Cuba

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt sends Secretary of State Root a letter from Charles E. Magoon, the occupational governor of Cuba. Secretary of War William H. Taft has also seen it. Roosevelt’s assessment is that Magoon would be the best man to be minister of Cuba during the occupation, and that nothing else can be done until the Cubans elect a president. Magoon has made it clear that the troops should leave Cuba on the 1st of February.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles E. Magoon

President Roosevelt informs Charles E. Magoon, Occupational Governor of Cuba, that the time is nearing when the United States will need to make plans for the kind of government they should have in place when they leave the island next February. He includes excerpts of letters from German Ambassador Hermann Speck von Sternburg and Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, which offer opinions about what should be done. They suggest the United States maintaining a military presence and advisory presence on the island. Roosevelt has doubts about the feasibility of leaving a temporary military force, and asks Magoon’s views on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-04

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Henry Barry

President Roosevelt asks General Barry to make sure that German Ambassador Hermann Speck von Sternburg and his wife, Lillian May Speck von Sternburg, are able to see everything they want in connection to the United States Army when they visit Cuba.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-17

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Hermann Speck von Sternburg

President Roosevelt asks Ambassador Sternburg when he will be going to Cuba, and says that he will ask for an officer to be detailed to accompany him and his wife, Lillian May Speck von Sternburg, around the island.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Henry Barry

President Roosevelt acknowledges receipt of Brigadier General Barry’s letter, and tells him that he was pleased to appoint Thomas B. Barry, Barry’s son, as a principal cadet to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Roosevelt is delighted to hear how well Charles E. Magoon, provisional governor of Cuba, is doing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Oscar S. Straus

Secretary of War William H. Taft has informed President Roosevelt that the results of the 1907 Cuban Census must be tabulated in the United States, as the work can only be properly done by the Census Bureau. He asks Secretary Straus to direct Census Bureau Director S. N. D. North to tabulate the returns and reform them in whatever form the director of the Cuban census, Victor H. Olmsted, requests.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-13

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt has approved both Governor Charles E. Magoon’s report and Secretary of War Taft’s letter on the report, and will transmit both to Congress. He directs that the president and legislature of Cuba, which will be elected later this year, be put into power no later than February 2, 1909.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-13

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles E. Magoon

President Roosevelt introduces Sir John Rodger, Governor of the Gold Coast of Africa, to Governor of Cuba Magoon. He instructs Magoon to give Rodger any aid he can in examining the situation in Cuba.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-24

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles E. Magoon

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is extremely taken with a silver pitcher and basin Provisional Governor Magoon had sent to Edith Ruth Root from Cuba, and President Roosevelt wonders if Magoon could send another set for him to present to Edith Roosevelt on Christmas or Easter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt agrees with Secretary of War Taft in his view on the action of the Commissioners of Claims in Cuba. Roosevelt directs that the payment of the claims proceed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-11

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles E. Magoon

President Roosevelt would like Governor of Cuba Magoon to read an enclosed letter from W. Sloan Simpson, a Rough Rider and old friend of Roosevelt’s. Roosevelt believes the delay in action regarding Simpson’s visit to Cuba has given Simpson just cause to be upset. He requests that Magoon investigate and make whatever changes are necessary to ensure similar requests will be met with prompt action.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-20

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Kermit Roosevelt

President Roosevelt comments on and advises Kermit Roosevelt on his athletic abilities and pursuits. He is “up to my ears in work,” which includes dictating speeches. Archibald “Archie” Roosevelt commented that it seems Roosevelt is currently under attack more than at previous times. Roosevelt felt it best to “attack aggressively and fearlessly” in his letter to the Moyer-Haywood Defense Association. He finds comfort in having Secretary of War William H. Taft and Secretary of State Elihu Root with him and hopes Taft will be nominated for president.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Coolidge Lane

President Roosevelt believes that most educated Cubans would like the United States to continue its occupation, though this is not possible. They are entitled to one more trial, but Roosevelt does not know what form it will take.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-15

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt draws Secretary of War Taft’s attention to a paragraph in the Panama Daily Telegraph. He thinks the United States should “take advantage of [its] intervention to put the Cuban Government on as solid a basis of good legislation as possible.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Arthur Hamilton Lee

President Roosevelt believes Arthur Hamilton Lee handled the “Swettenham matter” efficiently, calling the matter itself a “cosmic incident” and citing others like Swettenham in American Government, most notably General James Harrison Wilson. He was amused by the opinions of John William Burgess, who was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt professorship in at the University of Berlin. While Roosevelt admires some of Burgess’s scholarly accomplishments, he considers Burgess “hopefully wrong-headed” and criticizes his first lecture denouncing the Monroe Doctrine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-08

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Samuel Montgomery Roosevelt

President Roosevelt tells Samuel Montgomery Roosevelt that he spoke with Secretary of the Navy Truman Handy Newberry about Henry L. Roosevelt’s request for a year’s leave of absence. Newberry spoke highly of Henry, and said he cannot be spared until the Marines can leave Cuba, which may be a year away.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Edward Grey

President Roosevelt enjoyed his visit with Viscount James Bryce and reminisces about when Bryce stayed at the White House several years prior. Roosevelt believes the question of disarmament is “full of difficulties” and wants to avoid raising “high anticipation as will ensure disappointment” with the upcoming National Arbitration and Peace Congress. He wasn’t impressed with Jamaica Governor James Alexander Swettenham’s message and compares his dealings with him to that of Henry Wolcott Bowen, former Ambassador of Venezuela. Roosevelt is pleased that the Santo Domingo treaty was ratified by Congress and is overall satisfied with the number of other legislative measures he managed to pass.    

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles E. Magoon

President Roosevelt introduces colonial Governor Magoon to William Eleroy Curtis, who is planning a visit to Cuba.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-13

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt returns the enclosures to William H. Taft and states that he does not trust the opinion of Edwin Farnsworth Atkins. He believes Charles E. Magoon and thinks he is a good man to keep in Cuba while the transitional government is there.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Kermit Roosevelt

President Roosevelt describes his trip to Puerto Rico. They were greeted in Ponce by Governor Winthrop Beekman and Commissioner of the Interior Laurence H. Grahame then drove by car to San Juan. He describes the plants of the area as well as the character of Grahame and his wearing of a kilt. He comments on Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s hatred of car rides. In a postscript, Roosevelt describes his welcome to Puerto Rico by various military members.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-23