Battleships

Letter from Robert Halsey Patchin to Theodore Roosevelt

Robert Halsey Patchin informs President Roosevelt of the financial loss and embarrassment he would incur if he is not permitted to accompany the Great White Fleet. He tells the president he changed his living arrangements, severed several business connections, and purchased an outfit fitting on a cruise in the tropics after receiving an official letter from Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans and felt free to make these changes because the notification was official.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-09

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Cameron McRae Winslow

President Roosevelt will make the changes suggested by Rear Admiral Winslow and has instructed the Navy Department to heed his advice regarding the battleships.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-15

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Francis E. Warren

President Roosevelt is glad to hear from Senator Warren that Wyoming is doing well and says the state will get a battleship when Congress provides one.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William S. Cowles

President Roosevelt finds Rear Admiral Cowles’s message interesting and important. While unable to express his opinion on the subject, Roosevelt believes it will revolutionize naval warfare. He wants Cowles to discuss it with Captain Cameron McRae Winslow in connection with plans for new battleships.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank P. Flint

President Roosevelt hopes that Senator Frank P. Flint will support the bill to authorize and appropriate funds for the construction of four new battleships, as he feels it would be unpatriotic not to.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Samuel H. Piles

President Roosevelt is pleased to hear that Senator Piles is going to introduce the amendment to build four battleships. Roosevelt believes it is vital to get these battleships, and cannot understand the shortsightedness of those who oppose the motion.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-22

Telegram from Theodore Roosevelt to Alvey A. Adee

President Roosevelt asks Acting Secretary of State Adee to communicate to Japanese Ambassador Kogoro Takahira profound sympathy to the accident on their battleship Kashima. The president remembers the concern that Japanese representatives have expressed to the United States when there have been similar accidents.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lawrence F. Abbott

President Roosevelt sends Lawrence F. Abbott several letters and telegrams about the Standard Oil Company case that are for his information only. He also answers Abbott’s questions about the Great White Fleet, emphasizing that the fleet must always stay together as a unit whether in Atlantic or Pacific waters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-13

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Jonathan Bourne

Senator Bourne is at liberty to discuss the Great White Fleet. President Roosevelt is too busy to deal with the subject of arbitration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-21

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Truman Handy Newberry

Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry’s letter helped President Roosevelt better understand the situation. Roosevelt believes the best itinerary for the Great White Fleet to follow is through the Straits of Magellan and returning through the Suez Canal, but he seeks advice from the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Admiral Willard H. Brownson. Roosevelt also believes several reporters should accompany the fleet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Willard H. Brownson

President Roosevelt congratulates the members of the USS Georgia in getting the ship back to work. In confidence, the president asks Admiral Brownson if the United States Navy can expedite the building of battleships, especially in the event of hostilities with Japan.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Victor Howard Metcalf

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that he hopes the navy personnel bill will be passed, but they need to put up a fight and Metcalf should write to the senate committee as Roosevelt already has. Roosevelt also makes it clear he wants two battleships this session.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Kermit Roosevelt

President Roosevelt expresses concern about his son Kermit Roosevelt’s health. He mentions the Brownsville matter, the opposition from the Senate over the battleships and offers his view on Native Americans. Roosevelt is pleased that Kermit has been reading and studying, and updates Kermit on recent family activities.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Edmund Foss

President Roosevelt hopes for two battleships this year. He tells Representative Foss, Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, that he is looking to them to help the Navy. In a postscript, Roosevelt notes the enclosure showing that the Unites States is far behind what foreign nations are doing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Eugene Hale

President Roosevelt argues for the construction of two first-class battleships, describing the ways in which they are economically and tactically superior to other types of Navy vessels.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-11

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Edmund Foss

President Roosevelt argues for the construction of two first-class battleships, describing the ways in which they are economically and tactically superior to other types of Navy vessels.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-11

Letter from William Sowden Sims to Theodore Roosevelt

William Sowden Sims wrote a paper about future naval tactics for an entire fleet of ships and shares his conclusions with Theodore Roosevelt, as well as enclosing the paper. Sims believes many modifications will be needed for future naval actions, listing them for Roosevelt, whom he thinks they will interest.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-05

Letter from Willard H. Brownson to Theodore Roosevelt

Admiral Brownson, chief of the Bureau of Navigation, sends President Roosevelt a letter from Admiral Robley D. Evans with information about the Great White Fleet. Brownson comments on Evans’s points about fleet movements, maneuvers, and supplies. He feels it best to have just one journalist accompany the fleet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-19

Letter from Truman Handy Newberry to Theodore Roosevelt

Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry sends information about a number of battleships to President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-21

Letter from Kermit Roosevelt to Theodore Roosevelt

Kermit Roosevelt tells President Roosevelt what he is reading and how the weather has been recently. He asks whether the Ute braves finally came to Roosevelt and if Roosevelt has sent the “Tartar tribe” back to Utah. Roosevelt mentions that he requested papers regarding the “Brownsville discharge affair” from William Loeb, as Barclay is debating on it and he has been working hard with him, although he belongs to the opposite camp. He asks if President Roosevelt thinks he will get “those two big battleships of the dreadnought class” that he has asked for.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-20