Brown, William Garrott, 1868-1913 | - Theodore Roosevelt Center

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Settle

President Roosevelt expresses surprise at Thomas Settle’s judgement endorsing ex-Senator William E. Chandler’s proposal. Roosevelt states that he has “always liked” Judge Jeter Connelly Pritchard and consults him for appointments to be made in North Carolina. Roosevelt explains that he follows the advice of the Chairman of the State Committee, the national committeemen, and other congressmen when making appointments and that there will always be fighting between the two sides.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alexander Jeffrey McKelway

President Roosevelt thinks it may amuse Alexander Jeffrey McKelway to know that Roosevelt has been being criticized by William Garrott Brown. Brown dislikes that Roosevelt is appointing Democrats to government positions, thereby discouraging the growth of a healthy Republican party in the South. Roosevelt shares this information privately.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Watson Gilder

President Roosevelt returns the letter and documents that Richard Watson Gilder forwarded to him. He agrees that William Garrott Brown seems to be a good person, but does not think that there is anything to be gained by continuing the discussion. Roosevelt had never heard of former senator William E. Chandler’s statement until Brown brought it to his attention, and says that “to call Mr. Chandler’s statement a ‘pipe dream’ is to pay it an unwarranted compliment.” To mention it would be to give it unwarranted attention when it is already a dead statement. Roosevelt does not think he should give another speech in the South.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-20

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Watson Gilder

President Roosevelt tells Richard Watson Gilder that he thinks it would be best if William Garrott Brown did not use any extracts from Roosevelt’s letter to Gilder, as “his point of view is very different from mine, and I do not wish to seem to be in a controversy even of the friendliest kind.” He does not object to Gilder using extracts from the letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-23

Letter from William Loeb to Henry Cabot Lodge

William Loeb returns a letter from William Garrott Brown to Senator Lodge. He also encloses a letter that President Roosevelt wrote to Brown, and asks that Lodge forward it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-06

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Watson Gilder

President Roosevelt tells Richard Watson Gilder that he is welcome to show his letter to William Garrott Brown. Roosevelt was “genuinely shocked” to see what Brown wrote. Roosevelt believes that a comment in George Otto Trevelyan’s The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay applies to people who are trying to “write a national anthem to order.” Roosevelt feels that Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” would be a fine national anthem. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt thanks Gilder for the volume of poems, which arrived as he was signing this letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-19

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Watson Gilder

President Roosevelt writes Richard Watson Gilder a lengthy refutation of an article in the Evening Post in which William Garrott Brown misconstrues his actions in the Republican Party. Namely, Brown accuses Roosevelt of neglecting Republicans in the South and of doing a poor job of making nominations to local offices and positions. Roosevelt asserts that where the Republican party is not strong in the South, he has had to appoint Democrats who were quality men, rather than incapable men who are Republicans. Where he believes the party has a chance to compete with Democrats, he does all he can to support it. Roosevelt also writes that he did not use his influence on officers to get William H. Taft the nomination, but rather Taft was nominated because Roosevelt’s policies were popular, and Taft is the man who will continue those policies. Roosevelt believes that Brown is either ignorant or willfully ignorant of a number of facts.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Watson Gilder

President Roosevelt asks Richard Watson Gilder, chief editor of The Century Magazine, to thank the publication’s associate editor Robert Underwood Johnson for the amusing story his son Owen Johnson wrote in the Saturday Evening Post. He also asks Gilder to have William Garrott Brown send a copy of his letter to him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Graham Brooks

President Roosevelt outlines and refutes the falsehoods in Alfred Holt Stone’s Studies in the American Race Problem. He tells John Graham Brooks that he judges a work’s reliability by seeing what it says about a subject he is familiar with, and then deciding if he can trust it on things that he does not know as much about. He explains that Stone is spreading falsehoods about the so-called “referee” system in the Southern states, especially Mississippi. Roosevelt points out that the practice was common with presidents before him, and that it is necessary in areas where the Republican party does not have a strong enough presence to provide good appointees to positions. He also discusses his handling of the case of African American postmistress Minnie M. Geddings Cox, who was forced by an angry mob to resign her position and leave town.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-13

Letter from Alexander Jeffrey McKelway to Theodore Roosevelt

Alexander Jeffrey McKelway was not aware that he was going to be invited to a conference, but suggests that President Roosevelt also consider inviting Judge Noah B. Feagin, who may be able to contribute to the discussion as well. McKelway suggests several people, both Republicans and Democrats, to consider as possible replacements for the recently-deceased Judged Thomas R. Purnell of North Carolina. McKelway also comments on the development of the Republican party as an opposition party in the South.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-29

Letter from Richard Watson Gilder to Theodore Roosevelt

Richard Watson Gilder asks President Roosevelt if William Garrott Brown may make “discreet use of the statements” from a letter Roosevelt sent to Gilder. Brown may later write something for the Century magazine. Gilder appreciated Roosevelt’s kind words about his poem about St. John’s Chapel, and believes that they may have saved the building for the time being. Gilder is speaking in Philadelphia for the New England Society tonight, and will back up Roosevelt’s ideas on tolerance and yellow journalism.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-22

Letter from John Graham Brooks to Theodore Roosevelt

John Graham Brooks thanks President Roosevelt for his letter on Alfred Holt Stone. He had already gotten letters about Stone’s Studies in the American Race Problem from Edwin Anderson Alderman, Walter Hines Page, and William Garrott Brown. Brooks also received another edition of Socialism & Individualism. He told Lawrence F. Abbott that it is the most powerful work he has seen in thirty years of reading socialist literature.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-16

Letter from Richard Watson Gilder to Theodore Roosevelt

Richard Watson Gilder heartily thanks President Roosevelt for his letter regarding the Southern states, and believes that William Garrott Brown would benefit from seeing it. He asks permission to send it and the enclosure to Brown. Gilder is sending Roosevelt a copy of his “complete poems” separately.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-18

Letter from Richard Watson Gilder to Theodore Roosevelt

Richard Watson Gilder informs President Roosevelt that he has told William Garrott Brown that Roosevelt felt he was unjust in his reference to his administration’s actions regarding the South. Brown regrets this and wishes to be “put right.” He wants Roosevelt’s specific objections to the article. Although Brown is not a Republican, Gilder says that he thinks it is good for the country if the South is not “solid” and was active in the campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-10