Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt asks about Elbert F. Baldwin’s wife and expresses sadness over the World War. Belgium and England did what was necessary.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-10-05
President Roosevelt does not think he will be in England long enough to go fox hunting but hopes to see Mitchell Harrison and Eric North while he is there.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-30
President Roosevelt is pleased with the double barreled .450 Edward North Buxton sent him as a gift from a number of people. Roosevelt discusses the amount of cartridges he would need for hunting game in Africa, will try to take care of himself on the trip and asks if there is any way he could thank all the gun donors. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt declares that even Holland has not made a better rifle; it fits him exactly and he will personally take it to Africa.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-27
President Roosevelt appreciates the good work that the National Council of the Young Men’s Christian Association does, but does not think it will be possible for him to address them. He tells Arthur Kinniard that he does not wish to make any speeches in England other than his Romanes lecture, and that if he accepts one invitation to speak, he would be feel obligated to accept others as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-21
President Roosevelt does not intend to make any set addresses in England apart from his Romanes Lecture. He says that if Leonard Darwin and the Royal Geographical Society wishes for him to make a few remarks when he attends he will, but he hopes they will be treated as informal and that they will not be reported upon. Roosevelt is looking forward to meeting the members of the society.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-12
President Roosevelt thanks Governor Rodger for the invitation, but regrets that he will not be able to extend his journey long enough to visit the West Coast of Africa. He is pleased, however, by the chance that Rodger may be in England in 1910. Roosevelt will be there that spring, and hopes to see Rodger then.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-07
President Roosevelt was recently reading a volume of John Morley’s work Critical Miscellanies, and wished to write to him about a number of the issues he raises, and critiques several other historians and works of history. Roosevelt pivots to talking about the recent election in the United States as he identifies it as having taken place under circumstances similar to those identified by Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay–with a recent financial panic and a demagogue opposing William H. Taft–but because of the moral superiority of the Republican party, Taft became president-elect. Roosevelt believes that foolish optimism can get in the way of sane optimism, but also believes that there is cause to hope in the future. He would like to see Morley when he visits England in 1910.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-01
In an unofficial letter to British Ambassador Bryce, President Roosevelt expresses dismay at the decision of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., to issue a formal statement regarding the controversy at the Olympics in London. Roosevelt strongly believes that no good can come from the British and American governments getting involved in the controversy, and says that he will not allow the American government to respond. However, the American Amateur Athletic Union wants to respond to the British statement, which feels like an official action from the government. Using as an analogy the animosity between Harvard and Yale resulting from a controversial football game, Roosevelt suggests that the two governments allow the matter to drop.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-25
President Roosevelt sends Sydney Brooks a copy of a letter he wrote to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge accurately predicting the outcome of the recent presidential election. He is greatly amused to hear about the reaction of the British press to his involvement in the campaign of president-elect William H. Taft, and briefly comments on American politics. Roosevelt is glad to be joining the staff of The Outlook after leaving the presidency, and is looking forward to his safari, which he has received a great deal of help planning from his British friends. He is sorry to learn that a number of American papers have been attacking Britain for its rule over India, and says that he believes that while there have been faults committed, it is nevertheless “one of the mighty feats of civilization.” He also notes that some British papers have criticized the United States for its work in the Philippines.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-20
President Roosevelt cannot accept N. J. Elwes’s invitation out of hand because his stay in England will be so short, and does not want to make any plans at present that are not connected to his delivery of the Romanes Lecture at the University of Oxford. However, he would like to see Elwes, along with Frederick Courteney Selous, St. George Littledale, Edward North Buxton, and John Guille Millais.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-20
President Roosevelt tells George Hurley that the report he heard is not true, and that he will not be in England until May 1910, after he leaves Africa. At that time he will be at Oxford to deliver the Romanes Lecture and hopes to see Rhodes scholars and other Americans then.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-09
Myron T. Herrick was glad to receive President Roosevelt’s letter and congratulates him on President-elect William H. Taft’s victory. While he was in England in the summer, Herrick saw a newly-erected statue of Oliver Cromwell. He drew parallels between Cromwell’s reforms in England and Roosevelt’s in the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-04
President Roosevelt thanks Harriet Douglas Robinson Wolryche-Whitmore for her letter, and wishes that she and her husband Henry could have attended the dedication. Roosevelt looks forward to seeing them when he is in England in a year, but notes that he has had to decline a number of invitations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-31
President Roosevelt tells Arthur Hamilton Lee about an interview between German Emperor William II and the American journalist William Bayard Hale, which has been suppressed. In the interview, the Emperor expressed bitterness toward England and said he believed that Japan was preparing for war on the United States. He also stated that war between Germany and England was inevitable. To avoid any bitterness between Germany and the United States, Roosevelt called The New York Times and asked that the interview not be printed. Lee should destroy the letter when he is finished with it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-17
President Roosevelt is glad that Leonard Wood will be able to witness military maneuvers in France and Germany, and asks if Wood needs him to do anything else to set the matter up. Roosevelt believes that if Wood is able to see the field training in England, it would be first rate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-30
President Roosevelt informs Charles Robert Eustace Radclyffe that he will not be able to visit England for small game shooting in the near future. When he vacates the presidency he plans to visit Africa for big game hunting.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-18
President Roosevelt recounts for Viscount Lee how pleasant it was to sit for his portrait by Fülöp László. László allowed him to have guests to speak to while he sat, and Anna Cabot Mills Davis Lodge was a common guest. Roosevelt thanks Lee for his work with William Lyon Mackenzie King, and notes that although the issue of Japanese immigration is not acute yet, it could be soon. He also discusses the success of the Great White Fleet’s tour and target practice.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-08
President Roosevelt comments to Whitelaw Reid, the Ambassador to Great Britain, about an incident involving the publication of letters. Roosevelt is sorry about Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman and the trouble of the Liberal majority. Roosevelt provides a brief update to Reid about the planned journey of the United States Naval Fleet, saying that it has been invited to stop by Japan on its trip. Roosevelt had hoped that this would not be necessary, as he is nervous that “some desperado [will do] something that will have very bad effects.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-20
President Roosevelt enjoyed a volume about old illuminated manuscripts by Henry Yates Thompson. Roosevelt was particularly interested in the story of a fourteenth century princess who had hunted boar.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-28
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that the directive from his predecessor, Charles J. Bonaparte, classifying medical ships as floating hospitals and placed under the command of a medical officer, is correct and will be enacted. The Army operates their medical ships in this way, and Roosevelt sees no reason the Navy cannot operate in this manner just as well. He provides precedents in American navies as well as international navies for operating this way, and points out that in times of war the presence of a line officer on the ship may imply a violation of the ship’s neutrality.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-04