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Mr. Youngs would like to confer with Charles J. Bonaparte regarding the Brooklyn Post Office cases. He suggests that Bonaparte can meet with him on his return from Oyster Bay, New York. Youngs has been instructed to prepare a “memorandum of suggested improvements in the administration of federal law.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-10
Theodore Roosevelt encloses a letter from someone in “sore straits” and asks William Loeb to look into the matter. Roosevelt has heard that various Congressional committees are investigating his presidential actions relating to Tennessee Coal and Iron, the Sugar Trust, and the Panama affair. He knows there is nothing to investigate but wants to have the facts at hand so no one can accuse him of forgetting a trivial detail. Roosevelt is particularly interested in locating a letter he wrote to Charles J. Bonaparte discussing the Tennessee Coal and Iron matter.
1911-06-02
William Loeb has seen that Theodore Roosevelt has been invited to appear before the House Committee. He thinks it would be outrageous if Roosevelt is subpoenaed and is unsure of the propriety of examining an ex-President regarding his official acts. Loeb is opposed to Roosevelt appearing either voluntarily or involuntarily. He believes a principle is at stake for Roosevelt and his successors. The committee could acquire all relevant information from Charles J. Bonaparte and Elihu Root. The letter to Bonaparte that Roosevelt is looking for can be found in the letter press copy book at Sagamore Hill and is likely dated November 5, 1907.
1911-06-03
Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft stand in the center of a gathering of Roosevelt’s “officers.” Most are dressed as colonial army officers, with Charles J. Bonaparte dressed as Napoleon and John Burroughs as a frontiersman. All but Roosevelt are crying. Caption: Repetition, one year hence, of a famous scene in Fraunce’s Tavern.
Cartoonist Louis M. Glackens drew this prophetic cartoon in March of 1908, interesting for what it does not outright say, and significant for who it does and does not show, in the group gathered around President Roosevelt.
Glackens sets the scene in Fraunces’ Tavern in lower Manhattan, where General George Washington delivered his famous farewell address to his military compatriots. The comparison of Washington and Roosevelt is flattering.
Theodore Roosevelt appears as “Mikado Roosevelt” with a large cast of characters standing behind him: “Pish Tush Root,” “Landis,” “Pooh Bah Taft,” “Burroughs,” “Heney,” “Cortelyou,” “Steffens,” “La Follette,” “Folk,” “Garfield,” “Riis,” “Loeb,” and “Koko Bonaparte,” who is holding a large sword labeled “Department of Justice.” John D. Rockefeller labeled “Flim-Flam Business,” and Edward Henry Harriman labeled “Flim Flam Finance,” are kneeling on the stage awaiting execution. Caption: “My object all sublime / I shall achieve in time — / To let the punishment fit the crime — / The punishment fit the crime. — / And make each prisoner pent / Unwillingly represent / A source of infinite merriment, / Of infinite merriment.”
Cartoonists in Puck and rival magazine like Judge and Life, as well as newspaper political cartoonists, frequently turned to operas, mythology, and Shakespeare for metaphorical and allegorical setting for their cartoons. Despite their current popularity, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan seldom inspired the cartoonists to parody.
J. S. Pughe of Puck made an exception in the first week of January, 1908. In a rather tortured casting of political reformers and Muckraking journalists as characters from The Mikado, they dance as two condemned men (behind the costumes, John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil; and railroad baron Edward Henry Harriman) nervously await their fate.
Edward Henry Harriman, in the Scottish Highlands, stands with arms and sword raised next to a diamond-shaped rock labeled “Flim-Flam Finance” balancing on a pointed base. Harriman is confronting Theodore Roosevelt and his band of Scotsmen, William H. Taft, Charles J. Bonaparte, Frank B. Kellogg, James Rudolph Garfield, and Milton Dwight Purdy. Caption: Fitzjames Harriman (to Teddy Dhu) — Come one, come all! This rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I!
At one time in the United States, the works of Sir Walter Scott were extremely popular; his books ubiquitous in homes and libraries. Many Scots today are virtually reverential about Scott’s stirring, dramatic, and nationalistic poetry.
One of Scott’s most famous epic poems was Lady Of the Lake (1810), about ancient Highland conflicts in the form of six cantos, each representing a separate day, and falling into three concurrent plots — romantic, conflict, and stirring nationalism. The American freed slave Frederick Douglass took his last name from one of the characters.
The writer highlights the positive aspects of President Roosevelt’s selection of Charles J. Bonaparte for United States Secretary of the Navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna Roosevelt about his recent trip to Philadelphia to give a speech. His son Ted accompanied him on the trip. Roosevelt and his wife Edith have also been doing quite a bit of entertaining lately. Roosevelt’s Uncle Jim Roosevelt will buy Roosevelt’s land. The tangle in the House of Representatives over the tariff and income tax is good for the Republicans.
1894-01-28
This article discusses Charles J. Bonaparte’s political views, revealing that he is both a Republican and independent voter. Subsections of the article include “Republican And Independent,” “Believes In National Organization,” “May Take Part In Campaign,” “What He Thinks Of Parker,” “Democratic Party Improving,” “Letter of Acceptance ‘Commonplace,'” and “Scores Parker’s Alleged Sponsors.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-18
Report on Charles J. Bonaparte’s speech to the Women’s Twentieth Century Club, regarding Civil Service Reform and the “spoils system.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-24
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna about recent happenings in Washington. Roosevelt has begun to vary his civil service work, with his “chief ally” being Charles J. Bonaparte. He recently spent a few days in New York visiting friends. Their sister, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, is having difficulty with her in-laws.
1891-04-05
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna Roosevelt about recent happenings in Washington. He and wife Edith have been socializing quite a bit. His favorite dinner was at Charles J. Bonaparte’s where he got meet Cardinal James Gibbons. He continues to fight for civil service reform.
1891-02-01
President Roosevelt tells his son Kermit about the guests they have been entertaining, including poet Madison Julius Cawein and his wife. Roosevelt adds that he has read more poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Other visitors included Prince Louis of Battenberg and his nephew Prince Alexander, who attended a state dinner and sat next to Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte.
1905-11-06
President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte standing on the bridge of the Mayflower.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-11-14
President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte review the fleet from the bridge of the Mayflower.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-09-28
President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte on the bridge of the Mayflower.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-09-29
President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte on the bridge, as sailors on the deck look on.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-09-28
President Roosevelt and the Secretary of the Navy reviewing the fleet from a reviewing platform
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-09-28
President Roosevelt, the Secretary of the Navy, two admirals, and the Presidential secretary during a Naval review
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-09-28
Draft of a memorandum which reviews the investigation into the Post Office Department, including a list of employees who were dismissed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-24