Foreign ministers

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Otto Trevelyan

Theodore Roosevelt tells George Otto Trevelyan that he thought Sir Edward Grey’s speech was fine and lived up to Trevelyan’s hope that it might be worthy of Henry John Temple Palmerston with all Palmerston’s good qualities and just the sense of power Grey should convey as the English spokesman of foreign affairs.

Comments and Context

Roosevelt asks Otto Trevelyan to tell Charles Philips Trevelyan how fascinated he has been with the last Garibaldi volumes, however Otto Trevelyan’s son George Macaulay Trevelyan, is the author of the Garibaldi trilogy published around this time.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Telegram from William Loeb to Rudolph Forster

William Loeb writes to Assistant Secretary of State Forster asking him to forward a message to Japanese Minister Kogoro Takahira. The message mentions President Roosevelt’s gratitude for receiving Takahira’s letter and Roosevelt’s intention to not broadcast the plans for an armistice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-03

Letter from Herbert H. D. Peirce to Theodore Roosevelt

Acting Secretary of State Peirce informs President Roosevelt that he has contacted Japanese Minister Kogoro Takahira and shared with him the Russian plenipotentiaries’ names, which had been revealed in a telegram from Ambassador George von Lengerke Meyer. Takahira responded positively to this message.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-01

Letter from Francis B. Loomis to William Loeb

Acting Secretary of State Loomis writes to William Loeb regarding Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, who wishes to offer an autographed letter to President Roosevelt. Loomis mentions that Roosevelt may want to meet with Díaz and asks Loeb what time Roosevelt is available. Loomis then discusses a letter he received from the so-called Chinese reformer Kang Wu Wei, who wishes to interview Loomis and Roosevelt. Loomis reveals that the Chinese Minister, whom he contacted, informed him that Wei was an impostor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-13

Letter from Francis B. Loomis to William Loeb

Acting Secretary of State Loomis forwards to William Loeb a message from Japan’s American Minister, along with military relics that the Japanese Minister of War has offered President Roosevelt and a letter from the Minister of War.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-08

Letter from J. J. Jusserand to William Loeb

French Ambassador to the United States Jusserand congratulates Loeb on President Roosevelt’s election victory. He informs Loeb that Minister of Commerce Georges Benoît-Lévy is visiting the United States on a mission to study garden cities, and would like to meet with Roosevelt as well. Jusserand asks that Roosevelt review a volume sent to him that will inform him of the kind of work Benoît-Lévy is involved in.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Kōsai Uchida

Theodore Roosevelt is sorry that Uchida Kōsai will be leaving his position as Japanese foreign minister. Roosevelt has appreciated working with Kōsai and hopes their two countries will continue to nurture their close relationship. Roosevelt wishes Kōsai well with his new position as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-22

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt informs Secretary of State Root that he would like to appoint Charles Hitchcock Sherrill of New York City as Minister to Spain if the opportunity arises. Although Roosevelt likes to appoint ministers from within, he believes that men from outside the diplomatic service should be appointed occasionally.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles Gates Dawes

President Roosevelt will have Secretary of State Elihu Root look into “that Shedd matter,” but tells Charles Gates Dawes that missionaries in Persia have yet to gain progress in “the war they have been waging” upon the United States minister of Persia, Richmond Pearson.   

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-02

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Patrick Egan

President Roosevelt tells Patrick Egan that his letter pleased him because of the “substantial aid” that Egan can offer and because of their former association when Egan was the Minister to Chile. Roosevelt suggests that Egan get in touch with George Cortelyou, chairman of the Republican National Committee, who will be in New York in August.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-15

Public – No. 236

An act making appropriations for the diplomatic and consular service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907. The act stipulates funding for salaries of ambassadors and ministers, salaries of secretaries of embassies and legations, contingent expenses, foreign missions, and a number of international bureaus and commissions among other things.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-28

