Hoar, George Frisbie, 1826-1904

Douglas Eden dismisses Stephen Kinzer’s The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of the American Empire as a piece of polemical journalism that should not be taken seriously as a work of history. Eden asserts that the work will appeal to certain segments of the academy and media, and he highlights episodes from the early years of the Cold War to demonstrate the author’s bias and lack of understanding of key events of that era, such as the start of the Korean War. Eden also notes that despite appearing in the book’s title, Mark Twain does not figure prominently in the work. The front cover of the The True Flag and one of its photographs supplement the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2018

Francis P. McManamon examines the origins of the Antiquities Act of 1906 that President Theodore Roosevelt and his successors used to safeguard natural and scientific sites across the United States. McManamon asserts that it was threats to ancient archaeological sites across the American Southwest that led to calls for greater government intervention, and he highlights the case of the Casa Grande ruins in Arizona. McManamon notes the work of private organizations, government agencies, individuals, and members of Congress, most importantly Congressman John F. Lacey of Iowa, who worked to save important sites before the passage of the Antiquities Act. McManamon traces the slow path to passage of the Antiquities Act, and he highlights its important text and provisions. He notes how Roosevelt used the act to set aside eighteen national monuments, and he asserts that Roosevelt’s actions, especially in regards to the Grand Canyon of Arizona, set important precedents for his successors, especially President Bill Clinton.  

Two photographs and two illustrations supplement the text. 

John M. Thompson examines the domestic political dimensions of the United States’ efforts to secure a canal zone in Central America. Thompson identifies those who favored canal routes in Nicaragua or Panama, and he looks closely at the Congressional reaction to the revolt in Panama and the United States’ quick recognition of the new nation. Thompson lays out the opposition to the subsequent canal treaty from Democrats and anti-imperialists, and he details the publicity campaign waged by President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration to justify its course of action and win Senate approval of the treaty. Thompson highlights the role of Southern Democrats who supported the treaty because they saw the canal as aiding their region’s economy and because Democrats did not want to be seen as opposing a popular policy of constructing a canal. Thompson concludes his article by examining the various aspects of domestic politics that Roosevelt had to consider when making foreign policy decisions. 

Ten photographs and five political cartoons populate the article.

The “Book Reviews” section features three essays. In “‘The Negatives Are the Score the Prints Are the Performance,” Chris Foster examines Side Trips: The Photography of Sumner W. Matteson, 1898-1908. Foster looks at the development of photography equipment, especially Kodak cameras, notes the various locations in the American West, Mexico, and Cuba that Matteson documented, and pays particular attention to Matteson’s photographs of Native Americans and their culture. A photograph of a buffalo, a copy of which Matteson sent to President Theodore Roosevelt, accompanies the review and is the only illustration in the section.

In “A Tribute to George E. Mowry,” John Robert Greene reviews Reform and the Reformer in the Progressive Era.” Greene examines each of the essays in this tribute to George E. Mowry, a historian of the Progressive age, and finds a number of them disappointing, but he reserves special praise for an essay that provides an overview of Mowry’s career and for the transcript of an interview with Mowry from 1980.

John A. Gable reviews Peggy and Harold Samuels’s Frederic Remington: A Biography in “Remington’s West.” Gable notes the importance of Remington, Theodore Roosevelt, and Owen Wister to forming Americans’ view of the frontier West, and he catalogs many of Remington’s illustrations, paintings, and sculptures, some of which belonged to Roosevelt. Gable pushes back against some of the criticism that the Samuels compile against Remington, and he notes Roosevelt’s admiration for the artist.

Full-length portrait of President Roosevelt, standing on a porch holding cup and saucer, with Senator George Frisbie Hoar, an older woman (likely his wife, Ruth Ann Hoar), and four children.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Full-length portrait of President Roosevelt, standing on a porch holding cup and saucer, with Senator George Frisbie Hoar, an older woman (likely his wife Ruth Ann Hoar), and four children.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-10-03

Collection of newspaper clippings of articles, photographs, and maps showing some of the actors, naval vessels, and events making up parts of the Spanish-American war. Includes some handwritten notes and hand-colored photographs.

