Your TR Source
Uncle Sam stands next to the 1904 trophy as President Roosevelt holds a ship labeled Prosperity and Progress. William Jennings Bryan glares as Grover Cleveland sits on the anchor of his toy ship. Caption: Bryan-“If the old party would only get off the anchor I might, at least, set sail.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-03-19
William Jennings Bryan is shown holding his foot in pain after he tried to kick a hat labeled Republican policy that was hiding two bricks labeled public confidence and prosperity under it. President Roosevelt smiles from his hiding place behind the wall. Item is regarding the popularity of Republican policies. Caption: Bryan:–“That was a little too solid and substantial for me I’m sorry I kicked.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-01
President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan appear dressed as school children. Bryan is crying because Roosevelt has stolen his piece of fruit labeled “The Trust Issue” and is about to take a bite out of it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-08-27
President Roosevelt walks off with a fishing pole over his shoulder, carrying a bucket labeled Tariff Reform Bait, as Tom Johnson and William Jennings Bryan, who have their poles crossed in the Presidential Fish Fond, watch him with dismay.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904
President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan appear as roosters. Roosevelt has just pulled off Bryan’s last tail feather labeled “Curb the Trusts.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-05
President Roosevelt’s vigorous treatment of current issues leaves his opponents nothing to stand upon. Here, Roosevelt moves pieces of lumber, leaving his opponents to fall off the path.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-21
Theodore Roosevelt will follow Gifford Pinchot’s suggestion on the letter from Max W. Ball. Roosevelt takes umbrage with Henry Cantwell Wallace’s recommendations on discussing military preparedness in Des Moines, Iowa. He says he will stand behind President Woodrow Wilson “precisely to the degree in which Abraham Lincoln stood behind Polk in the Mexican War…” He will stand behind every public servant to the degree in which they serve the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1918-02-05
Theodore Roosevelt agrees that it was phenomenal to start a new party and defeat the Republicans. Governor Wilson was the strongest possible Democrat but his vote total was reduced to less than what William Jennings Bryan received in 1908. Roosevelt expects the Democrats to hold power for some time but the Progressives must remain prepared to serve the nation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-11-12
Theodore Roosevelt asks Henry F. Cochems to find a man for the Chautauqua engagement mentioned in the enclosed telegram from George E. Vincent. William Jennings Bryan will be speaking on behalf of Woodrow Wilson, and Attorney General Wickersham will present on behalf of President Taft. Roosevelt suggests Bainbridge Colby for the task of representing his side.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-10
Theodore Roosevelt responds to a Boston Transcript clipping sent to him by Quiney Ewing. Roosevelt asserts that the statements about William Jennings Bryan attributed to Roosevelt in the editorial are “sheer invention.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-26
Theodore Roosevelt informs John Foster Bass that he asked Robert R. McCormick to get in touch with Bass regarding the Chicago situation. Woodrow Wilson’s nomination at Baltimore will make things difficult, but perhaps not any more difficult than if William Jennings Bryan had been nominated. In light of the Baltimore Convention and the Democratic Party’s record in Congress, Roosevelt believes nothing good can come out of the old parties.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-02
Theodore Roosevelt was told by Arthur Brisbane that if Woodrow Wilson or William Jennings Bryan were nominated Roosevelt would get the Hearst papers. Theodore Roosevelt is glad that Oscar S. Straus and his wife are going to Chicago.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-06-07
Theodore Roosevelt appreciates the article in The Sun. He chastises the “weak-minded individuals” who describe peace advocates Henry Ford and William Jennings Bryan as “well-meaning.” Roosevelt believes that they are “doing the work of the devil” and have a “tendency to make themselves ridiculous.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-12-06
Theodore Roosevelt writes about the polar extremes in politics using Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, and others as examples.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-12-30
Theodore Roosevelt appreciates Albert E. Joab’s friendship. The statement of William Jennings Bryan was so ridiculous that Roosevelt did not think it was worth arguing about.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-11-17
Theodore Roosevelt describes William Jennings Bryan’s statement that “Mr. Roosevelt classes Christ with the mollycoddles” as a “blasphemous falsehood.” He denies making a statement even resembling such a quote. Roosevelt compares his support for military readiness to the policies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Bryan’s condemnation of Roosevelt’s views also condemns the actions of Washington and Lincoln. Roosevelt compares Bryan’s statement that the country should not prepare for war to the position that a man should not “prevent his wife’s face from being slapped or his daughter from being outraged.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-11-24
Theodore Roosevelt describes Professor Johnson’s talk as “infamous.” Johnson was an economist and prolific author. In October 1915 before the Mills Banking and Tax Committee in New York, Johnson said that overpopulation was to blame for World War I. According to Johnson, marriage or children should not be encouraged. These statements played into Roosevelt’s fears of “race suicide.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-11-27
Theodore Roosevelt agrees with Joseph Bucklin Bishop’s editorial in the World. Woodrow Wilson’s problem about preparedness and national defense, according to Roosevelt, is that he has no convictions but rather makes decisions that are self serving.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-11-08
Theodore Roosevelt declines to contribute to the symposium and corrects the published text of a speech he delivered to the Knights of Columbus in New York. The published text left out a paragraph about the separation of church and state. Roosevelt requests that D. P. Toomey publish a correction.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-11-08
Theodore Roosevelt says he will use what Charles Patrick Joseph Mooney, editor of The Commercial Appeal, wrote in an article in his own speech. Roosevelt thinks what Mooney said about William Jennings Bryan is admirable and discusses treaties.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-11-16