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Theodore Roosevelt addresses the rumors in Dennis A. Hayes’s letter that the United States ignored atrocities in the Belgian Congo to appease the Pope. Roosevelt calls it an “absolute falsehood” and “sensationalism.” Roosevelt does not deny that racial hatred exists, but says that no man who experiences such feelings should call themselves American.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-03
President Roosevelt calls attention to an article by Booker T. Washington on “Cruelty in the Congo Country” in the Outlook to be considered in connection with recent protests by Edmund Dene Morel. Roosevelt asks if there is anything that would warrant an investigation, and notes that he would like a report about it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-11
Booker T. Washington writes to ask President Roosevelt to read his article in the Outlook titled “Cruelty in the Congo Country.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-10
Eugene A. Philbin informs William Loeb that he has heard that a representative from the English government will soon visit President Roosevelt “with a view of obtaining from him an adverse expression of opinion as to the administration of the affairs of the Congo Free State by the Belgium government.” Philbin expresses his opinion that this is a religious matter with which Roosevelt should avoid involvement. He also writes about Consul Edwin J. Sullivan in Turkey, who has attempted to ask Philbin to be a reference in order to secure a Consul post in Dublin, but of whom Philbin does not approve.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-27
The government of the Independent State of the Congo responds to a dispatch from Lord Henry Petty-FitzMaurice Lansdowne regarding developments in the Congo. It details a decree outlining the rights, responsibility, and duties of a committee of inquiry being established in the Congo, and outlines the government’s role in managing the committee.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-05
President Roosevelt stands on a “munitions” box addressed “To Roosevelt, Brazzaville Congo,” and fans William H. Taft while a crowd looks on. Caption: At the Winning-Post of the White House: –Finish of the four years’ race.
The brilliant children’s book illustrator and designer André Hellé followed the path of other famous European artists, beginning his career as a political cartoonist and graphic satirist (for instance, as the Cubist master Juan Gris and the Bauhaus innovator Lyonel Feininger, had).
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Austria-Hungary Bellamy Storer informs President Roosevelt of a recent visit by King of the Belgians Léopold II. Storer discusses tensions in the Congo between the British and Belgian governments and European colonization in the Congo, referencing editorials in The Times, the Treaty of Berlin, the French explorer Pierre Savorgnon de Brazza, and rumors of Belgian atrocities in Congo, using Belgian explorer Henry M. Stanley as an exemplar.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-22