Ambassadors

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Whitelaw Reid

President Roosevelt is glad to see H. H. Asquith named the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He thanks Ambassador Reid for warning him that the Pilgrims’ Club are “notoriety hunters” and will instruct David Jayne Hill not to attend the dinner. He also notes that he has been approached by Irish societies who have asked him to oppose the arbitration treaty with Great Britain. He refused, citing George Washington’s admonition not to “give way to national antipathies.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lloyd Carpenter Griscom

President Roosevelt informs Ambassador to Italy Griscom that recent events have made the ambassador’s letter to the president obsolete. The publicity surrounding the incident has made it important that nothing further is said on it, and Roosevelt instructs Griscom to say nothing more on the subject. Apparently there is a “conflict of memory” regarding what was actually said in conversation with German Emperor William II. Roosevelt expects to hear from Griscom soon about whether King Victor Emmanuel III has a copy of Outdoor Pastimes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-05

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to David E. Thompson

President Roosevelt thanks David E. Thompson, Ambassador to Mexico, for the portrait of President Porfirio Díaz and remarks on how pleased he is with Thompson’s performance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-09

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Allen White

President Roosevelt has sent copies of William Allen White’s Stratagems and Spoils: Stories of Love and Politics to friends including French Ambassador J. J. Jusserand. Roosevelt will introduce White to Jusserand and encloses his response.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-03

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Sally Logan Coles

President Roosevelt informs Sally Logan Coles that he hopes an ambassador will be able to give a presentation in her community, but he cannot make any promises. This ambassador has many other presentations that he needs to give.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Francis G. Landon

President Roosevelt is sorry to hear of Ambassador Landon’s resignation. However, he believes Landon will be better suited for domestic over foreign service. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-08

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lucius B. Swift

President Roosevelt asks Lucian B. Swift if the enclosed was satisfactory. Roosevelt inquires if Swift’s wife Ella Lyon Swift would like to receive personal letters Roosevelt has written to various United States ambassadors.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Silas McBee

President Roosevelt invites Silas McBee to a luncheon planned for March 20, and states that James Bryce, Ambassador of Great Britain, will be present.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-20

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lloyd Carpenter Griscom

President Roosevelt is satisfied by the work of Ambassador Griscom, and glad that he and his wife Elizabeth Bronson Griscom are enjoying their time in Rome.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-06

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles

President Roosevelt tells Anna Roosevelt Cowles that her letter interested him. Roosevelt assures her that he will tell Viscount Lee of Fareham to tell the Englishman of Roosevelt’s confidence in Ambassador Whitelaw Reid. Roosevelt also mentions that Cabot Ward and Frances Morris Ward have done well in Puerto Rico. Roosevelt is also glad to hear that Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw spoke so well, and praises his work for the campaign. Roosevelt looks forward to seeing Cowles and shares his enjoyment of occasionally seeing her husband William. S Cowles. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-28

Letter from Rudolph Forster to Elihu Root

Rudolph Forster relays information to Secretary of State Root about the upcoming visit to the White House from British Ambassador to the United States H. Mortimer Durand.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-03

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles

President Roosevelt asks his sister, Anna Roosevelt Cowles, to tell her husband, Rear Admiral William Sheffield Cowles, that he will consider appointing John A. Mudd, but is not so favorably inclined towards appointing him because of his tendency to promote himself. Roosevelt likes Chinese Ambassador Liang Cheng, and thinks he will be a good influence on China. He is pleased to hear about Cowles’s son William Sheffield Cowles, and promises to try to teach Kermit Roosevelt, who is Sheffield’s companion, some tennis also.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles S. Francis

President Roosevelt tells Ambassador Francis that Francis’s predecessor, Bellamy Storer, had been derelict in his duty, and advises him on several actions he could take to begin repairing the damage Storer caused. Roosevelt is not happy about how the Austrian government is handling immigration to the United States and advises Francis to take an interest in immigration and naturalization matters. He also advises Francis to remember that he is ambassador to both Austria and Hungary, and to make sure to not neglect the Hungarian side of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and to carefully contact Count Albert Apponyi to begin reaching out.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of State Root that people familiar with the issue have suggested to him that the only way to reach a satisfactory conclusion regarding the Niagara Falls business is to appoint a special ambassador to Canada to negotiate with the Canadian government.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-01

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas O’Gorman

President Roosevelt is as sorry as Bishop O’Gorman is about what has been published about the removal of Bellamy Storer and Maria Longworth Storer. The only announcement from the State Department was that Bellamy Storer “had been discontented at not receiving a promotion and that he had declined to answer certain letters,” and Roosevelt did not authorize any comments on the situation beyond the fact that Storer had been recalled. Roosevelt places the responsibility for more information leaking out squarely on the shoulders of Maria Longworth Storer and Bellamy Storer, as he had personally worked to keep the details out of the news.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Luke E. Wright

President Roosevelt asks General Wright to emphasize to Emperor Meiji of Japan the importance the United States puts on the creation of an Ambassador to Japan, as Japan is “the first Asiatic Power to whom we have ever sent an Ambassador, and at once the oldest and the youngest of the great civilized Powers among which it has taken a place in the very foremost rank.” Roosevelt hopes the appointment of an ambassador will help expand the friendship between the United States and Japan. He asks Wright to consult with the State Department when putting together his presentation speech, but encourages him to, “in the end shape the speech as you choose.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Ireland

President Roosevelt tells Archbishop Ireland that he has not heard from either Ambassador Bellamy Storer or his wife Maria in the two and a half months since he wrote them regarding their indiscretions. In addition to their original actions, Roosevelt feels that it is unacceptable for an Ambassador not to acknowledge communications from the President; it is further unacceptable for the Storers to have written to other parties about the matter before they communicated with him. He will not allow the Storers to go to Spain as special ambassadors, and believes that he will have to remove Bellamy from his post as Ambassador.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-21

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Leslie M. Shaw

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Treasury Shaw that he thinks the best thing to do would to let “our Ambassador, who is a Pennsylvanian” deal with the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to J. J. Jusserand

President Roosevelt regrets that he and his family will not be at Oyster Bay when French Ambassador Jusserand arrives, and will have to wait to see him until he goes to Washington, D.C.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Paul Morton

President Roosevelt thought that the article in the Cosmopolitan about Paul Morton was good. He also says he has thought about Morton’s opinion on immigration, and the Italian ambassador made a similar suggestion. Roosevelt is not sure he can “work it out,” but he will carefully consider it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-19