Antisemitism

Oscar S. Straus informs Theodore Roosevelt he received a letter from Jacob Saphirstein, the editor of the Jewish Morning Journal, containing an editorial responding to Roosevelt’s proposal for arbitration regarding the Russian passport question, which Straus consulted with Roosevelt regarding and fully endorsed. Straus has written back to Saphirstein and is enclosing a copy of his letter to Roosevelt. Straus feels more convinced than ever that arbitration is the way forward to arrive at a satisfactory solution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Herman Bernstein writes to Theodore Roosevelt after having read Roosevelt’s article “Peace of Righteousness.” Bernstein recalls having an agreeable meeting with Roosevelt, during which Roosevelt informed Bernstein he cannot, as a former President, write publicly on foreign matters. Bernstein urges him to reconsider.

Bernstein states that he understands foreign nations have no international legal standing to interfere with “Jewish massacres”, and that foreign nations cannot criticize the lack of reforms that had been codified in the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. However, Bernstein claims that Russia violated the Russo-America treaty of 1832 due to their treatment of Jewish Americans and states that by allowing in to continue, “Uncle Sam… should permit his ‘face to be slapped’ ” – quoting Roosevelt’s own words.

American diplomat Henry White updates President Roosevelt on efforts to have British diplomat Cecil Spring Rice visit Roosevelt to discuss policy on the “far east.” Spring Rice, who had recently met with King Edward VII, will visit Roosevelt but stay with historian Henry Adams instead of at the White House. White also discusses meeting with Rear Admiral French Ensor Chadwick, who hopes to receive command of a new squadron. White also notes anti-Semitic attitudes in Austria and Italy towards Jewish diplomats.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-13

Arnold White writes about the international situation in Europe, addressing first Russia’s desire for a warm water port, and then his impression of Germany’s goals with regards to Europe. Germany, White says, is the only nation with something to gain from a European war, and that the push for war is coming from the Jewish influence in Germany. With President Roosevelt’s election and friendship towards Germany, the United States has been removed as a potential deterrent toward German aggression. White ends with a prediction that if war happens, it will come through German aggression towards the Netherlands moving towards a collision with Great Britain, and he admonishes his reader that Germany must be watched.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04

This article from the “Jewish Advocate” criticizing an article from The Outlook regarding Jews and the Russian passport question. It also criticizes the views of Dr. Lyman Abbott and Theodore Roosevelt’s attempt to throw the issue in The Hague. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1911-11-17

Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, sits on a throne, wearing a large skull topped with a cross as a crown. A Japanese man offers him papers labeled “Peace ‘with Honor’,” and a Jewish man, holding bags labeled “Jewish Loans,” stands in a palace doorway in the background. A basket overflowing with papers labeled “Jewish Petition [and] Protest against Kishineff Massacres” is on the floor. A paper on a desk states “Cost of War to Russia $1,042,500,000.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The bleak twin situations of the St. Petersburg court are laid bare in this stark double-page cartoon by Joseph Keppler, Junior. Even before its disastrous war with Japan in the Far East, Czar Nicholas’s Russia was crumbling in virtually all ways possible. It was nearly bankrupt, losing control of its client states and border peoples, beset by protests from serfs and the bourgeoisie, facing assassination attempts and intrigues among underground Socialist, Communist, and Anarchist groups, and worldwide condemnation over Czarist suppression of religious and Jewish minorities.

A man representing Russia holds a cat-o’-nine tails labeled “Russia” with the lashes labeled “Absolutism, Persecution, [and] Tyranny.” Next to him, on the left, are several dead or wounded people with the word “Kish[i]neff” written on the ground, and in the background, clouds labeled “Finland” and “Poland” are hovering above large groups of people being persecuted by the Russians. The man is shielding his eyes against a burst of sunlight on the right in which is a Japanese woman labeled “Modern Japan” surrounded by the words “Justice, Progressiveness, Humaneness, Enlightenment, Tolerance [and] Religious Liberty.” The figure of a Japanese man labeled “Medievalism” lies on the ground, crushed by the light of “Modern Japan.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

With the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 in the month before this cartoon’s publication, Puck clearly chose sides, as seen in this cartoon by Keppler. The world learned that the failure of often harsh diplomatic exchanges was quickly followed by Japan’s overwhelming victory over the Russian fleet in Port Arthur (occupied Manchuria).

