Your TR Source
President Roosevelt is pleased with Mark Sullivan’s action on the London situation. Roosevelt approves of Sullivan’s suggestions for future publications and enjoyed the recent editorials on farming. He invites Sullivan and Norman Hapgood to visit him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-12
President Roosevelt writes Mark Sullivan, of Collier’s, in response to Jack London’s article recently published in the magazine. London’s article incorrectly quotes Roosevelt on multiple accounts. Although Roosevelt thoroughly disagrees with London, his disappointment lies with Collier’s for publishing such a poorly constructed and argued piece.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-09
President Roosevelt was told by “various members of the Kansas delegation” that William Allen White supports Senator Robert M. La Follette in the same way that Roosevelt does: they both appreciate the the anti-trust stances that La Follette takes, but think he can go to extremes sometimes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-05
A statement, possibly a memorandum meant for President Roosevelt, regarding the gubernatorial election in Missouri, which became embroiled in public relations issues involving Roosevelt, in part due to the publishing of an exchange of letters. Roosevelt is quoted explaining his attempts to remain distant, despite the fact that editors are hounding him and will print more with or without his involvement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-04
President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit about how long he thinks Congress will be in session and the status of some of his bills. Roosevelt says that despite attacks from various groups and people, he has done a good job of getting his legislation through. He also adds that his ankle is still preventing him from exercising.
1906-06-17
A large group of politicians and journalists appear as knights on a crusade against graft and corruption. Many carry large pens like a lance. Periodicals mentioned are “Colliers, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Puck, [and] McClure’s” Magazine. Caption: Marching embattled ‘gainst the Saracens of Graft.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-02-21
President Roosevelt and Albert Shaw have an ongoing dispute regarding a letter Shaw circulated in Missouri. Shaw claims that Roosevelt said Cyrus Packard Walbridge was a better man than Joseph Wingate Folk. Roosevelt denies this, claiming that he said only that Walbridge was the candidate he supported. Roosevelt references the chain of correspondence between himself, Robert Collier, and Norman Hapgood, and insists Shaw come see him as soon as possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-27
President Roosevelt has an ongoing dispute with Dr. Albert Shaw of the Review of Reviews over whether or not Roosevelt said that Missouri gubernatorial candidate Cyrus Packard Walbridge is a better man than opposing candidate Joseph Wingate Folk. Roosevelt insists he said no such thing, and Shaw insists he did. Roosevelt sends a copy of a letter he received from Shaw to Collier. Roosevelt wishes not to discuss any of this in public, especially concerned about the misrepresentation of his political views.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-27
In an ongoing dispute over a letter written by Albert Shaw and circulating among Missouri politicians, which claims to represent the views of President Roosevelt, Roosevelt seeks to set the record straight. He disputes the authenticity of the letter itself several times, and asks to see it. He claims to have said nothing directly about the merits of either Cyrus Packard Walbridge or Joseph Wingate Folk, only that he was supporting the Republican ticket in every state.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-25
Theodore Roosevelt encourages Mark Sullivan to take a holiday break, and when he returns to New York, Roosevelt proposes that they go out to eat with their wives somewhere.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-29
Theodore Roosevelt explains that he is booked for Tommy Hitchcock’s box, but he invites the Colliers, the Hapgoods, and Mark Sullivan for lunch sometime.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-16
Theodore Roosevelt has had a long running conflict with Norman Hapgood and George Creel who have told “deliberate falsehoods” about him. Roosevelt states that an examination of any public person will show the “occasional honest and necessary change of mind.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-07-10
President Roosevelt is sorry that he did not connect his presently planned hunting trip with Robert J. Collier’s previous offer. Scribner’s Magazine has handled Roosevelt’s past hunting trips, so he naturally thought of them first. Roosevelt is glad that Collier did not make his present offer when he first visited, as Roosevelt would have had a much harder time making a decision between the two magazines. Roosevelt hopes to be able to give Collier articles in the future, and hopes to meet with him and Mark Sullivan in person soon. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt assures Collier that if he were going on a world trip, as Collier initially proposed, he would definitely have turned to him first.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-09
President Roosevelt does not know if he is more proud of what Secretary of State Elihu Root did in New York or what Secretary of War Taft did in Idaho. He describes some of the Democratic competition in New York. He proposes that the Democratic Party should dissolve because it has been shamed in New York and Idaho. Roosevelt sometimes wishes “I was not in the White House and could be on the stage and speak frankly!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-08
President Roosevelt agrees with Senator Lodge about wanting an appointee who follows the tenants of Alexander Hamilton and John Marshall. He is pleased with the outcome in Maine given the previous harm caused by the issue of temperance and liquor laws. Roosevelt shares how he took “solid satisfaction” in taking a shot at journalist Norman Hapgood. Reading Winston Churchill’s biography of his father, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill, reaffirmed Roosevelt’s dislike of both father and son.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-12
President Roosevelt sends Finley Peter Dunne a copy of his correspondence with Norman Hapgood for Dunne’s personal use. Roosevelt asks if Dunne prefers to attend the target practice with him or go to Boston with Connolly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-04
President Roosevelt sends Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot a copy of correspondence he had with reporter Norman Hapgood. In the letters, Roosevelt challenges Hapgood over claims that Roosevelt had not told the truth about the William D’Alton Mann prosecution.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-03
President Roosevelt refutes a claim by Norman Hapgood regarding his supposed interference in the 1904 Missouri gubernatorial election where he said that one candidate was “a better man” than the other. Roosevelt quotes the text of several letters written in connection to this issue to back up his claim that he did not say this, and that his actual sentiment was misinterpreted. This misinterpretation, Roosevelt suggests, was part of an effort to influence the election in Missouri against Roosevelt’s presidential campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-17
President Roosevelt sends Finley Peter Dunne three cheers, and asks him to come visit soon. Roosevelt remarks that at some point he must “have a serious talk with you about some of your present associates,” such as William Randolph Hearst or David Graham Phillips. Roosevelt wishes that “the men who profess to be most sensitive about evil conditions in public life and in the business world would themselves refrain from at least those grosser forms of wrong-doing which range from slander of what is decent to the advertisement, and therefore support, of what is indecent.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-18
President Roosevelt emphasizes that he wrote to Lyman Abbott because he trusts the Outlook more than other periodicals, listing a number of other problems and biases he sees in other prominent periodicals. Roosevelt thinks they should make it clear that “we war on the evil of human nature, whether shown in the labor man or the capitalist,” and illustrates this statement by describing how he is fighting both against capitalist organizations in enforcing government inspection of meat packing plants, as well as fighting labor unions in his prosecution of Charles H. Moyer and Big Bill Haywood, who have been accused of the assassination of ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho. Both sides, in their respective cases, claim to want justice while working to prevent it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-18