Your TR Source
Charles S. Clark sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of the St. Johns News highlighting an article about a family with thirteen children since he knows Roosevelt prefers large families to avoid “race suicide.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-12
George Harrison Shull informs Theodore Roosevelt that Dr. W. Johannsen of the University of Copenhagen will be in America to give a series of lectures and visit the Station for Experimental Evolution. He invites Roosevelt to meet Dr. Johannsen, Dr. Charles Benedict Davenport, and Harry Hamilton Laughlin.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-20
Theodore Roosevelt writes to C. B. Davenport to thank him for his invitation, but he regrets that he is unable to accept the offer to become a committee member for the International Congress on eugenics in London next year. Since he is a member of hundreds of organizations and is under great pressure, he is attempting to withdraw from as many as possible. Roosevelt appreciates the consideration and notes that he only joins an organization if he will be able to an active member and that is an impossibility.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-12
Theodore Roosevelt asserts that there is little difference between having one child and no children at all, as both cases will lead to the extinction of the race. Roosevelt believes that an average couple able to have children should have at least three, as one in every three children either dies before reaching adulthood or never has a family of their own. Roosevelt compares having less than three children to a soldier doing only a third of his duty on the battlefield.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-21
Theodore Roosevelt cannot comment on special cases of which he has no knowledge and in his article he was only discussing cases where sterility was a conscious choice. Roosevelt sees no significant difference between a childless couple and one that has only one or two children, as he believes that both cases will eventually place the nation in peril.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-21
Theodore Roosevelt thanks William A. Secrest for his letter and congratulates the families that Secrest referred to in his previous letter. Roosevelt agrees with Secrest’s sentiment that there is no “race suicide there.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-12-12
President Roosevelt is already familiar with Stanford University President Jordan’s work The Human Harvest, and agrees with much of what he wrote. Roosevelt adds, however, that he feels melancholy that even when there is not such a war that kills the bravest men of the nation, “the best men nevertheless seem content to let the citizens of the future come from the loins of others.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-14
While President Roosevelt is in sympathy with John J. Cronin’s views, he disagrees with the way he expresses them. A part of Cronin’s recent article inverts the lesson he is trying to teach. “Race culture” is important, but practicing it while at the same time practicing “race suicide” is futile.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-03
George Harrison Shull follows up with Theodore Roosevelt on a meeting held the day before with Dr. Johannsen clarifying his views on heredity.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-22
William Sidney Rossiter attempts to analyze the historical development of the world’s population before comparing it to the present day. Populations in the ancient world were much smaller than in the early twentieth century, but began to sharply increase following the industrial revolution and the movement of people into cities. Rossiter argues that these developments have broken the equilibrium that previously existed, and have also resulted in a weaker population as many families have begun to have fewer children, while at the same time society has allowed for the survival of disabled and weaker members of society.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06
While Alfred E. Ommen agrees with most of what Theodore Roosevelt says in his article “Race Decadence,” published in The Outlook, he finds some things too severe. He sends Roosevelt a copy of his address to the Society of Medical Jurisprudence and recounts his connections to Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-19
Wentworth Rollins writes Theodore Roosevelt and states his belief that the human race would be bettered “if laws prohibiting marriage of incompetents were enacted.” Rollins maintains that Roosevelt is the man to advance such a proposition.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-25
Joseph P. Trotter, a farmer and Justice of the Peace in Cunningham, Tennessee, tells Theodore Roosevelt that he also disapproves of “race suicide.” Trotter has a large family.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-13
Lawrence F. Abbott thanks President Roosevelt for the letter and tells him that he had it read to his wife, Winifred Buck Abbott, and the nurse. He jokes that the Roosevelt proved that presidents can speak about non-government matters. He teases that his over nine pound baby boy and healthy wife make him strong on “race suicide,” even if he is weak on “nature fakers.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-10
John J. Cronin writes in response to President Roosevelt’s criticism of his article in the Review of Reviews, especially Roosevelt’s assertion that he has a depraved moral character. He discusses the size of American families, especially poor families. Cronin argues that children are behind in school because of physical defects like epilepsy and that the “better class” should observe this and “preserve their stock.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-02
Rector Franklin C. Smith writes to President Roosevelt to ask what sources shaped his belief in the importance of large families and large populations to combat “race suicide.” Smith currently takes an opposing view that smaller populations with access to more resources would be more beneficial to society, but supposes that Roosevelt has thoroughly studied the matter to arrive at his conclusion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-20
A program for the seventh annual meeting of the American Breeders Association listing the speakers and their lecture topics.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-12-22
A young man and a young woman stand in a gallery of family portraits. Caption: “Here, in this gallery, are portraits of some of my ancestors.” / “Humph! They evidently looked upon Eugenics as a joke!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-03-26
A well dressed old man wearing a top hat and spats lies on his back, bouncing the earth on his feet. In the foreground is a doctor’s bag with various instruments (he may have given himself an injection), and on the left is a weeping cherub. His bowstring is broken and his arrows have fallen on the ground.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-06-18