Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt thanks the editor of The Long Island Globe for the work they did in the campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-11-18
President Roosevelt heartily approves of William Isaac Thomas’s letter, and wishes that he saw it before writing his annual message. Roosevelt believes that “the purchased press is very nearly as great a damage as the yellow press.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-19
President Roosevelt believes the statements made by Delevan Smith in the Indianapolis News are patently false, and that refuting them will bring them undue attention. Because William Dudley Foulke insists that a reply be made, however, Roosevelt writes to refute the charges of a scandal involved in the purchasing of the Panama Canal zone from France. Roosevelt particularly refutes the charge that the affair has not been transparent, as documents related to it have been freely available. Roosevelt has refuted other false charges leveled against his administration, but the newspapers continue to print them, so he doubts whether his denial will be effective.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-01
President Roosevelt valued M. J. Costello’s editorial and thought it counterbalanced all the writing by those affiliated with the trusts in the other papers. He has tried to serve the plain people by championing their demands and has only grown more understanding of their plight.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-30
President Roosevelt tells J. Harry Selz that Secretary William Loeb showed him the letter and the copy of The Weekly News from December 12th, 1907 and he was very pleased with what Selz said.
President Roosevelt wonders who is behind the newspaper advertisement that John M. Grainey enclosed, noting that it appears in all the papers. He believes the people behind it are financed by corporations who are retaliating against Roosevelt because they cannot make him abandon his “determination to enforce the law against the wealthy malefactor” as he enforces it “against his poorer brother.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-07
President Roosevelt emphatically states he is not running again for president, having said as much in numerous contexts. He rails against newspapers, saying it is useless to correct them in their “campaign of constant falsehood.” Regarding financial reform, Roosevelt agrees with William Emlen Roosevelt that no legislation will prevent another Panic of 1907 because it is the result of financial debauchery and dishonesty by those in high places.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-09
Roosevelt expresses to Senator Lodge his thoughts and concerns for the upcoming gubernatorial and congressional elections. Roosevelt is worried about Hearst’s influence in New York and the changing attitudes in the labor movement. Roosevelt also gives updates on activities of Secretary of State Elihu Root and Attorney General William H. Moody, as well as his son, Ted, whose letter is enclosed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-02
President Roosevelt informs Police Commissioner O’Meara he believes the Boston police mishandled the arrest of his son Ted. Despite support of O’Meara, Roosevelt believes “under the best conditions it is impossible to prevent a brute or an occasional fool in uniform from acting badly.” Roosevelt believes Ted has been misrepresented in the press, and that he did not assault anyone.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-02
President Roosevelt sends Senator Burrows some papers relating to the investigation of the removal of Laura A. Hull Morris from the White House. Roosevelt did not wish to harm the reputation of Morris further, and has not paid attention to any of the subsequent attacks and misrepresentation from the press, but now that the matter has come before a Senate committee he gives Burrows permission to make any or all of the papers public if it is felt that that is in the public interest.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-16
President Roosevelt complains to George Otto Trevelyan about the “amount of utterly worthless written matter published in America.” He sends Trevelyan a few American books that he thinks are good which were published during the last year. Roosevelt also tells Trevelyan about his recent trip through the South, where he was received with enthusiasm.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-08
President Roosevelt tells Lawrence F. Abbott that he only writes to him and his father, Lyman Abbott, because he believes in The Outlook “with all [his] heart and soul.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-22
President Roosevelt takes issue with an article by Clifford Howard which appeared in The Outlook. Howard wrongly asserts that there is dishonesty and corruption among government officials who use government funds and services for personal use. In a postscript, Roosevelt also encloses information about Dr. Louis Livingston Seaman. He does not believe that Seaman can be a supporter regarding the increase of medical force in the army, because “no one could afford to be responsible for his utterly reckless statements.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-14
President Roosevelt takes issue with the way that certain newspapers, including the New York Times, New York Evening Post, and New York World, report on the issue of campaign funds in the last election. Roosevelt assures Elbert F. Baldwin that he has never offered favors to those who have given large sums of money to his campaigns, and that he was unaware that several corporations had donated. He also discusses whom he can trust regarding the situation between Russia and Japan. He encloses a very rough draft of his upcoming message and asks Baldwin and Lyman Abbott to make suggestions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-20
President Roosevelt congratulates General Felix Agnus for starting the Baltimore American again in a new building one year after the fire.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-06
President Roosevelt thanks Governor White for responding to a statement of the Charleston Gazette and defending the him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-07
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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-12
President Roosevelt tells Robert Wilson Patterson’s that he thinks his plan is admirable. Roosevelt says he will be glad to have Barrett write.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-12
President Roosevelt is interested in what Whitelaw Reid has to say about Harriman. Roosevelt asks if Reid does not find it “curious” that New York Republicans are always fighting, citing the current gubernatorial campaign as an example.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-16
President Roosevelt recommends that the Right Reverend Yates not attend a particular service during the political campaign. Recently, Roosevelt’s minister preached a sermon on peace, and Democratic newspapers misconstrued the sermon as an attack on the President. Roosevelt believes that they would be likely to use the same tactic again. Roosevelt will confine himself to his own ordinary church services until after the election when “our opponents return to the ordinary customs of morality and decency.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-16