Your TR Source
President Roosevelt appreciates J. H. Claypool’s positive news about Governor Charles Evans Hughes, but he can not stump during the campaign. The information about John Worth Kern and John Edward Lamb is interesting.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-01
President Roosevelt advises Secretary of State Root to make it clear to organization leaders that there will be no attack on them. While Roosevelt privately admits that New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes has acted negatively towards such men, his support for Hughes in spite of these actions might make it obvious how crucial he feels Hughes’s renomination is for the good of the party. Roosevelt gives a quotation for publication stating his support for Hughes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-14
President Roosevelt is impressed with Herbert W. Collingwood’s political canvass. He shares his observations of the people who tend to support Governor Charles Evans Hughes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-15
President Roosevelt is inclined to agree with Judson Swift. Roosevelt says New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes has split his following, and it is hard to know what to do about re-nominating him, especially in a presidential election year.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-11
President Roosevelt updates Henry Cabot Lodge on personal and political matters. Roosevelt feels obligated to enjoy a series of essays by Westerlick because his wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, assumes he would not care for them; the puzzling problem of the re-nomination for Charles Evans Hughes for governor of New York; the plans for Roosevelt’s upcoming African safari, and his desire to tour Europe on the way home as a private citizen without pomp; his plans to write for Scribner’s and The Outlook post-presidency, and his reasoning for selecting those offers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-08
President Roosevelt has forwarded Benedict R. Hatmaker’s statement to certain Republican leaders, and tells him about the contradictory letters he has received regarding the re-nomination of Charles Evans Hughes for Governor of New York. Most of the letters are for Hughes, but the ones that are against him are extremely antagonistic to Hughes. In a postscript, Roosevelt encloses a letter from a “very, very trustworthy man” to show Hatmaker how difficult the situation is.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-07
Richard Watson Gilder writes to President Roosevelt about the article on the ancient Irish sagas that has been received very well. Gilder mentions much has been written about the topic lately, including a book and an editorial. Gilder goes on to discuss the editorial in which Governor Charles Evans Hughes fails to address political machines in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-10
Theodore Roosevelt informs Judge Rose that “very few people at the moment will disagree with what I said about Baldwin, Dix, and Harmon last Fall.” Roosevelt also asks if he may see Rose next week.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-31
President Roosevelt appreciates Governor Norris’s service and believes the people of California will support him. Roosevelt has sent a letter, which Norris can make public whenever he wishes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-27
President Roosevelt is very interested in what Charles Sprague Smith has to say about the primaries for Governor of New York. Roosevelt discusses the contradictory and bitter statements he receives about Charles Evans Hughes, saying he thinks the wise thing to do is to renominate Hughes. At this time, however, Roosevelt does not want to take any part in the nomination process.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-06
President Roosevelt expresses his concern about the New York governor’s race to Hamilton Fish. Roosevelt is inclined to believe that Hughes should be nominated, but there is such strong feeling against him in certain quarters that he is unsure. Fortunately, Roosevelt says, he will not become involved at this time.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-06
President Roosevelt tells Timothy L. Woodruff that positive coverage of anyone by the New York Evening Post “creates a slight presumption against him” in Roosevelt’s mind. Roosevelt counsels Woodruff not to pay it any attention in the matter of Charles Evans Hughes’ re-nomination for Governor of New York. Roosevelt describes several letters he has received, both for and against Hughes, and encloses a few.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-05
President Roosevelt describes the very bitter communication he has received both for and against the re-nomination of Charles Evans Hughes for Governor of New York to Herbert W. Collingwood. Apparently, many in the New York Republican Party machine feel Hughes has been rude to them, but Roosevelt has also had a letter from a state representative from Western New York, from a rural district made up mostly of farmers, that also says it would be too much of a risk to re-nominate Hughes, and Roosevelt finds this very puzzling. Roosevelt feels it is not advisable for him to become involved.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-05
President Roosevelt has no intention to remove Joseph H. Kibbey as Governor of the Arizona territory, despite the efforts of Senator Albert J. Beveridge and his supporters. While Roosevelt is disappointed that some public officials make accusations that cannot be backed up by facts, he will protect anyone making serious accusations as long as there is sufficient evidence to support those accusations. The next time he sees Lincon Steffens he would like to review what Steffens has found out about Government officials in the West before anything is made public.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-26
President Roosevelt responds to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp’s letter concerning the investigation of the Governor of Oklahoma, Frank C. Frantz. Investigators questioned men concerning Frantz and his brother, however it is unclear if the statements are true, or merely gossip. Roosevelt believes the situation reflects poorly on the character of the Governor and ex-Governor of Oklahoma.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-02
Myron T. Herrick thanks President Roosevelt for looking into the case of John L. Sullivan, and says that after reading the report he comes to the same conclusion as Roosevelt. He had previously known nothing about the case apart from the fact that Senator Joseph Benson Foraker was involved. Herrick remarks on his time as Governor of Ohio, and believes that the people of his state are starting to shift their opinion of his time in office.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-18
Silas McBee writes to President Roosevelt that the double eagle is a great improvement and he thinks Victor T. Brenner’s article in The New York Tribune covered it fairly. There is promise in the design of the liberty side, but he fails to find it on the eagle side, other than the movement of “E Pluribus Unum” to the edge. He hopes Secretary of War William H. Taft’s campaign will awaken the country’s young men. McBee praises Representative Herbert Parsons for blocking Governor Charles Evans Hughes’s people, but he won’t be satisfied until there is a knock-out.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-21
Representative Fassett will give an interview condemning any attempts to start a row between President Roosevelt and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Fassett has spoken with the committeemen in his office and while Hughes would be their first choice for president should Roosevelt choose not to run for a second elected term, they think he lacks Roosevelt’s “graces of character” and do not consider him as trustworthy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-18
Joseph Bucklin Bishop, secretary of the Isthmian Canal Commission, recounts the Congressional Appropriations Committee’s visit to the Panama Canal Zone and offers several suggestions for how to improve government operations in the Canal Zone. The committee members are enthusiastic about the project and were highly impressed by the abilities and knowledge of George W. Goethals, Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission, but were disappointed by Canal Zone Governor Joseph C. S. Blackburn’s abilities. Bishop candidly admits to feeling similarly about Blackburn and encourages President Roosevelt to send Goethals to speak before Congress on the proceedings of the Canal project instead. Bishop also discusses the General Counsel for the Canal Zone Richard R. Rogers, who had criticized the Commission’s operations in a way which demonstrated an intolerable ignorance of the situation and a disloyalty to President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-13
John Henry Burford, Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, writes to President Roosevelt to tell him of growing unrest in Oklahoma. Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock has sent secret service agents, including William J. Burns, to investigate Governor Frank C. Frantz. Burford does not know the past private life of Frantz, but attests to his record as a soldier and his present character as governor, and asks that Roosevelt not let his confidence in Frantz be shaken by reports from the Department of the Interior.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-30