Your TR Source
Henry J. Pohl remembers seeing Theodore Roosevelt on Kettle Hill, Cuba, in the Spanish-American War. He has been discharged from the Army and wants to know if Roosevelt could employ him as a personal driver.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-20
Newspaper article reporting that President Roosevelt’s chauffeur was twice stopped for speeding while driving Roosevelt and son, Ted, to Great Falls, Virginia. The police gave the chauffeur a warning, but a Washington, D.C. civic association would have him prosecuted further.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-06-28
Santa Claus reviews his list, his bag of gifts next to him, while sitting in an automobile that is being driven by two women standing on the back, dressed like chauffeurs.
As with Puck‘s Thanksgiving Number cover a few weeks previous, the magazine used a holiday-themed special issue to be pictorial rather than political on newsstands. This had been the trend in the weekly’s design for at least a decade, but students can note the nature of the decorative covers.
A wealthy old man rides in an automobile driven by his chauffeur. They are racing through the countryside during a cross-country auto race and have struck several pedestrians who are not used to encountering automobiles on country roads. Caption: Owner (to Chauffeur) — Don’t stop! It only costs about ten dollars apiece to run them down. I must break the record even if it costs a hundred!
The automobile, a new-fangled toy of the rich in 1902 when Pughe’s cartoon appeared, was a luxury such that “normal” transportation as we know it today was not its main function; joy rides and extravagant excursions were. Only in Detroit and Cleveland, major centers of auto manufacturing, were autos common and driven by owners, not chauffeurs for the most part. In 1900, 20 miles per hour was considered excessive and dangerous, and a decade later 40 miles per hour was likewise regarded. At the time of Pughe’s cartoon, America knew no such things as stop signs, warning signs or signals, traffic lights, traffic cops, drivers’ licenses, lane markings, brake lights, windshield wipers, or speed limits. “Turtle turns” (cars flipped over) and fatalities, usually pedestrians including many children, were not uncommon.
On behalf of Theodore Roosevelt, his secretary informs Henry J. Pohl that Roosevelt already has a chauffeur with whom he is very satisfied and therefore cannot hire Pohl.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-02
The writer provides details about President Roosevelt’s hired chauffeur speeding in a car and subsequent contact with bicycle police.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-06
B. Pickman Mann explains that although he wrote to the Commissioners asking for President’s Roosevelt’s chauffeur to be prosecuted for speeding, he directed no criticism at Roosevelt himself. Mann also desires to know if Roosevelt received the letter he wrote the previous year regarding Saturday half-holidays.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-08
Theodore Roosevelt likes the picture that Mr. Webb has sent and discusses his family’s chauffeur, who is “the son of General Lee’s body-servant.” Roosevelt also sends his regards to Webb’s wife.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-06-12