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Maurice Francis Egan tells President Roosevelt that he likes James Jeffrey Roche’s letter, especially what he said about the Storer affair. As a side note, Egan says he communicated with Archbishop John Ireland. He wonders how Roosevelt feels about Catholic politicians.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-15
James Jeffrey Roche shares his views on a range of topics with President Roosevelt, including Roosevelt’s handling of Bellamy Storer’s “indiscretion” in Rome, the public’s response to the Brownsville case, and Roche’s support for Roosevelt’s simplified spelling idea.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-28
Archbishop Keane tells Maria Longworth Storer that he sent Bishop Richard Scannell to talk with Cardinal Raphael Merry del Val, and Scannell reported that the Cardinal’s sympathies are not with them. Princess Alexandrine Windisch-Graetz informs Storer that she met with Pope Pius X about Archbishop John Ireland, and Ireland will be made Cardinal at the next Consistory.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-06-14
Bishop O’Gorman writes a letter of recommendation for Thomas St. John Gaffney for a position in the diplomatic service.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-19
Theodore Roosevelt writes to John Callan O’Laughlin about the recent appointment of new Cardinals. Roosevelt is disappointed that no one from the Ireland school of thought was appointed.
1911-11-06
President Roosevelt asks if there is any reason why he should not congratulate the new Pontiff as suggested by Archbishop John Ireland. In a note at the bottom, Secretary of State Hay notes that he advises against sending congratulations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-01
Bellamy Storer has been advocating for Archbishop Ireland to be made a cardinal. However, people will not differentiate between what Storer says as an American Catholic and what he says as an American Ambassador. As such, while Storer is in the United States service he can take no part in these religious matters. President Roosevelt admires Archbishop Ireland but, as President, he can not interfere with the advancement of any man in any church.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-27
George B. Cortelyou informs Senator Quay that President Roosevelt would like him to convey an offer to John Mitchell. Roosevelt suggests adding a representative of labor and Archbishop Ireland to the proposed commissioners.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-14
President Roosevelt writes to Governor General of the Philippines Taft to discuss the agitation among American Catholics regarding the friars in the Philippines. Opposition to Archbishop John Ireland and the schools have complicated the political situation and could be damaging during the congressional elections. Roosevelt hopes that Luke E. Wright can succeed Taft as Governor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-07-29
President Roosevelt disagrees with several statements Secretary of State John Hay wrote. While Hay was one of the most “delightful characters” Roosevelt had ever met, he found Hay lacking leadership qualities as a Secretary of State. Roosevelt provides Senator Lodge with his view of the Alaska Boundary dispute in 1903. He includes copies of the letters Roosevelt wrote to Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry White to show to British Secretary of State for the Colonies James Chamberlain and Prime Minister James Arthur Balfour. Roosevelt explains why certain appointments were made following the death of President William McKinley and details for why Hay was not consulted on matters concerning the Russo-Japanese War and the acquisition of Panama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-28
President Roosevelt is pleased that Maurice Francis Egan likes his current post. He is sure that if Secretary of War William H. Taft is elected president, Egan will be able to stay in Copenhagen as American Minister to Denmark for as long as he wishes. Roosevelt advises Egan to ask Archbishop John Ireland to write to Taft as a precaution.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-06
President Roosevelt thanks Maurice Francis Egan for his letter, and hopes that Archbishop John Ireland understands that Roosevelt does not wish to meet or provoke Maria Longworth Storer, although he considers her harmless.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-04
In a letter to Elihu Root (and possibly intended for a wider audience), President Roosevelt gives his perspective of his conflict with the recently-recalled Austrian Ambassador Bellamy Storer. Embedded within the letter are reproductions of private letters between President Roosevelt, members of his administration, and Storer. The letters detail the saga of the Storers’s push for Archbishop Ireland to become Cardinal and the fracturing of their friendship with the Roosevelts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-02
President Roosevelt is sure that Ambassador White acted correctly regarding Archbishop John M. Farley visiting him, and is pleased that White showed Archbishop John Ireland the courtesy he did. He agrees with White regarding Secretary of State Elihu Root’s trip to South America, and praises the work that Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon has done as Acting Secretary. Roosevelt further agrees that White’s brother-in-law would be a good candidate for a position and has forwarded a letter to Bacon saying as much, although he is not sure if there is any likelihood of a vacancy in the service soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-21
President Roosevelt thanks Ernest Harvier for the editorial. Roosevelt explains, for Harvier’s information, what the situation was involving Maria Longworth Storer and Archbishops John M. Farley and John Ireland, saying that she began to interfere in the politics of the Catholic Church to such a degree that it appeared that Roosevelt was sanctioning the interference. The final dismissal of her husband, Bellamy Storer, from the ambassadorial service came, however, because they were not answering Roosevelt’s letters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-18
President Roosevelt thanks Eugene A. Philbin for his letter, and is pleased to know that many people in the Catholic hierarchy understand the situation with Maria Longworth Storer. Roosevelt agrees with Philbin’s comment that the situation shows why church and state need to be kept apart, and comments that Storer “could not get rid of the idea that there ought to be church politicians as well as state politicians and that they should enter into reciprocal obligations with one another.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-10
President Roosevelt is as sorry as Bishop O’Gorman is about what has been published about the removal of Bellamy Storer and Maria Longworth Storer. The only announcement from the State Department was that Bellamy Storer “had been discontented at not receiving a promotion and that he had declined to answer certain letters,” and Roosevelt did not authorize any comments on the situation beyond the fact that Storer had been recalled. Roosevelt places the responsibility for more information leaking out squarely on the shoulders of Maria Longworth Storer and Bellamy Storer, as he had personally worked to keep the details out of the news.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-27
President Roosevelt rebukes Maria Longworth Storer for her repeated attempts at “ecclesiastical intrigue” while trying to get Archbishop John Ireland made Cardinal. Roosevelt has repeatedly told Storer and her husband, Ambassador Bellamy Storer, that both they and he cannot officially get involved in matters regarding the Catholic Church. However, the Storers seem to have ignored these directives and continued to improperly write letters on Ireland’s behalf and to improperly quote portions of Roosevelt’s letters about the matter. If such actions do not stop, Roosevelt will have to remove Bellamy from his position as Ambassador. He asks Maria to return his letters on the subject.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-11
President Roosevelt tells Archbishop Keane very frankly that he does not at all like the recent self-promotional activity of Nelson O’Shaughnessy, whom Keane has proposed for promotion in the diplomatic service. Roosevelt says O’Shaughnessy is not in the diplomatic corps to serve his country, but only himself. Roosevelt describes all the conditions that must first be met before O’Shaughnessy can be promoted from secretary of the American legation at Copenhagen to first or second secretary of the embassy at Vienna.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-09
President Roosevelt informs Cardinal Gibbons that Archbishops John Ireland and John J. Keane have recommended Father George J. Waring for one of the two military chaplain vacancies in the Army. Roosevelt plans to give the other vacancy to someone from the East, and asks for Gibbons’s recommendation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-09