Campaign speeches

Clarece Martin gives a fast-paced, detailed description of the assassination attempt on Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 14, 1912. She provides background on Roosevelt’s visit to Milwaukee, discusses the actions taken by his bodyguards during the shooting, and talks about Roosevelt delivering his speech despite his wound. Martin looks at the role played by Roosevelt’s wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, during his hospital stay and closes with Roosevelt’s return to the campaign trail at Madison Square Garden in New York City at the end of October.  

A drawing of Roosevelt’s speech manuscript showing the hole made by the bullet accompanies the article.

In the vicinity of Fargo, North Dakota, on September 6, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt speaks on behalf of his presidential candidacy under the banner of the newly formed Progressive Party. The film contains scenes of men, women, and children gathered around the rear of a campaign train, as Roosevelt leans forward over the train railing and speaks. The film ends with the silhouette of Roosevelt and three unidentified men conversing as the train pulls away. One of the men appears to be George Emlen Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s cousin and campaign secretary in the 1912 election.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1912-09-06

Leonard Wood campaigns in southern Michigan for the Republican presidential nomination, March 1920. Greeted by residents of Battle Creek, Ann Arbor, and Detroit, Wood speaks in each community on the need for universal military training, Americanization of immigrants, and cooperative working relationships between labor and capital. Views of Wood on March 3 in Battle Creek as he is greeted by local officials; his wife, Mrs. Louisa Wood, poses outdoors for photographer; Wood enters and leaves the Masonic Temple, where he and his wife are greeted by local farmers. Prominent citizens identified by interior titles in Battle Creek segment include: Charles W. Ryan, mayor and physician; Paul A. Martin, editor of the Enquirer and evening news, and commander of the American Legion in Battle Creek; William H. Shippy, president of the Exchange Club; Frederick M. Alger, chairman of the Leonard Wood League of Michigan and active in the American Legion. Men who appear to be C. B. Baker, head of the Motor Transport Division of the Army (1918-1921), and Edwin Denby, who was to become Secretary of the Navy in 1921, accompany Wood in several scenes. On March 1, Wood is met by Ann Arbor reception committee as he steps from train; Wood poses in archway of unidentified building with committee, which includes Professor William H. Hobbs, director of the geological laboratory at the University of Michigan; Mayor Ernst M. Wurster; and William H. Faust, chairman of the reception committee. On the University of Michigan campus, Wood shakes hands with students in front of the school’s new clubhouse, Michigan Union. In Detroit on March 2, Wood poses with prominent citizens, speaks at a banquet, and visits with workers at the Dodge Brothers auto manufacturing plant. Officials identified by interior titles include: Alton T. Roberts, former state senator; Edwin Denby; Walter C. Piper, prominent realtor; and Frederick M. Alger. Panning shot of banquet table at Hotel Statler includes views of Harriet N. Atterbury, incorrectly identified on film as Mrs. H. M. Atterbury; Mary Eldridge (Mrs. Frederick M.) Alger; Louise Adriana Wood; Henry Martyn Leland, past president of General Motors and then president of the Lincoln Motor Company; Leonard Wood; Frank J. Hecker, Detroit financier and businessman; and C. B. Baker.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1920-03

Theodore Roosevelt speaks on behalf of Schuyler Merritt, who is running for Congress in Connecticut. Roosevelt says that the United States military was poorly prepared for the first World War and that it must take steps to be better prepared in the future. The country must also work on its industry, he says, to make businesses profitable and to ensure that workers are treated fairly. He calls for Americans of all ethnicities to be united and for the United States to instate universal military service.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-11-03

President William H. Taft speaks from the back of a railroad caboose to a large crowd of skeptical mid-westerners that also includes Jonathan P. Dolliver, Robert M. La Follette, and Albert Baird Cummins. One man is holding a sign that states, “We’re from Missouri also Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Dakota & Iowa. Show us!” Taft is holding papers behind his back that state, “Notes for speech how new tariff will benefit the West.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-15

Print shows Puck tugging on the coattails of Theodore Roosevelt’s coat, telling him to think before he speaks; Roosevelt is delivering a campaign speech from a platform.

Caption: Puck–Governor, don’t forget that good old rule of thinking twice before you speak – and it won’t hurt you to think three or four times.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Theodore Roosevelt stands on a bunting-draped platform speaking to a crowd that can be seen in the foreground.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

Unknown

In this speech draft with handwritten corrections, Governor Roosevelt campaigns against William Jennings Bryan and his policies. Bryan’s prophecies regarding the need for free silver have not come true and the country has prospered. Roosevelt advocates national action to combat the complex problems of trusts. He points out the plight of African Americans and that Bryan seems more concerned with the rights of the “bandits” in the Philippines. Roosevelt does not want the United States to shirk its duty in the Philippines and believes that liberty will come to the islands under the American flag.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-10-09

Draft of a speech with handwritten corrections. Governor Roosevelt rebukes several statements from William Jennings Bryan regarding economic policy, bimetallism, patriotism, and imperialism.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-09-06

Draft of a speech with handwritten corrections. Theodore Roosevelt contrasts the Progressive Party platform with the positions of President Taft and Governor Wilson, with a particular focus on trusts, labor policy, and judicial power. Roosevelt also defends himself against allegations that the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company was illegally acquired by the United States Steel Corporation during his presidency.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912

Theodore Roosevelt is pleased to hear W. Stanford Stevens’ news about the Progressive Party in Vermont and that Stevens is to preside over a rally at which Judge Lindsey will speak. Roosevelt wishes he could visit longer, and gives his regards to Stevens’ wife and son, and to the friend of Quentin Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-20

Theodore Roosevelt again declines to speak at the engagement for which John Jay Chapman has Roosevelt scheduled, stressing that the situation has been “muddled” enough.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1895-10-23

After disagreeing with Seth Low on the content of an upcoming speech, Police Commissioner Roosevelt writes to John Jay Chapman to inform him that it is best that he cancel Roosevelt’s scheduled appearance. Roosevelt also describes his reasoning for retracting his support of the Good Government Clubs in the present campaign.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1895-10-21

In this manuscript, Theodore Roosevelt addresses misleading statements and criticism about him and other progressives. His article appeared in The Outlook on January 14, 1911.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1911

Typescript of a speech carried by Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912. The speech was folded in his jacket pocket at the time of the attempted assassination. Bullet holes indicate how the speech helped to break the force of the bullet. The speech is now bound and presented as a book. The speech attacks Woodrow Wilson for nativism and xenophobia while defending immigration and the racial, religious, and cultural diversity of the United States population.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912-10-12

Theodore Roosevelt wishes for Elon Huntington Hooker, founder of the Hooker Electrochemical Company, to have a copy of the speeches Roosevelt made during the campaign.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1917-01-25

Theodore Roosevelt delivering a campaign speech in Omaha, Nebraska.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912

Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech from the back of a train. Verso says “Ames, Ohio,” but the location is more likely Ames, Iowa.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912

Theodore Roosevelt tells his son Kermit not to be upset over getting black-balled from the Harvard club Sphynx. Roosevelt says it was probably more about him than Kermit, because the fathers of Kermit’s classmates hate him. He adds the campaign is almost over and his voice is in poor shape but at least he will not have to do this type of thing ever again. Roosevelt says he will send Kermit the books.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1910-10-15

President Roosevelt tells Frank H. Hitchcock that the enclosed letter puts the matter perfectly. He asks why Royal Eubank Cabell cannot preside as suggested, and why Wyndham Robertson Meredith should not introduce William H. Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-14