Your TR Source
President Roosevelt sends Attorney General Bonaparte a letter from William J. McCullagh, and asks that Bonaparte not appoint Ohio Attorney General Wade H. Ellis as Assistant Attorney General until the information has been examined.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-26
President Roosevelt is glad to know about the situation between Assistant Attorney General Charles Wells Russell and Assistant Attorney to the Department of Justice Albert A. Richards, as well as the situation with the labeling of whisky. Roosevelt agrees with Bonaparte about keeping Assistant Attorney General Alford Warriner Cooley on as a special assistant and appointing Special Assistant Attorney General James H. Wilkerson in his place.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-17
President Roosevelt informs Attorney General Bonaparte he approves of Ohio Attorney General Wade H. Ellis if Bonaparte is satisfied.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-22
President Roosevelt is disappointed New Mexico Governor Curry appointed Albert B. Fall as attorney general and suggests he be removed. Roosevelt assures Curry the governor has the president’s support. Roosevelt instructed Special Assistant Attorney General Ormsby McHarg to set aside territorial issues and continue his prosecutions. Assistant Attorney General Alford Warriner Cooley will review the situation with Curry in three months.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-15
President Roosevelt agrees with Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte that District Attorney of Wyoming Timothy F. Burke cannot be reappointed due to his lack of enthusiasm regarding laws against the illegal enclosure of public lands, and informs Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock of the situation. Roosevelt has contacted the senators of Wyoming to let them know that Burke will not be reappointed. Roosevelt feels there has been a breakdown within the Department of the Interior in making a successful case against Senator Francis E. Warren, which Roosevelt feels is a more serious case than Burke’s. Edward B. Linnen’s report can be completely discredited and therefore no action can be taken. Roosevelt suggests that a new examination be undertaken by another group of men.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-26
President Roosevelt has sent a letter to Attorney General Bonaparte from a man named Spence who expresses his objection to the appointment of Benjamin M. Ausherman as United States District Attorney for Wyoming. Roosevelt says to pay no attention to Spence who is a drunkard, had spent time in a penitentiary, and was implicated of an assault on Senator Clarence D. Clark.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-21
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Bonaparte that Wyoming District Attorney Timothy F. Burke cannot be considered for reappointment based on reports from Milton Dwight Purdy and Alford Warriner Cooley. Burke’s term is almost up and Roosevelt feels that replacing him as soon as possible would be appropriate, but he would like Bonaparte’s advice.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-18
Attorney General Moody writes to President Roosevelt regarding Moody’s appointment of Assistant District Attorney Cushman to the role of Attorney General special assistant. Moody wishes for news of this appointment to be kept quiet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-26
President Roosevelt suggests William Cullen Dennis as a possible candidate to appoint as Assistant Attorney General. Dennis is currently serving as Assistant Solicitor in the Department of State, and Roosevelt has heard good reports of him from Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon. Secretary of State Elihu Root is also writing Attorney General Bonaparte a letter to this effect. In a postscript, Roosevelt opines that Thomas Carl Spelling is “of pretty small caliber to argue that commodities case,” and tells Bonaparte that they should put their best man on it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-24
President Roosevelt agrees with Attorney General Bonaparte on several matters including a conflict of interest involving Lycurgus H. Lingenfelter in Idaho, the pardon of Captain William H. Von Schaick, and matters relating to Gilbert D. B. Hasbrouck and John D. Archbold. Roosevelt thinks his letter about assistant attorneys general must have passed Bonaparte’s in the mail. Roosevelt expresses his concern for Alford Warriner Cooley, who has had to resign due to tuberculosis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-01
President Roosevelt explains to Oregon Governor Chamberlain why William C. Bristol will not be renominated as Attorney General in Oregon, and he encloses copies of communications about the matter. Bristol has not pursued the land fraud suits that he was specifically hired to handle, and he has stopped answering communications from the Department of Justice. Roosevelt has informed United States Attorney Francis J. Heney to appoint whomever he like as his assistant in prosecuting the suits.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-14
President Roosevelt reminds Senator Piles of the letter he read concerning alcohol when appointing Potter Charles Sullivan District Attorney for the Western district of Washington. After receiving a letter from Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte detailing Sullivan’s relapse into alcoholism, Roosevelt requests that Piles ask Sullivan to resign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-28
Senator Knox was able to put forth the case more clearly in his letter and President Roosevelt comments that he felt there had been many efforts to misrepresent what they had done. Roosevelt notes he is referencing the confirmation of William C. Bristol as United States Attorney for Oregon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-29
President Roosevelt will not answer Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte until he sees him, but reminds him that he always intended to make him Attorney General and is expecting to appoint him in July of this year.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-15
President Roosevelt informs Representative Parsons that he and Secretary of State Elihu Root feel that it is unwise to nominate Charles Evans Hughes for Attorney General. It would be “a calamity” to stop him from his current work investigating insurance companies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-09
Former assistant attorney general Alford Warriner Cooley has been told that he should be able to go back to work in the early spring. Cooley does not think he should remain in the west, and would have liked to start up a practice in New York, except that he has been advised by his doctor to avoid the strain. It seems that resuming his job in the Department of Justice makes the most sense for his financial and physical health, and he asks Roosevelt’s advice of how to raise this question with President-Elect William H. Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-21
William H. Taft writes to President Roosevelt that he is glad Governor Charles Evans Hughes will be nominated, and to even out the ticket he suggests Job Hedges for Attorney General. Taft agrees to “take the stump” as it will enliven the Republican party. William Jennings Bryan will gain momentum while traveling the East, but Taft believes this will only alarm and mobilize Republicans to action. He recently had a lovely dinner with Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Nicholas Longworth, who will soon go on to stump with Representative J. S. Sherman.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-11
Attorney General Bonaparte relays his tentative conclusions to President Roosevelt regarding several potential appointees to permanent federal marshal, attorney, and judiciary positions in the “embryonic State” of Oklahoma (which became a state on November 16, 1907).
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-31
Attorney General Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on several matters before him. Assistant Attorney General Alford Warriner Cooley has been investigating the situation in Alabama, where Bonaparte deems it necessary for Roosevelt to “call down” several politicians who are complicating judicial confirmations and the workings of the attorney general’s office with concerns over political patronage. In Arkansas, Cooley reports that there are many well qualified men to replace Assistant District Attorney Ulysses S. Bratton, who has been involved in improper conduct in a case involving postal inspectors. Bonaparte has recently met with Census Director S. N. D. North and explains the problems he has encountered with obtaining an accurate census of Oklahoma Territory, resulting in problems with representation of citizens there, and makes recommendations to solve the problem. Bonaparte has requested summaries for the injunction regarding the picketing of the Allis Chalmers company in Wisconsin, and is appointing a special counsel to take charge of litigation against a prominent official there. Bonaparte is ready to move against the Tobacco Trust and James Buchanan Duke.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-18
Clarence D. Clark, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informs President Roosevelt that the Alford Warriner Cooley’s appointment as Assistant Attorney General will go before the committee at its Monday meeting. It and other nominations were delayed because of attendance. There is some question as to Cooley’s practical experience but this should not prevent his appointment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-07