Campaign funds--Corrupt practices

Letter from Lincoln Steffens to Theodore Roosevelt

Reporter Lincoln Steffens urges President Roosevelt to consider campaign finance reform which would replace large corporate donations to politicians with smaller individual contributions instead. He agrees with Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou that it may be impracticable but thinks that even a suggestion of such a plan from Roosevelt would serve as an effective warning to corporations attempting to purchase influence.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-06

Creator(s)

Steffens, Lincoln, 1866-1936

Outline of acts proposed by Association to Prevent Corrupt Practices

Draft of a bill that addresses publicity, campaign contribution limitations, and punishing corrupt practices in campaigns and fundraising.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-12-30

Creator(s)

Association to Prevent Corrupt Practices

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George B. Cortelyou

Copies of two letters and a telegram from President Roosevelt to Secretary Cortelyou regarding a campaign contribution from Standard Oil. Roosevelt insists that the contribution be returned immediately, as he believes the company will want preferential treatment from his administration in return. He also does not want their aid due to their opposition to the formation of the Bureau of Corporations. Roosevelt asks that no public statements be made regarding this issue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-26

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt to L. Rinther

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary thanks L. Rinther for his letter to Roosevelt. He agrees with Rinther that the corrupt practices of John D. Archbold and others are scandalous, trying to buy influence over Roosevelt by offering support for his campaign. Such actions have hurt those attempting them more than they have harmed Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-09-06

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt to Aristides E. Baldwin

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary thanks Dr. Baldwin for his letter to Roosevelt. Roosevelt wants the Senate inquiry into campaign funds to have the highest publicity and transparency so that the public knows exactly what is happening.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-09-04

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt to John Mulholland

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary informs John Mulholland that Roosevelt cannot choose who goes in front of the Senate Committee investigating the political contributions Standard Oil gave the Republican Party in 1904. Roosevelt only wants the facts to be known in the case. The secretary encourages Mulholland to continue talking with Walter F. Brown in order to do good work together.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-29

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Moses E. Clapp

As the Senate committee was unable to see him, Theodore Roosevelt offers his testimony in writing. He denies knowledge of requests for campaign funds directed at the Standard Oil Company for his presidential campaign of 1904. These requests supposedly promised lenient treatment and favors in exchange for large contributions. Roosevelt offers documentary evidence that in 1904 he instructed any money received from Standard Oil to be returned. Furthermore, according to campaign records, no funds were ever received from Standard Oil.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Rumsey Sheldon

President Roosevelt chastises George Rumsey Sheldon, treasurer of the Republican National Committee, for soliciting donations from John D. Archbold and Edward Henry Harriman. Although Roosevelt is not the Republican candidate, he is head of the current Republican administration, which is prosecuting Harriman and Archbold. He notes the impropriety of Archbold and Harriman contributing to a candidate who, if elected, would name the Attorney General responsible for the prosecution. He includes the text of letters he sent four years ago regarding similar contributions from the Standard Oil Company, which he made George B. Cortelyou return.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Edwin Emerson

President Roosevelt chastises Edwin Emerson for repeating gossip about a Guatemalan statesman claiming to have bought political influence in the United States through campaign contributions. Roosevelt has previously denied this claim, and says that unless Emerson can find someone who is willing to back the statement up he has no business repeating it. Roosevelt highlights several false statements that Emerson has made about Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Juan Barrios, and states that to the best of his knowledge there is no truth to anything which Emerson has shared, and that Emerson shares the responsibility for these statements by repeating them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Edwin Emerson

President Roosevelt has asked George B. Cortelyou about a donation to his 1904 presidential campaign from the President of Guatemala, who said he had never heard of such a contribution but would ask Cornelius Newton Bliss about it. Roosevelt seems to remember a man named Hunter in the diplomatic service in Central America who resigned or was removed from office, but does not have any more details about him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lincoln Steffens

President Roosevelt responds to Lincoln Steffens message saying that he should return the money that insurance companies and other corporations gave to the Republican funds which were seeking national legislation. He advises Steffens of the impossibility and impracticality of this, and assures him that, while he believes Congress should make an act regarding the funding of campaigns, there was nothing improper about his campaign’s use of funds. Roosevelt himself did not know many of the entities who gave to his campaign, and outside of three signed photographs, he did not give favors to any of those whom he did know.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-25

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Paul Morton

President Roosevelt tells Paul Morton that he does not know anything about who did or did not contribute financially to his campaign, and that he has been assured that he has no obligation to act or not act based on those contributions. He does not intend to allow money to influence his actions, but although he did not spend the contributions, he has no way of returning them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-22

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Lodge received Theodore Roosevelt’s telegram but it was too late to make any changes to his speech. He was not interested in addressing the Lorimer case as the speech focused on the resolution intended to deprive the United States of controlling Senatorial elections, and a defense of the Constitution. Lodge is concerned about the direct election of Senators as this will increase expenditure and bribery in elections.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-06

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Letter from James Deitrick to William Loeb

James Deitrick has been in England on business and informs William Loeb of the state of affairs in the manufacturing district. People are starving, and manufacturing interests have been secretly sending funds to the Democratic National Committee in hopes of electing William Jennings Bryan, who they believe will support free trade.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-10

Creator(s)

Deitrick, James, 1864-

Letter from William Jennings Bryan to Theodore Roosevelt

William Jennings Bryan responds to President Roosevelt’s letter by defending Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell’s record as a politician, and by critiquing the past campaign contributions for Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Bryan compares the Democratic and Republican party platforms, the attitudes of trust leaders towards the presidential candidates, and the publicity and funding for the two opposing campaigns. Ethically, Bryan believes it is wrong for Roosevelt to use his position as president to influence the choosing of his successor instead of letting the candidate achieve success on merit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-26

Creator(s)

Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925

Deposition of Jacob G. Bunn

Jacob G. Bunn provides a deposition regarding charges that he solicited money for campaign purposes while employed by the United States Post Office in violation of Civil Service Rules. Bunn denies the allegations that he solicited money, and says that while he had previously served as Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Ward Executive Committee of the Twenty-eighth Ward of Philadelphia, he was unaware that this was a violation of the Civil Service Rules. Once this violation was brought to Bunn’s attention, he immediately resigned from the Ward Executive Committee.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-27

Creator(s)

Bunn, Jacob G. (Jacob Gessner), 1867-1930

Republican platform on which Judge O’Rear makes his race

The article outlines the platform of the Kentucky Republicans. Judge Edward C. O’Rear is running for governor on this platform.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-14

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lincoln Steffens

President Roosevelt responds to journalist Lincoln Steffen’s allegations that Roosevelt wanted to give back money contributed to the Republican campaign from insurance companies and other corporations. Roosevelt denies it and says he is beholden to “the many, not the few” and it would be impossible for him to research the motives of every person who contributed. If any corporation contributed for the purpose of receiving special legislation then they were very mistaken.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1905-09-25

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919