Hunting--Public opinion

President Roosevelt recommends hunting literature to Baron Kassherr, and wishes to give him more information about the moose. Roosevelt believes he has little experience hunting moose, as he has only shot two. Roosevelt’s oldest son, Ted, shot a bull moose with the help of a Native American who called the animal with a birch horn. Roosevelt looks forward to receiving a copy of Kassherr’s book when it is published. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-01

President Roosevelt acknowledges receipt of his copy of William A. Baillie-Grohman’s book The Master of Games. Roosevelt expresses his admiration for the book as well as his shame in the lack of Americans “who appreciate what it amounts to.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-15

Secretary of War Elihu Root has raised concerns over the public reaction towards President Roosevelt hunting a mountain lion within Yellowstone Park, even if such a hunt is within park regulations. Roosevelt asks if the hunt could be performed outside the park.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-18

Gary Rice examines how the press covered Theodore Roosevelt’s 1909-1910 African safari. Rice stresses that Roosevelt wanted to severely restrict journalists’ access to his safari because the former president had signed contracts to publish his own articles and books, and he wanted to control what was written. Rice also notes that the press extensively covered Roosevelt’s preparations for the trip, and he highlights a scandal that erupted when a French journalist published an unauthorized story about Roosevelt during the safari. Roosevelt later relented and allowed American reporters Robert W. Foran and Warrington Dawson to file reports from Africa.

Rice notes that much of the coverage of the safari dealt with the number of animals Roosevelt had killed, and it stoked debates about the ethics of Roosevelt’s hunting. Rice concludes that Roosevelt’s safari and its coverage provided him with “an even bigger, more favorable public image.” Three photographs of Roosevelt in Africa appear in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Christopher Volpe examines John Burroughs’s Camping & Tramping with Roosevelt, the naturalist’s account of his time spent with President Theodore Roosevelt at Yellowstone National Park in the spring of 1903. Volpe asserts that Burroughs and his work have fallen into obscurity, and he believes that the book, in its two essays, provides insights into Roosevelt’s love of nature and his powers of observation. The book also touches on presidential travel, the state of Yellowstone, and controversies about hunting.

A photograph of Roosevelt and Burroughs in Yellowstone National Park (incorrectly identified as Yosemite) appears in the article as does a listing of the members of the executive committee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In the “Book Notes” column, John A. Gable reviews Bully: An Adventure With Teddy Roosevelt which consists of the script of the play of the same name, complemented by eight pages of photographs. Gable quotes from a review of the play and from Theodore Roosevelt IV’s introduction to the book. Gable, as he did in the case of the play and film adaptation, praises the book and author Jerome Alden because he “does not tailor T.R. to fit current social or ideological fashions.”

 

Marvin R. Morrison reviews The End of the Game: The Last Word from Paradise which deals with the plight of the African elephant. Theodore Roosevelt’s hunting and his African safari of 1909 figure in the book and review. Morrison quotes Roosevelt, lists some of his fellow hunters, and argues that hunters are conservationists.