Your TR Source
On behalf of President Roosevelt, William Loeb sends Secretary of the Navy Morton a letter from Edward Henry Harriman for Morton’s perusal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-02
President Roosevelt defends hosting miners and labors leaders from Butte, Montana to lunch at the White House. They were all decent men and Roosevelt does not believe that any of them were involved with strike “outrages.” Some labor unions encourage rioting and violence but that is not sufficient grounds to discriminate against every member of any labor union.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-26
As the Senate committee was unable to see him, Theodore Roosevelt offers his testimony in writing. He denies knowledge of requests for campaign funds directed at the Standard Oil Company for his presidential campaign of 1904. These requests supposedly promised lenient treatment and favors in exchange for large contributions. Roosevelt offers documentary evidence that in 1904 he instructed any money received from Standard Oil to be returned. Furthermore, according to campaign records, no funds were ever received from Standard Oil.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-28
Theodore Roosevelt thanks George Rumsey for his letter . Roosevelt reiterates that he did not ask Henry Edward Harriman to fund his campaign, but rather Harriman asked for Roosevelt’s help in getting the Republican National Committee to direct funds to Frank Wayland Higgins’s gubernatorial campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-19
Theodore Roosevelt sincerely thanks George Rumsey Sheldon for volunteering to write that letter. He always felt that a member of the National Committee should have helped him show “what an outrageous and infamous slander” the Edward Henry Harriman matter was.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-02
Theodore Roosevelt found himself genuinely interested in I. K. Russell’s letter, and connects Russell’s comments about church people standing by Edward Henry Harriman with Edward Alsworth Ross’s book, Sin and Society. Roosevelt wishes he could get people to “take a greater interest in real things” and create real social benefits, rather than “[wasting] their energies in howling for universal prohibition or universal peace.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-19
Theodore Roosevelt agrees with most of Henry Lee Higginson’s letter. He particularly believes in the movement’s effort to protect the shareholders’ widows and orphans. Roosevelt comments on Edward Henry Harriman’s fortune. While he does not want to hurt Harriman’s small securities holders, there should be supervision to prevent future Harrimans from getting disproportionate rewards. It is easy to handle corrupt small businessmen by refusing their service, but the same is not possible with large businessmen. Roosevelt agrees with Higginson on the overall increase in commercial honesty, the effect of certain unions, and the classification of rebates.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-02
Theodore Roosevelt thanks Otto H. Kahn for the pamphlet and wants to meet sometime to share his opinions of Edward Henry Harriman. He would be amused to know more about the man who “acted so perfidiously” toward him and Harriman.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-28
President Roosevelt chastises George Rumsey Sheldon, treasurer of the Republican National Committee, for soliciting donations from John D. Archbold and Edward Henry Harriman. Although Roosevelt is not the Republican candidate, he is head of the current Republican administration, which is prosecuting Harriman and Archbold. He notes the impropriety of Archbold and Harriman contributing to a candidate who, if elected, would name the Attorney General responsible for the prosecution. He includes the text of letters he sent four years ago regarding similar contributions from the Standard Oil Company, which he made George B. Cortelyou return.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-21
Theodore Roosevelt refutes several statements written by George Kennan that appear in the pamphlet The Chicago and Alton Case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-01-19
While President Roosevelt agrees with William Dudley Foulke that Delavan Smith of the Indianapolis News is bad, the publishers of the New York Sun, New York World, and Evening Post are just as bad or worse. Certain newspapers publish so many lies about Roosevelt that if he were to respond to all of them, he would spend most of his time refuting lies. Roosevelt outlines several lies that have been printed about him in various papers, and invites Foulke to visit and look over the papers that prove them false. Roosevelt would like to speak with Foulke and Lucius B. Swift about whether or not he should respond to Smith and other publishers like him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-30
President Roosevelt explains to William Dudley Foulke that he does not think that it is worth responding to the three false editorials in the Indianapolis News. This paper, under editor Delavan Smith, is just as bad as the New York Sun and New York Evening Post. Roosevelt refutes these editorials, but does not think it is worth making public; if he were to deny all of the falsehoods and stories based on rumors that were printed about him, it would take him all day, every day.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-24
