Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt believes “no good result can come if we continue the policy of dividing force from righteousness.” Roosevelt does not know if he can really do anything.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-10-02
President Roosevelt is glad that Viscount Lee liked his comments about India. He felt the timing was right given that agitators like James Keir Hardie and William Jennings Bryan are feeding existing discontent in India, Great Britain, and America about the establishment of an Indian republic. Roosevelt agrees with Lee’s argument about the “two-power navy policy,” and does not believe Americans will take offense if Lee frames his reasoning thus. It would be a bad diplomatic decision to make a special exception for America, or any country, because this would give offense to other allies. Roosevelt is worried about the current conflict over Japanese immigration to the United States. He wants to follow a policy that prevents Japanese immigration “with the minimum of friction and the maximum of courtesy,” while also building up the navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-07
President Roosevelt praises Joseph Bucklin Bishop’s wife, Harriet Hartwell Bishop, calling her “a trump if ever there was one.” Roosevelt is glad that president-elect William H. Taft is going to examine the Panama Canal with several engineers, as he feels like the best way to address concerns about it is through “prompt, aggressive action.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-04
President Roosevelt tells President-Elect Taft that he was recently approached by Austrian Ambassador Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár, who was concerned about a telegram that Taft and his wife, Helen Herron Taft, allegedly sent to the Serbians. While Roosevelt does not know anything about the incident, he offers his opinion on the situation in the Balkans, and says that the Austro-Hungarian empire has done a good job governing Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that immediate annexation of these states to Serbia would be a disaster.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-29
President Roosevelt informs George W. Goethals that he plans to send William H. Taft to visit the Panama Canal zone early in 1909, along with several engineers, to investigate the matter of the Gatun dam. Many rumors currently exist in opposition to the construction of the Gatun dam, but Roosevelt tells Goethals that he is not beholden to anything but completing the canal in the safest and best manner. Roosevelt additionally tells Goethals that he would like to send a man named William Stickney to Panama to work on the canal, and asks if there is a position where Stickney might be able to show his merits.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-13
President Roosevelt was recently reading a volume of John Morley’s work Critical Miscellanies, and wished to write to him about a number of the issues he raises, and critiques several other historians and works of history. Roosevelt pivots to talking about the recent election in the United States as he identifies it as having taken place under circumstances similar to those identified by Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay–with a recent financial panic and a demagogue opposing William H. Taft–but because of the moral superiority of the Republican party, Taft became president-elect. Roosevelt believes that foolish optimism can get in the way of sane optimism, but also believes that there is cause to hope in the future. He would like to see Morley when he visits England in 1910.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-01
President Roosevelt writes to Melville Elijah Stone regarding his expectations of privacy after leaving the presidency and on his African safari. When Roosevelt leaves on the trip he will be a private citizen, and he hopes to be given the privacy that any other citizen is entitled to. Roosevelt does not plan to speak to any newspapermen after leaving the United States until he returns from his journey. Any statement attributed to him during the period of his absence should be accepted as false.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-02
President Roosevelt was glad to receive Fitzhugh Lee’s letter, and was very interested to read what he wrote about the French cavalry school and the French military in general. Roosevelt tells Lee about the goings-on in the Roosevelt household and the activities of the Roosevelt children. He was pleased about the results of the presidential election, and thinks that president-elect William H. Taft will do a good job.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-27
President Roosevelt writes his son, Ted, about a variety of matters. He discusses the trouble that Emperor William II of Germany is in with both conservatives and socialists. Last year, he gave a damaging interview to American journalist William Bayard Hale, which Roosevelt intervened to prevent the New York Times from publishing. A portion was published in Century and suppressed by the Germans. Roosevelt reflects on the current state of the liberal and democratic movement, and believes that the situation is not as dire as in the French Revolution, or in 1840s America. He also explains his lukewarm support of women’s suffrage. Finally, Roosevelt offers his son advice on working with the people around him when it is natural, but not pursuing relationships that are merely social in nature.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-20
President Roosevelt sends a new letter with the changed sentence that Francis Lynde Stetson suggested. He asks Stetson to return the old letter. Roosevelt does not think that the new letter is as strong, because he meant to refer to Republicans in addition to supporters of William Jennings Bryan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-15
President Roosevelt writes to President-elect William H. Taft about his desire to begin classifying fourth-class postmasters. Roosevelt has already taken steps to remove them from politics by ordering that their tenure will be permanent unless there is a valid reason for their removal. He expects that Congress and other politicians will be angry and oppose this action, and so he would like to do it in December so that he, and not Taft, will bear the brunt of their anger.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-16
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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-13
President Roosevelt was pleased to hear from William Wingate Sewall. He feels that the victory is a triumph for the common sense of Americans, who stood up to William Jennings Bryan making “every demagogic appeal that could be made.” He does not want the drawers that Sewall offered as he is not going somewhere cold, but the socks are just what he needs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-08
President Roosevelt believes that President-Elect Taft’s sweeping victory proves that, with the possible exception of New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes, he was the only Republican who could have defeated William Jennings Bryan. Roosevelt looks forward to seeing Taft at the White House, and will invite Secretary of State Elihu Root to visit them. They will discuss what to do about finding away to oppose Joseph Gurney Cannon as Speaker of the House.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-10
President Roosevelt reflects to his friend George Otto Trevelyan on the result of his election, his presidency, and his feelings on leaving office. He feels good about his accomplishments in office and is confident about leaving William H. Taft as his successor. Although he enjoyed, as always, the new edition of Trevelyan’s Life of Macaulay, he takes exception to Trevelyan including a quote from Archibald Philip Primrose Rosebery which called Macaulay’s marginalia “sublime.” Finally, Roosevelt discusses the reading habits of his sons, Ted and Kermit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-06
President Roosevelt appreciated Ambassador Reid’s speech on Edmund Burke, which he read twice. Roosevelt is very pleased with the election result. He notes that typically the president’s party is voted out of power following a panic, but this year, the American people still voted for William H. Taft. Although Taft’s electoral and popular vote will not equal Roosevelt’s, it is bigger than William McKinley’s.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-04
Attorney General Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on the political and electoral situation in Maryland, where he believes that William H. Taft will win by a slim majority. In some districts and counties, the Congressional candidates may outperform Taft, while in others, the reverse may be true. Of particular concern is the possibility that illiterate African Americans may inadvertently spoil ballots which have deliberately been made confusing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
President Roosevelt notes that William Jennings Bryan has chosen not to respond to his letter to Senator Knox. Knox has “riddled” Samuel Gompers with his speech, which Roosevelt thinks is “an admirable success.” He is glad Knox was able to make use of the injunctions granted on behalf of labor unions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
President Roosevelt agrees with everything Judge Shelby wrote, but does not feel the need to make an address. He believes William Jennings Bryan is “beaten to a frazzle.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
President Roosevelt tells Roger S. Baldwin that when Mark Sullivan asked to publish his letter, he felt it would be “unmanly” to object. He believed that he had to stand by whatever he had said in the letter. He thanks Baldwin for his letter, and asks him to tell his father, Connecticut Chief Justice Simeon E. Baldwin, that everything is all right.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-31