Goode Jones, who both strongly support Fleming’s position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-11

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Owen Wister

President Roosevelt writes to Owen Wister about a letter Roosevelt received from Judge J. M. Dickinson. Dickinson suggested that while the race question may never be settled, he believes that Roosevelt has helped quiet it for a time. Roosevelt believes that this is a common view in the South. He asserts that while many problems still remain in race relations and universal suffrage, the current situation has improved upon the past.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-03

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John H. Adams

President Roosevelt tells John H. Adams that he nominated Erastus J. Parsons for District Attorney based on seemingly excellent recommendations about his standing as a lawyer. Alabama Governor William Dorsey Jelks has endorsed him, half of the Alabama delegation in Congress supports him, but the other half opposes him. Roosevelt is unsure whom to ask for advice in this situation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Goode Jones

President Roosevelt believes that he should remove at least Charles H. Scott as a referee, and asks if Judge Jones can suggest any “really first-class upright Republicans” from Alabama whom he could consult. The Democratic delegation in Congress is divided over whether to approve Erastus J. Parsons as District Attorney.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-08

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ariosto A. Wiley

President Roosevelt tells Representative Wiley that his understanding was that his nominee for District Attorney in Alabama, Erastus J. Parsons, practiced “as much in one district as in the other.” He will take the matter up with Attorney General William H. Moody, but he has already sent in Parsons’s name, and it will be difficult to withdraw it. He asks if Wiley will come see him on Monday.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-12-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles H. Scott

President Roosevelt informs Charles H. Scott that he appointed Judge Thomas Goode Jones knowing that he was a Democrat who had voted against him. He assures Scott that he is satisfied with Jones’ conduct as a judge and that he has “more than borne out” Roosevelt’s hopes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-17

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Hannis Taylor

Although he appreciates the gesture, President Roosevelt tells Hannis Taylor that he does not have room for any more hunting trophies other than his own.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-02

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Dorsey Jelks

President Roosevelt thanks Governor Jelks for his letter, and says how much he enjoyed his visit to Alabama and the other Southern states.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-06

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Eleroy Curtis

President Roosevelt wants to correct mistakes and falsehoods in William Eleroy Curtis’s letter about the state of political appointments in Alabama. Roosevelt believes that Curtis was misled by a statement by Mr. Faulkner, which implied that Roosevelt has appointed fewer and worse African Americans to positions than William McKinley did. The appointments in Alabama have been higher quality in the last three and a half years.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Eleroy Curtis

In response to a letter from William Eleroy Curtis about the quality of his appointments in Alabama, President Roosevelt offers the facts. He asks Curtis to ask people whether the new men he has appointed are better than the ones he replaced. He also clarifies that he did not bar appointees from serving on national and state committees, but that he prefers that appointees do not dominate them. In response to Curtis’s demands that he replace postmasters in Dothan, Andalusia, and Marion, Roosevelt says that one was removed, an inspector recommended that a second be kept, and an investigation into the third is ongoing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Moody

President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that he would like Colonel Mosby to take an enclosed letter from Mr. Stratton and investigate the conditions in Alabama. Roosevelt does not think Mosby would need to meet Stratton, but he wishes for Mosby to meet with Judge Jones. He also says that Mosby should talk to Postmaster General Wynne before he goes, as the matter is related to the post office.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Goode Jones

President Roosevelt corrects Judge Jones; Miss Cunningham is not currently the postmistress of Brewton, Alabama, but is merely a candidate for the position. He has asked John Singleton Mosby to investigate Alabama affairs, directing him to contact Jones for information. Roosevelt asks Jones’s opinion of the recommendation for Birmingham postmaster.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Booker T. Washington

President Roosevelt tells Booker T. Washington about several difficulties he is having pertaining to matters in Alabama. Roosevelt is having trouble over the William Frye Tebbetts case because President Pro Tempore of the Senate William P. Frye has a “personal interest” in Tebbetts and wants him reappointed. Similarly, Roosevelt wants to trust Thompson and put Montgomery in the place of Chisolm under the Department of Justice, but the department says there is no issue with Chisolm. As Roosevelt says, “[Thompson] must not make it difficult for me by starting to turn out men who are . . . doing well.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-02

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph O. Thompson

President Roosevelt tells Collector of Internal Revenue Joseph O. Thompson the members he has been told comprise the State Committee of Alabama. The president believes the list shows “a very undesirable state of affairs,” and is of the opinion that there should be “no such unhealthy predominance of office holders.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-24

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry S. Pritchett

President Roosevelt fundamentally agrees with Henry S. Pritchett and James Ford Rhodes about the Southern question. Although Roosevelt believes it is unwise and impractical to repeal the Fifteenth Amendment now, he does agree it should not have been passed in the first place. The president can also agree with Pritchett and Rhodes that Congress should not press for active enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment; however, it cannot go too far with Mississippi Senator John Sharp Williams having more power than Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon. Roosevelt believes Southern states cannot enforce the laws themselves because they are trying to readopt slavery through peonage. Additionally, Southerners demand the exclusion of African Americans from offices, although Southerners have approved of Roosevelt’s choices for offices in the South on the whole even though the president has appointed some African Americans. Roosevelt insists he has tried Pritchett’s course of action, but it has not worked because the South has not met him even halfway. The president believes cooperation depends on Southerners, and the difficulty will vanish when they “quit lying.” Finally, Roosevelt says he has not observed outside criticism of the South and asks Pritchett how Congress needs to respond since it has not controlled the South. Roosevelt concludes by asking for one specific thing he is doing wrong, as he wants to learn.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-14

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Goode Jones

President Roosevelt heartily thanks Judge Jones for the work he has done as a District Judge in Alabama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Bucklin Bishop

President Roosevelt finds amusement in the clipping from The World about the Evening Post, and he thinks it base and hypocritical for the Post to continue to support the candidacy of Alton B. Parker in light of such speeches as that of Henry Gassaway Davis. Roosevelt provides two quotations addressing the “colored issue” for inclusion in his speech and letter of acceptance. Roosevelt aims to make his points clear while at the same time making them in such a way as to cause minimal irritation in the south.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

President Roosevelt insists that the southerners who have attacked him cannot deny that he has “elevated the public standard” through his appointments, and that he has appointed fewer colored men than his predecessor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Byrne

President Roosevelt replies with interest to Major Byrne, explaining, in confidence, his position on race relations in the South. Roosevelt cites the Indianola post office affair, when African American postmistress Minnie M. Geddings Cox was driven out of town by a white mob, as an example of the “policy of retrogression” in the South. Roosevelt says, “On the one hand I wish by my action to avoid stirring up any bitterness; on the other hand, I must not act in a cowardly manner and make the apostles of lawlessness and of brutal disregard of the rights of the black man feel encouraged in their indignity. As always in life, I have to face conditions, not as I would like to have them, but as they actually are, and every course I take is beset with difficulties.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-14

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Byrne

President Roosevelt tells Major Byrne that tax revision cannot be undertaken by people who think that the tariff is unconstitutional “robbery.” He acknowledges a shared belief with Byrne that there are “grave inequalities” in the tariff, but he will not make promises he is unable to keep. Roosevelt cares too much about the “color problem” issue to make it a partisan battle, and holds up Democrats and ex-Confederates as examples to this end.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-31