Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Floyd Reading DuBois
Theodore Roosevelt explains to Floyd Reading Du Bois that the unseating of “colored” delegates from the South had nothing to do with their race, but that they were not legally entitled to their seats. In Florida, both the white and the colored delegates were unseated. In Mississippi, Benjamin F. Fridge had called for a “white” convention based on a misunderstanding, and rather than waiting for an adjustment from the National Committee, the unseated delegates held their own illegal state convention. Richard Washburn Child agrees with Roosevelt that the Mississippi decision was legally, not racially, based. Finally, the unseated delegates in Cincinnati were judged to be associated with the Republican Party machine.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1912-08-26