Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt would like a “very heavy tax” on the celibate and the childless. The money from the tax would be given to mothers of large families.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-12
In response to Reverend Smith’s suggestion that families with fewer, but better cared for, children are better for the state than large families, President Roosevelt encloses a copy of his address to the Mothers’ Congress. Roosevelt strongly believes that advocating for smaller families would lead to the collapse of the country and western civilization as a whole.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-24
Mildred May Wilder Stopp asks Theodore Roosevelt for his opinion on “race suicide” and whether she is wrong for not having more children because she and her husband are not financially stable. Stopp lists several facts about her husband and herself, shares they have one perfect daughter, but are barely scraping by with the money they have and the risk is too great if they add more children to their family. Stopp feels she is not doing her duty by the State and asks Roosevelt if she is wrong in her decision to not have children, despite longing to have another baby.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-11-23
President Roosevelt sits in the White House attic with a variety of items: ears of corn with the label of “presidential tips to farmers,” a picture of Edward Henry Harriman with “my dear Harriman” crossed out and replaced with “undesirable citizen,” “the big stick,” several books, including “How to choose a successor,” a crib “for larger families,” and a coffin of a “nature faker.” Roosevelt holds a book entitled, “Science of Pseudology.” Caption: Mr. Roosevelt–“I wonder how much of this stuff Bill wants me to leave behind.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-14
Margaret Sanger writes about her nationwide speaking engagement tour about birth control and family planning. Sanger discusses events and responses in various cities. She indicates that in St. Louis more people came to hear her speak than had come when Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft spoke in the city. Sanger accounts various arrests related to obscenity laws and the distribution of birth control pamphlets.
The Margaret Sanger Papers Project
1916-08-09
Beginning of Chapter 12 of The Foes of Our Own Household. Theodore Roosevelt reviews a recently published study which shows that graduates of Harvard and Yale are having fewer and fewer children. These low birth rates are also noted in the general American-born population, constituting a threat to the United States in the form of race suicide. Roosevelt argues that for married couples, having at least three children is a duty of citizenship.
1917