Brito, Frank, 1877-1973

President Roosevelt asks if the former Rough Rider who William H. H. Llewellyn saw working as a bartender was Thomas H. Rynning. If so, he jokingly points out that he was promoted before Roosevelt was in command of the regiment. Roosevelt is glad that Llewellyn prosecuted Frank Brito, another former Rough Rider, because they “cannot afford to let it be thought that we either shield bad men because they are Rough Riders, or press second rate men forward for the same reason.” Many former Rough Riders have been asking Roosevelt for government positions. Roosevelt is chagrined that the annual reunion of Rough Riders was rescheduled on his account, and thinks that they should stop annual reunions altogether, as he does not want them to be commercialized. He was uncomfortable with Rough Riders speaking for him in uniform in the recent election because of the spectacle, and thinks that in the future reunions should only take place every four years, and should be “simply and solely a quiet meeting of the regiment without any outside show of a spectacular type.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-07-13

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Mark E. Episkopos asserts that Theodore Roosevelt resides at the center of Mark Lee Gardner’s Rough Riders: Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill to such a degree “that it doubles as a partial biography of Roosevelt.” Episkopos highlights Gardner’s treatment of the unity of the Rough Riders, despite class differences between its cowboys and eastern college graduates, Roosevelt’s advocacy on behalf of his troopers after the war, and the various voices that tried to dismiss Roosevelt’s heroism in battle. A photograph and a painting of the Rough Riders and the front cover of the book illustrate the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2016

Creator(s)

Episkopos, Mark E.

Linda E. Milano reviews Betty Boyd Caroli’s The Roosevelt Women and John A. Gable examines eight books published to coincide with the centennial of the Spanish-American War in the “Book Reviews” section. Milano praises aspects of Caroli’s work, but she details what she considers the sometimes inaccurate and unfair depiction of Ethel Roosevelt Derby. Gable likes the two pictorial histories of the war by Stan Cohen and Ron Ziel, and he also admires the two works based on primary sources, Wallace Finley Dailey’s editing of Theodore Roosevelt’s war diary and Jeff Heatley’s compilation of newspaper accounts about the Rough Riders’ return to New York state. While Gable notes three other works, he devotes four paragraphs to a detailed critique of Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan by Peggy Samuels and Harold Samuels which he labels a “trashy book” for its reliance on unreliable sources and its agenda of belittling Roosevelt’s actions in the war. 

The section includes a text box containing the mission statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. 

William H. H. Llewellyn reports on the unfortunate recent activities of former Rough Riders. James D. Ritchie of Troop G is in jail for murder in Colorado and Gerald A. Webb of Troop D killed two men in Arizona. Public sympathy has been growing for Frank Brito, currently incarcerated in New Mexico for killing his sister-in-law, since Brito’s wife ran off with Mr. Coyne of Troop H.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-20

Creator(s)

Llewellyn, William H. H. (William Henry Harrison), 1851-1927

William H. H. Llewellyn reports on the unfortunate recent activities of former Rough Riders. James D. Ritchie of Troop G is in jail for murder in Colorado and Gerald A. Webb of Troop D killed two men in Arizona. Public sympathy has been growing for Frank Brito, currently incarcerated in New Mexico for killing his sister-in-law, since Brito’s wife ran off with Mr. Coyne of Troop H.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-20

Creator(s)

Llewellyn, William H. H. (William Henry Harrison), 1851-1927