Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt asks Owen Parker if he has read his book, America and the World War. Roosevelt responds to Parker’s comment about being ashamed of the United States by pointing out that England and France behaved worse during the American Civil War than the United States is behaving now.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-22
Theodore Roosevelt assures John Callan O’Laughlin that he never wrote that he would accept anybody but William H. Taft, but he did write to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge that they must not expect them to come back to Taft. Lodge understands that the letter was for him personally and not to be quoted. Roosevelt does not believe it is time for him to speak in public in any shape or way.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-17
Theodore Roosevelt writes Mrs. E. G. N. Edwards and is glad to hear her husband is out doing his duty. Roosevelt wishes she had been in England when he was there.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-06
Theodore Roosevelt greatly wishes he could have been president during the Mexican Revolution and the First World War. Roosevelt also wishes that the documents sent to him by Jean Jules Jusserand could be widely circulated. Roosevelt further states that he hopes the English and French governments will treat the Wilson administration the same way Abraham Lincoln’s administration treated the English and French governments during the American Civil War, when the official classes were hostile to the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-06
Theodore Roosevelt discusses with Arthur Lee a recent article by James Bryce which he believes strengthens the pacifist position in the United States. In contrast, Roosevelt has been writing and advocating for the international community to come to the defense of Belgium. He also advocates American preparedness for war. Roosevelt envies Lee, who is in active military service, and believes England will be better off for having entered into the war.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-16
Theodore Roosevelt thanks Robert Harry Munro Ferguson for the letter and conveys greetings from his family. Roosevelt is sending Ferguson a book, and asks that he share it with Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson once he is finished with it. Roosevelt tells about a conversation he had with a German friend who said that the way the United States neglected its duty in Mexico had caused as much suffering as Germany’s actions caused in Belgium, and that Roosevelt thinks he is right. Roosevelt also comments on many people who want to keep America out of the war, and says that England suffers because of the current prominence of their point of view.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-22
Theodore Roosevelt has always been in favor of an inheritance tax. Since there is now bipartisan support for an income tax, he did not oppose it. He thinks England and Germany provide a useful model for implementing the income tax.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-24
Theodore Roosevelt does not think it is wise to sign the petition. Roosevelt believes that one of the worst things this administration is doing is to purchase German ships for use in trade.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-24
President Roosevelt thanks Couleon Kernahan for the letter and book. He believes what Lord Roberts said is as applicable in the United States as it is in England. Roosevelt takes this view in his recently published book, America and the World War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-15
Theodore Roosevelt is happy to send letters of introduction to the ambassadors in England and Germany on Lafayette Young’s behalf. He does not know the ambassador to France but will still send a letter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-15
Theodore Roosevelt is delighted to receive R. J. Cuninghame’s letter. Roosevelt thinks Cuninghame is right in having come to England instead of staying in British East Africa.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-07
Theodore Roosevelt will not sign and does not agree with the appeal calling for Americans to call themselves Anglo-Americans and sympathize with England as the motherland. Roosevelt believes Americans are a separate people and should view the United States as their motherland. He is not an “Englishman-once-removed” but is “straight United States.” A foreign nation should be treated according to its conduct and not influenced by a shared ethnic heritage. Roosevelt has publicly supported Belgium, which includes admonishing Germany for its conduct and praising England for defending an ally. However, he did so because it was morally right and not due to a shared “ground of community of origin” between the United States and England.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-22
Theodore Roosevelt believes that Kuno Meyer’s language may be a “malicious distortion” of the truth and Roosevelt wrote him to correct him. Roosevelt believes that if Germany defeats Great Britain, they will come for the United States next.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-17
Theodore Roosevelt thanks C. J. Gordon for his letter. Roosevelt is unsure whether or not his articles have been reproduced in England, but he hopes Gordon has been able to see them.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-03
Theodore Roosevelt introduces Albert J. Beveridge. Beveridge’s politics are very similar to Britain’s Liberal Party. He is studying the situation of the Great War and will be writing about it for Collier’s Weekly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-04
Theodore Roosevelt writes to David Lloyd George to support Albert J. Beveridge during his stay overseas reporting on the war in Europe for Collier’s Weekly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-04
Theodore Roosevelt is saddened that Frederick Courteney Selous has been unable to reach the warfront and believes an exception should be made. Several Rough Riders were considered unsound or too old but they performed above average. Roosevelt understands Selous’s concerns about the war and is unsure if the Russians, whose troops have endurance and are abundant, but inferior, can effectively mount an offensive against Germany. He admires and respects Germans but cannot ignore that Germany has spent fifty years developing a foreign policy that has made them a menace to all their neighbors. Roosevelt abhors German militarism that has created “contempt for international morality and such appalling ruthlessness in war.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-04
Theodore Roosevelt disagrees with Victor G. Fischer’s views on England and points out the wrong that has been done to Belgium.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-17
Theodore Roosevelt writes to Lothar Faber about the importance of protesting Germany’s occupation over Belgium. Roosevelt discusses that Americans should act and respond regardless of their German, French, or English descent.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-11
Theodore Roosevelt sends a letter of introduction for a war correspondent to Ambassador Bakhmeteff.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-14