Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt writes Senator La Follette stating he does not want to have a prominent part in any political movement but is willing to endorse the National Progressive Republican League in The Outlook. Roosevelt has been trying to engage in politics like a private citizen, as an ex-president should, without claiming special status.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-24
Theodore Roosevelt was delighted to read his son Ted’s letter describing the political situation in California, and was especially glad that he and his wife Eleanor Butler Roosevelt have not been unduly swayed by “nine-tenths of the social leaders,” who he feels are gradually moving away from what he believes is right. He wholeheartedly approves of the way that Ted has sought to avoid the spotlight and publicity, and Roosevelt is especially proud of his son and daughter-in-law’s actions in “bearing out [his] preaching by their practice.” Roosevelt inserts, in the private letter to his son, a portion which he says Ted can share with several people in which he comments on how he would like to support Hiram Johnson for governor of California, but explains why this is impossible for him to do directly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-08-10
Theodore Roosevelt was sorry to hear about the accident Mrs. Robins experienced. It is not possible for Roosevelt to accept the Northwestern University Settlement invitation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-29
President Roosevelt tells James D. Phelan that he recently had lunch with Francis J. and Rebecca W. Heney, who gave him Phelan’s letter. Roosevelt promises to forward the letter to President-Elect William H. Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President Roosevelt thanks George H. Boke for the letter in which Boke provides a description not only of Francis J. Heney, but also of the fight against corruption which Heney has led.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-03
President Roosevelt expresses shock at the attempted assassination of Francis J. Heney. The attempt on Heney’s life illustrates the true character of the struggle that Rudolph Spreckels and his associates face in trying to stop corruption and violent crime.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-14
President Roosevelt expresses shock and sympathy for Rebecca W. Heney following the assassination attempt on her husband, Francis J. Heney. Roosevelt admires Heney’s dedication to exposing corruption regardless of the prominence of the offenders and the dangerous nature of the work.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-14
President Roosevelt thanks Tracy C. Becker for the letter and statement from Francis J. Heney, who has now been the target of an assassination attempt. Roosevelt has sent and published certain telegrams about Heney, and will not speak to president-elect William H. Taft about appointing anyone for his Cabinet. He will consult Gifford Pinchot, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service, about making a game preserve in the Cascade Mountain Forest Reserve, but is sorry to stay that only the state can act in that case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-14
President Roosevelt thanks Norman Hapgood for the letter, and asks him to visit next fall to discuss certain political matters, perhaps along with Robert J. Collier and Mark Sullivan. Roosevelt is glad that Hapgood liked Roosevelt’s letter to Rudolph Spreckels. Roosevelt originally wrote a private note, but it was too frank, so he wrote another letter for publication.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-06
President Roosevelt tells Lyman Abbott that he is amused that the Outlook just printed an article that comes close to expressing his own views on socialism. Roosevelt compares some of the figures involved in socialist movements of the present to figures of the French Revolution, and says that while the French Revolution was beneficial and necessary in its early stages, it turned sharply towards evil as it progressed. Roosevelt has sent Abbott the open letter that he wrote to Rudolph Spreckles.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-18
President Roosevelt offers encouragement to Rudolph Spreckels, Francis J. Heney, and William Henry Langdon in their fight against political corruption. Roosevelt believes it is important for people to relate to each other as people, and not judge people solely by the class they belong to, and that good people representing both labor and capital must stand together against abuses of power by both labor leaders and capitalists.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-08
President Roosevelt encourages Rudolph Spreckels not to get downhearted in his struggle against political corruption and to keep up the fight.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-30
President Roosevelt tells Tracy C. Becker that he is very pleased that Becker is associated with Francis J. Heney. Roosevelt thinks that Heney is a good person, and is using a document that Heney sent him to help write a message to Congress.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-29
President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Bonaparte what to do about Stephen A. D. Puter. Francis J. Heney recommends that he be pardoned due to his involvement with the Oregon land frauds.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-31
President Roosevelt explains to Oregon Governor Chamberlain why William C. Bristol will not be renominated as Attorney General in Oregon, and he encloses copies of communications about the matter. Bristol has not pursued the land fraud suits that he was specifically hired to handle, and he has stopped answering communications from the Department of Justice. Roosevelt has informed United States Attorney Francis J. Heney to appoint whomever he like as his assistant in prosecuting the suits.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-14
President Roosevelt has read Attorney General Bonaparte’s letter regarding William C. Bristol’s poor professional conduct as Oregon Attorney General, and is withdrawing Bristol’s nomination to the Senate. Roosevelt feels that the land fraud cases should be tried by Oregon District Attorney Francis J. Heney and assistants that Heney recommends.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-11
President Roosevelt refutes the points made in an article published in Collier’s Weekly accusing Supreme Court Justice William H. Moody of misconduct while overseeing the Oregon land fraud scandal as Attorney General. The article alleged that Moody’s personal grudge against the chief prosecutor of the trial, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Francis J. Heney, led to him nearly undermining the case by allowing a U.S. Marshal implicated in the scandal to remain in his position, suggesting a potentially compromised judge to sit the case, and refusing to appoint the Heney-recommended William C. Bristol as District Attorney.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-26
President Roosevelt refutes the points made in an article published in Collier’s Weekly accusing Supreme Court Justice William H. Moody of misconduct while overseeing the Oregon land fraud scandal as Attorney General. The article alleged that Moody’s personal grudge against the chief prosecutor of the trial, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Francis J. Heney, led to him nearly undermining the case by allowing a U.S. Marshal implicated in the scandal to remain in his position, suggesting a potentially compromised judge to sit the case, and refusing to appoint the Heney-recommended William C. Bristol as District Attorney. The piece has several handwritten additions and notes which Roosevelt includes in the final draft of his piece.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-26
In the event that a move must be made against Edward H. Harriman, President Roosevelt would like to employ Francis J. Heney, former U.S. District Attorney for the District of Oregon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-26
President Roosevelt describes to Mark Sullivan the considerations that have gone into his selections for federal judgeships. Roosevelt reviews his appointments in detail, noting that some were made at the request of the local organization and some against their wishes. The goal in each case was to appoint someone “of the high character, the good sense, the trained legal ability, and the necessary broad-mindedness of spirit…essential to a good judge.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-13