Letter from Jacob Sleeper to Elihu Root

Cuban chargé d’affaires Sleeper informs Secretary of State Root that the expected armed uprising has occurred in two Cuban provinces. Sleeper lists the strength of the rebel forces and their leaders, noting that the Rural Guard has had defectors. As nearly half of the Guard’s members are disaffected with their leadership, President Tomás Estrada Palma has called for 2,000 more soldiers. To date, the insurgents have merely committed petty crimes, but while no serious fighting has occurred, they have entrenched in a church near Pinar del Rio’s capital. Dr. Juan F. O’Farrill, the acting Secretary of Government, feels Venezuela can fully cope with the situation, and while Sleeper feels the situation is more serious than O’Farrill admits, he agrees that the nation should be able to “crush the revolt with the resources at its disposal.” He encloses several pertinent newspaper clippings.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-21

Letter from Whitelaw Reid to William H. Taft

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge has written to Ambassador Reid that Reid will remain at his post until August, at which point a successor will replace him. Reid recommends that President-Elect Taft wait to replace him, both because of Reid’s family’s needs and because if a successor came instead in June he would arrive when the King, Court, Ministers, and Parliament were all in session. The rumor that Reid announced he would remain at his post under Taft’s administration is false and Reid published a contradictory statement when it was brought to his attention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-22

Letter from Harry Johnston to Theodore Roosevelt

Harry Johnston discusses his current stay in Haiti and his pleasant experience traveling with American Minister Plenipotentiary H. W. Furniss as his guide. Johnston describes Furniss as “the most influential foreigner” in Haiti and compliments his knowledge of the country, his popularity among locals, and his ability to navigate the “rotten” Haitian government. Johnston urges President Roosevelt to visit Haiti because of its natural beauty but cautions him about the “utterly bad” government and “ignorant” president. Johnston also asks Roosevelt to put in a good word for him when he passes through the Panama Canal at the same time as president-elect William H. Taft, and he requests that Roosevelt send him two War Department maps of Haiti and San Domingo. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-13

Letter from Robert DeCourcy Ward to Theodore Roosevelt

Robert DeCourcy Ward explains to President Roosevelt that his aim in confidentially describing the drunken conduct of Minister to Uruguay and Paraguay General Edward Charles O’Brien while aboard the steamer was to make Roosevelt aware of the situation. Ward was not actually present when certain situations occurred, but more information may be forthcoming from other channels. He felt it necessary to give Roosevelt this account, and he believes that the country’s ministers should be held to the highest standards, but he does not wish to have his communications presented to the State Department as evidence.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-19

Letter from Richard Watson Gilder to Theodore Roosevelt

In response to a request from President Roosevelt on the appointment of Maurice Egan to Minister to Denmark, Richard W. Gilder has attached a glowing recommendation he published in the New York Times.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-05

Letter from James Sullivan Clarkson to William Loeb

James Sullivan Clarkson encloses a letter from his son, who has been living in Montevideo, Uruguay, for multiple years and is acquainted with President Ordóñez and other native dignitaries. Clarkson’s son often writes to him about the poor repute in which America is held because of the boorish ministers sent there. Clarkson notes that General Edward C. O’Brien has worked hard to counteract this impression of America.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-06

Letter from Francis B. Loomis to William Loeb

Assistant Secretary of State Loomis writes to William Loeb to discuss corrections to be made to a letter. Loomis advises adding Secretary of State John Hay’s observations of Foreign Minister Herbert Wolcott Bowen’s treachery, not only to the administration but also to the country.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-21

Letter from Benjamin Ide Wheeler to Theodore Roosevelt

Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of the University of California at Berkeley, recommends Professor Bernard Moses to President Roosevelt for a ministry position. Further contact with South America is inevitable, and Moses has expertise in South American language and affairs, as demonstrated in his book The Establishment of Spanish Rule in America. Wheeler also anticipates a visit from Alice Roosevelt, who is coming with Secretary of War William H. Taft and Taft’s family. He briefly discusses an upcoming struggle with Republican senators over foreign policy issues and arguments over railway rate control and the prospect of government ownership.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-23

Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Lodge writes to President Roosevelt while on vacation in Naples, Italy. The calm voyage has restored him as he did not realize how tired he was, and he particularly enjoyed seeing steep ravines made by lava from a crater high above the sea. Lodge finds some of what he has seen and done beautiful and thinks that Roosevelt would have enjoyed himself as well. As for parts of the cities, even the new quarters are dirty, and he thinks that there is “nothing so squalid as a shabby newness.” Lodge asks what Roosevelt wants him to say to the King when he is in London, and he is sorry for the affair involving Assistant Secretary of State Loomis.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-08