President Roosevelt responds to William Dudley Foulke’s request to call the Indianapolis News to account for the falsehoods they are spreading. Roosevelt explains that he does not believe it will do any good, because the paper is simply on par with other papers like the New York World, New York Sun, and New York Evening Post. Such papers will simply repeat their falsehoods and spread new ones if they are corrected. Roosevelt believes that it is useless to deny false stories in the news because papers do not attempt to prove their assertions. In particular, Roosevelt mentions false stories about his raising campaign funds and the purchase of the Panama Canal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-24
President Roosevelt did not feel it was necessary to respond to William Jennings Bryan’s letter, and instead he has written the enclosed statement regarding Edward Henry Harriman and Paul Morton. He will not fight dishonest publications like the Sun and the Evening Post, and the enclosure will clear up any questions about contributions from Harriman.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-30
President Roosevelt responds to William Jennings Bryan’s public letter by comparing Bryan’s platform with those of the current administration and of William H. Taft’s campaign. Roosevelt lists the cases that have been brought against the trusts, the railroads, and the shippers under his administration. He explains his actions in relation to the panic of 1907, outlines the reasons the trust magnates will support Bryan, and defends his actions related to campaign funding. Roosevelt critiques Bryan’s defense of Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathan Haskell by reiterating the extent of his corruption, and determines that it reflects directly on Bryan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-27
President Roosevelt sends William H. Taft a copy of the letter he sent to Treasurer of the Campaign Committee George Rumsey Sheldon regarding campaign contributions, after a complaint from Frank B. Kellogg. Roosevelt asks Taft to take more aggressive action against William Jennings Bryan, perhaps giving a speech like the one recently given by New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Many have suggested that T. Coleman DuPont should not be in charge of the Speakers Committee, and if it were up to Roosevelt he would be removed. Roosevelt has given the press a copy of a letter from Taft to Arthur I. Vorys in which Taft’s independence is full display, to counteract the press coverage of the supposed reconciliation with Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker. Roosevelt advises Taft, in his speech, to speak about the connection between William Randolph Hearst and the Democratic National Committee. In a postscript, Roosevelt advises Taft to remove Sheldon if he did in fact solicit the donations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-21
President Roosevelt writes to Republican National Committee Treasurer George Rumsey Sheldon regarding campaign funds solicited from John D. Archbold and Edward Henry Harriman. As the head of the Republican Administration, Roosevelt expresses his disagreement with collecting money from anyone currently being prosecuted. He sends two letters that he wrote four years ago to Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou, who was then chairman of the Republican National Committee, when money was contributed by Standard Oil. The first outlines the reasons that no contributions should be accepted which could be viewed as creating obligation to corporations. The second reiterates that the money should be returned especially in light of the public statements from Standard Oil about the company’s “political attitude.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-21
President Roosevelt is surprised at what Senator Lodge says about Edward Henry Harriman, and notes that he is skeptical of the motives of Charles S. Mellen and T. E. Byrnes in light of their actions against Charlie Morse during a steamboat merger several years ago. Lodge’s letter is so private that Roosevelt does not want to bring it to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte, and asks Lodge or any other people concerned to send another letter which can be put on file at the Department of Justice. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt offers sympathy and concern in light of the news that Lodge’s sister is dying.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-28
President Roosevelt agrees with Kermit Roosevelt about the book Martin Chuzzlewit, and criticizes Charles Dickens’s character and inability to see the positive traits of America and Americans, which led to such great men as Abraham Lincoln. He concedes, however, that some of the negative characteristics that Dickens’s characters portray do persist in some Americans, including Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, William Randolph Hearst, and John D. Rockefeller. Roosevelt enjoyed a recent visit from Kermit’s older brother, Theodore Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-29
President Roosevelt writes to Henry Lee Higginson about some of the actions that railroads and corporations have taken to try to influence public opinion regarding legislation in congress related to trusts and interstate commerce laws. Roosevelt agrees with Higginson about wanting a good system of banking and currency, and says that while Higginson may not like the bill put forward by Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, it is the only one that has been proposed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-19