Collection

Dickinson State University

Creation Date

1898

President Roosevelt attempts to ride a bucking horse that is startled by firecrackers that Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna let out: “Senator Hoar’s speech” and “Gen Wood’s promotion.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-22

Various prominent citizens including, President Roosevelt and multiple senators, justices, and cabinet members, state their support of endowing a department of political science in Western Reserve University in memory of the late Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-27

Senator Lodge encloses a letter from United States District Attorney Asa P. French, which explains itself. Lodge personally knows Assistant District Attorney William Howard Garland, who previously served as secretary for Senator George Frisbie Hoar. Although Lodge provides a positive assessment of Garland’s character, he cannot speak to his suitability for the position French recommends.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-03

Prominent Catholics who claim to be Democrats support President Roosevelt because of his commitment to the separation of church and state, and stated desire to nominate men to office based on their merits, rather than their religion.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-30

President Roosevelt has decided to appoint W. Cameron Forbes to the Philippine Commission. Roosevelt will gladly stay with Senator Lodge in Nahant, Massachusetts, on Monday. Roosevelt has also recently concluded a somewhat trying camping trip with his children that included 16 miles of rowing. Roosevelt received a nice letter from Senator George Frisbie Hoar, and shall announce Oliver Wendell Holmes’s appointment to the United States Supreme Court today.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-08-11

President Roosevelt encloses Senator George Frisbie Hoar’s letter. Roosevelt has asked Hoar to let him know if there is anything against Oliver Wendell Holmes or any reason why anyone else should be named to the United States Supreme Court. Roosevelt is choosing to ignore the “foolish letter” of Carl Schurz, Charles Francis Adams, and Herbert Welsh, but would like to make anti-imperialism a major issue in the congressional campaigns, because it gives the Republicans an advantage over the Democrats. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt notes that there has been a “ferocious Catholic” outbreak against William H. Taft, Governor-General of the Philippines, on behalf of the friars.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-07-30

President Roosevelt met with Oliver Wendell Holmes and is satisfied with him as a United States Supreme Court nominee. Roosevelt wrote to Senator George Frisbie Hoar to inform him of Holmes’s selection, and asks Senator Lodge to also contact Hoar.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-07-25

President Roosevelt hopes that Senator George Frisbie Hoar will be reasonable, but he will submit Oliver Wendell Holmes’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court regardless. Roosevelt is speaking in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 23, and then will go down to Newport, Rhode Island, so they can christen the baby (the son of one of his Rough Riders, Winthrop Chanler). He will also spend Monday with the Lodges in Nahant, Massachusetts, but Edith Roosevelt will not be able to attend.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-07-29

“The United Order of Jingoes,” comprised of newspaper editors and legislators identified as “Dana, Pulitzer, Reed, Frye, Reid, Lodge, Allison, Boutelle, [and] Hoar,” sits outside the White House on a winter’s night, in the snow. President Cleveland, visible through a window, reads from a paper labeled “Cleveland’s Hawaiian Policy.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-02-20

President Roosevelt is concerned to hear of Senator Hoar’s ill health and asks his son, Rockwood Hoar, for an update on his condition.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-18

President Grover Cleveland and British Prime Minister Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, are dressed as Native Americans, smoking peace pipes filled with “Common Sense Tobacco.” Sitting with Cleveland, also dressed as natives, are Richard Olney, Robert R. Hitt, Charles A. Boutelle, Nelson Dingley, George Frisbie Hoar, William E. Chandler, John T. Morgan, and Henry Cabot Lodge. Sitting with Salisbury are Joseph Chamberlain, Arthur James Balfour, George Joachim Goschen, and the Duke of Devonshire, Spencer Compton Cavendish. In the foreground is a hatchet in a hole, to be buried, possibly over the Venezuela boundary dispute.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-01-22

President Cleveland is at the helm of the “Ship of State,” its sails labeled “Honest Pensions, Wilson Tariff Bill, Sound Financial Policy, Adherence to the Traditional Policy of Non-Interference,” [and] Economic Government,” as it sails past the “Rocks of Disaster” upon which are the remains of a shipwreck labeled “Sherman Silver Law, McKinley Bill, Fraudulent Pensions, [and] Jingoism,” and a group of marooned sailors labeled “McKinley, Lodge, Tom Reed, [and] Quay.” Also present are Benjamin Harrison, Whitelaw Reid, George F. Hoar, and William E. Chandler. Caption: The political wreckers see their hopes again indefinitely postponed.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-03-06

President Grover Cleveland, wearing military uniform, gives a twist to the British Lion’s tail as it stands on a small island labeled “Great Britain” just off the coast of the “United States” where Cleveland and his backers are standing. Among Cleveland’s backers are Thomas B. Reed, Charles A. Dana doing a headstand on the “N.Y. Sun,” George F. Hoar holding a rifle, William E. Chandler wearing a grenadier’s bearskin hat and holding a sword, Henry C. Lodge with a sword, John T. Morgan, and Charles A. Boutelle also wearing a bearskin hat.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-01-08