Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry Cabot Lodge
President Roosevelt praises Senator Lodge’s speech to the Republican National Convention as one that will certainly go down in history, noting humorously that attacks from the Sun should be considered as the highest praise. What Lodge said was “exactly right,” and “exactly as [Roosevelt] should have wished it.” Roosevelt believes that Presidency is a very powerful office and that power should be used without hesitation, but this requires strict accountability to the people and no one should keep the office too long. After leaving office, Roosevelt is planning a trip to East Africa for a year to hunt and gather scientific specimens for the National Museum at Washington. Scribner’s has offered Roosevelt $50,000 for the serial rights to articles Roosevelt writes during the trip, and while Collier’s offered $100,000, Roosevelt prefers to have the trip sponsored by Scribner’s, as “there is such a thing as making too much money out of a given feat,” even if earned honestly. Roosevelt thinks William H. Taft will win the coming election, unless he makes some kind of hopeless mistake.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1908-07-19
