Ballot

Charles A. Peabody, president of Mutual Life, and Alexander E. Orr, president of New York Life, play poker with Samuel Untermeyer. Each is holding a handful of “Proxies” in one hand and a pistol in the other. Caption: A quiet game of freeze-out in life insurance gulch.

Comments and Context

In the aftermath of the lengthy, detailed, and juicy investigations into the insurance industry in 1905, undertaken by the New York State Assembly and eventually managed by attorney Charles Evans Hughes, the practices of Big Insurance in America were a hot topic, and would be for years to come.

No insurance executive or any of the surprising numbers and names of politicians in unholy alliances ever went to jail. However, many insurance executives resigned their management and board positions and many careers were ruined.

Theodore Roosevelt has wired Dorsey Green requesting that he remove his name from the list of President Taft electors.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912

Theodore Roosevelt appeals to the citizens of Idaho to not allow themselves to be disenfranchised by a recent court ruling. The Republicans are using “trickery and chicanery” against the Progressive Party because they know they cannot succeed in a fair fight. Roosevelt encourages the men and women of Idaho to write in the names of Progressive candidates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-10-12

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary thanks Frank A. Morrill for his letter and his views on the Massachusetts primary.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-07

Theodore Roosevelt appreciates the clipping that George H. Haynes sent to him, as well as all that Haynes had to say. Roosevelt was particularly interested in what Haynes wrote about the short ballot.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-26

Theodore Roosevelt thanks James Gore King Jr. for his part in the ballot and he is pleased that King remembers the Great White Fleet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-07-01

Theodore Roosevelt has read the New York Short Ballot Organization’s pamphlet on applying short ballot principles to New York and approves of their proposals. He agrees that the “little offices” should be removed from politics and that the Governor and Lieutenant Governor should be the only elective state officers. Roosevelt believes the short ballot would also lessen the power of political machines and generally benefit the state.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-01-19

Theodore Roosevelt tells Richard S. Childs he has no further comment to make on the short ballot.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-12-22

Theodore Roosevelt does not think any good would come from William Osborne McDowell’s proposed ballot. Roosevelt thinks it would be quite impossible for people holding his views on peace to vote as McDowell suggests.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-12-17

Dorsey Green is the only Theodore Roosevelt elector in Kansas that refuses to remove himself from the Republican ballot under the name of President Taft. William Allen White requests that Roosevelt wire Green asking him to retire.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-10-03

W. Cromwell asks Theodore Roosevelt for his opinion on short ballots.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-13

William Rand sends Theodore Roosevelt a report he compiled regarding the order of names on Harvard University’s official commencement day ballot. He does not think it should be presented to the entire Board of Overseers but feels the full committee should consider it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-13

William Rand discusses why he does not concur with the Committee on Elections’ recommendation of how candidates’ names should appear on the official ballot.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-11

In this printed extract of a speech, Alton B. Parker states that the purpose of a previous address was to warn the people about the electorate being corrupted by “tariff-bred trusts and other monopolies” and their political contributions. President Roosevelt did not, in response to this, return the money his campaign received from corporations, and Parker alleges that the contributions to Roosevelt have in fact increased because of the attitude he has taken.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-06

An exemplary ballot of the Republican Party for the presidential primary of April 30, 1912, issued by the Taft League of Massachusetts. The ballot includes names of candidates as well as instructions for casting a vote.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation

Creation Date

1912-04-30

Two different versions of a ballot for elections in Maryland. One includes candidates representing the Social Democrat party.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-30

A woman labeled “Votes for Women,” holding a paper labeled “The Ballot,” parts a curtain on a darkened room where two men labeled “Honest Graft” and “Political Boss” are sitting, huddled over a money bag labeled “Corruption Fund.” “Honest Graft,” startled, begins to rise, knocking over a basket full of papers.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-02-28

John Wallace Springer provides information on the individuals using President Roosevelt’s name without his permission in the factional fighting of Colorado Republicans. The bolters are cooperating with Democrats and have succeeded in defeating the Republican nominee for Supreme Court judge. They have tickets on the ballot identical to the Democrat ticket but named the Roosevelt Republican or Anti-Wolcott ticket.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-08

Representative Wachter encloses two ballots. The first is from a set of ballots that were defective and destroyed. The second ballot is currently in use.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-30