Morris Bricks provides information on Medora von Hoffman’s ancestors who lived on Staten Island and encloses some related articles. He is interested in knowing if the Marquis de Morès’s antisemitism is noted at the Chateau de Morès or creates problems at the site.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1987-02-12

Theodore Roosevelt is in need of a copy of the English translation of Chamberlain’s Foundations of the Nineteenth Century. His secretary suggests looking for it in London if they are not able to find a copy in the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-10

President Roosevelt has read in a Jewish American newspaper that Secretary of War Taft plans to speak with Emperor Nicholas II about the treatment of Russian Jews. Secretary of State Elihu Root does not think this is a wise move, particularly since Russian Foreign Minister Count Aleksandr Petrovich Izvolsky has already formally refused any communications on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-21

President Roosevelt congratulates Simon Wolf on his election to the presidency of the Order of B’nai B’rith.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-05

Jacob H. Schiff and Congressman Littauer are primarily responsible for bringing the persecution of the Romanian Jews to President Roosevelt’s attention and have every right to feel pleased at the result.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-10-27

President Roosevelt asks Surgeon General O’Reilly to look into the case of Dr. Edwin M. Mendel. Roosevelt believes that Dr. Mendel could be a credit to the service but Mendel believes he is being discriminated against due to his Jewish ancestry.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-10-20

William T. Hornaday is distressed and disgusted at the abundance of litter and vandalism encountered at parks, zoos, and other public places. At the New York Zoological Park, they have removed 100 park benches because of littering, and Hornaday places the blame on neighborhood women and “low class Jews.” Hornaday believes that American society has become too focused on personal liberty and has grown tolerant of the “disorderly element.” In a handwritten postscript, Hornaday describes the “worst case” of park vandalism encountered at the National Zoological Park, and the disappointing response from Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-08-17

Scott W. Crosthwait sends Theodore Roosevelt his “production,” which he finished on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. He discusses his enslaved parents and his birth into slavery. Because of this experience, he feels all oppressed people, including Jews, should have a square deal. Crosthwait asks Roosevelt, “a friend of the Jews,” to read and publicize the sentiments of his work.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-24

B. G. Tieger sends Theodore Roosevelt their poem petitioning Americans to read Jewish history and “see how much utility and advantage this people has brought.” They hope Roosevelt will publish it in The Outlook.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-18

Ambassador Meyer quotes a published semi-official note regarding the “Jewish question,” and notes that the position of Prime Minister Petr Arkad’evich Stolypin is a difficult one, because of opposition from the Duma.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-29

Herbert Parsons expresses disbelief at the Judiciary Nominator’s proposal to nominate nine members of the opposing party and only four Republicans to the ticket. Parsons considers it unwise for their political organization and states that his leadership of the County Committee would be under threat if such a path were followed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-13

Oscar S. Straus is surprised that President Roosevelt read his interview with James B. Morrow of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Straus’s purpose in doing the interview was to “set right some of the exaggerated ideas some people have about the Jews.” Straus’s travels in France, Great Britain, and Germany have convinced him that Roosevelt’s efforts in the United States are garnering the United States respect throughout Europe. Straus says that the American people will insist on Roosevelt seeking a third term.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-18

Assistant Secretary of State Bacon writes to Ambassador George von Lengerke Meyer about the situation in Russia. The blame for the instability of the Duma should be evenly distributed between Tsar Nicholas II and his advisors. Bacon believed actual action and sacrifices mean more than words and sees the need for the formation of a constitutional government and a route out of bankruptcy as Russia’s highest concerns. The government is suppressing the distribution of the new Viborg Manifesto, created by former Dumas members.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-28