Your TR Source
President Roosevelt describes the process by which he appointed a judge in Connecticut to William Dudley Foulke. Roosevelt vehemently denies reports that he promised the appointment to John K. Beach but later appointed another man in order to get a delegation favorable to nominating William H. Taft at the Republican National Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-03
President Roosevelt responds to a clipping Elbert F. Baldwin sent him from the Sun. He notes that while he approved of the choice of Senator Albert J. Beverage for chairman of the Republican convention, he was not hostile to Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver. He also expresses his desire that a reactionary not be chosen to make the keynote address at the convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-19
President Roosevelt asserts his right as executive to appoint and dismiss officers in the armed forces. He tells Senator Stewart that Congress thus lacks the power to carry out Senator Joseph Benson Foraker’s proposal regarding his dismissal of African American troops at Brownsville.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-07
President Roosevelt sends Lyman Abbott letters he wrote to various Senators about the Brownsville incident and a matter concerning Colonel William F. Stewart. Roosevelt asserts his executive authority as President to make determinations about the dismissal and stationing of soldiers, citing past precedents. He also provides his rationale for dismissing the Brownsville soldiers and for refusing to grant Stewart a court of inquiry.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-10
President Roosevelt strongly objects to the proposal to add a plan to the platform which would reduce Southern representation based on its suppression of the African American vote. Men like Booker T. Washington agree that no good can come of this, and that agitators who are stirred up by the Brownsville affair are doing harm to the cause. He believes that Joseph Benson Foraker’s goal is “simply to scuttle the ship” and damage the Republican party as much as he can.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-10
President Roosevelt agrees with Secretary of War Taft, and believes that Senator Francis E. Warren’s bill is the only way to reinstate soldiers who were innocent in the Brownsville raid. Senator Joseph Benson Foraker’s bill will be ineffective, and Roosevelt believes his opposition to Warren’s bill is telling.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-16
President Roosevelt updates Ernest Hamlin Abbott on some of the government actions surrounding investigations into the Brownsville incident. Roosevelt will refuse to sign the Foraker bill, and says that he had already begun his own investigations to see if any of the Brownsville soldiers could be reinstated when Foraker began his investigations in the Senate, necessitating the cessation of Roosevelt’s investigation. From what he was able to find, Roosevelt thinks there are likely five or six men who he can reinstate, and will ask Congress to pass a bill allowing this.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-12
President Roosevelt sends Senator Clark a letter related to the rejection of Grosvenor A. Porter as United States Marshal for Oklahoma, which Roosevelt thinks expresses the sentiment of the public. He has heard that under the lead of Senators Joseph Benson Foraker and James A. Hemenway there is talk about similarly rejecting Samuel G. Victor, and Roosevelt asks what charges have been made against him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-12
President Roosevelt praises a sketch by Lawrence F. Abbott, and seeks to clarify the relationship between Secretary of War William H. Taft and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker. Taft thinks that Foraker is corrupt, but does not think it is his place to attack him publicly. Taft has refused to make a deal to support Foraker for the Senate in return for Foraker supporting Taft for the Presidency.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-13
President Roosevelt received the articles William Dudley Foulke sent him and says the statements made by Louis Ludlow are false. Roosevelt comments on his nomination of Samuel G. Victor for the position of marshal in Oklahoma following Senate’s failure to confirm Grosvenor A. Porter. Victor has been strongly recommended to Roosevelt, who has heard that his frequent opponents Senators Joseph Benson Foraker and James A. Hemenway, his frequent opponents, are trying to delay Victor’s nomination. Roosevelt does not know of any charges that would be a discredit to Victor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-14
President Roosevelt tells Senator Warren that he agrees with the bill that Warren sent as representative of the views of Senators Henry Cabot Lodge and William Warner. Roosevelt also criticizes a bill from Senator Joseph Benson Foraker that would permit the companies who were discharged as a result of the Brownsville incident to, upon swearing an oath of innocence, rejoin the army. Roosevelt believes that many people from these companies either committed the attack or had knowledge of it, and that this bill therefore “amounts simply to a proposal to condone murder and perjury in the past and put a premium upon perjury in the future.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-09
President Roosevelt comments to T. Jefferson Coolidge on the nomination of William H. Taft as Republican candidate for president. Roosevelt is glad to hear that Coolidge supports Taft’s nomination, but is sorry to say that he believes that the forces who oppose Taft will go to great measures to deny him the nomination. He thinks that the anti-Taft forces will particularly try to control Southern delegates. Joseph Benson Foraker has appealed to Judson Whitlocke Lyons, the National Committeeman from Georgia, using the Brownsville incident. Roosevelt asks Coolidge if he could use his connections to appeal to Lyons’s friends to ask Lyons to stand honorably on the questions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-08
President Roosevelt responds to a letter from Nicholas Murray Butler that had criticized Roosevelt’s recent message to Congress. Roosevelt was not surprised by the letter, as Butler had been moving away from Roosevelt’s policies for the past year or two. While Roosevelt’s message did upset some people, he says that his real supporters have strongly supported it, and that he has received many letters to that effect. Roosevelt believes that he has done the right thing in speaking out against corruption in politics and business.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-06
President Roosevelt tells William Dudley Foulke that the statement that he has tried to influence the presidential nomination through appointments to state offices is false and malicious. Roosevelt provides a detailed account of appointments he has made in various states as a rebuttal to this accusation. Because there are so many local offices, Roosevelt frequently relies on input from senators, and tries to put the best people in office. The newspapers that have accused him of showing favoritism have either ignored the facts or chosen to not seek them out. Roosevelt gives a particularly thorough look at the appointments he has made in Ohio, the home state of Secretary of War William H. Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-07
President Roosevelt thanks William Dudley Foulke for the letter, but apologizes for feeling some amusement over the absurdity of the issues that Foulke told him about, namely a supposed effort by Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou to rehabilitate the Knickerbocker Trust Company, and of Roosevelt trying to use public office holders to nominate Secretary of War William H. Taft for president. Roosevelt dismisses both of these allegations, and says that Foulke should challenge the paper that printed them to produce proof.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-19
President Roosevelt responds to Secretary of War Taft regarding a recent letter from Charles Phelps Taft. Roosevelt appointed Bernhard Bettmann to the position of Ohio Collector of Internal Revenue, first district, on the suggestions of Charles and Ohio Insurance Commissioner Arthur I. Vorys, against the wishes of Ohio Senators Joseph Benson Foraker and Charles Dick. If the Taft people cannot control Bettmann, then actions against Commissioner of Internal Revenue John G. Capers will not solve it. Roosevelt admired Taft’s speech, even if it could not reach the crowd affiliated with the morning’s editorial in The Sun.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-31
President Roosevelt informs Senator Warren about Colonel Frank Heath’s reports concerning the presence of antimony in bullets manufactured by the Union Metallic Cartridge company and those recovered from the Brownsville Affair. It is possible all of the company’s bullets used by the army at the time of the shooting may have antimony present. These findings invalidate Senator Joseph Benson Foraker’s argument.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-15
President Roosevelt informs Governor Kibbey that William Spencer Sturges was not present at the last Republican National Committee meeting. Instead, he sent a proxy to Senator Charles Dick, who, along with Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, continues to attack the administration. Roosevelt wants Sturges to explain his position before accepting his recommendations. He asks what Kibbey thinks of William F. Nichols, Secretary of Arizona Territory.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-22
President Roosevelt addresses several items with Secretary of War Taft. Roosevelt approves a payment to the family of the late General Carlos Roloff-Mialofsky and advises Taft regarding Senator Joseph Benson Foraker’s attack on him regarding the Brownsville Affair. The president also wants to look into the inefficiency of the Quartermaster General’s department and has spoken with Secretary of State Elihu Root about the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-04
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of War Taft about conditions in the South regarding Taft’s nomination to be the presidential candidate for the Republican Party. One of Roosevelt’s informants told him that the constituents in Alabama will vote for Joseph Benson Foraker if Taft is approved. Roosevelt still believes that the southern states will be in favor of Taft. On another matter, Roosevelt reports that many people want him to nominate John K. Beach over Walter Chadwick Noyes for a circuit court judge position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-10