Japan. Kaigun

President Roosevelt tells British Ambassador to the United States Grey that Rennel Rodd was offered a position interacting with the US government, but turned it down. Roosevelt contrasts the attitudes and relations of a number of different countries with America and England, and takes a specific focus on Japan. Roosevelt notes that Japan has continued preparing for war over the last decade, and writes that there will be industrial competition between Japan and European countries. He also wonders if they are planning on invading America, Germany, or the Philippines. Roosevelt wants the United States and Japan to sign a treaty stating they will keep their citizens out of each other’s labor markets. Roosevelt closes by remarking on the similarities in governmental thinking and military approach between the United States and England.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-19

President Roosevelt tells Representative Foss that he doesn’t want to lead the race for large ships, but does not want to fall behind either. Roosevelt states that the two most recent ships commissioned for the Navy are each about eighteen thousand tons. He notes this size is comparable to Japan’s new battleship, which is named the Satsuma, and closes by saying that they cannot take any chances with their navy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-19

The Japanese flag of the Imperial Navy with a Japanese man’s head in the center appears on the horizon of the ocean.

comments and context

Comments and Context

It evidently was not only West Coast newspapers, like the sensationalist San Francisco Examiner of William Randolph Hearst, that provoked anti-Japanese sentiment at the turn of the century. A cartoonist named Robert Isbell, plugging a hole at the Washington Post left by the departure of Clifford Kennedy Berryman for the crosstown Star, trafficked in xenophobic alarums about the “Yellow Peril.”

Baron Takahira has received a telegram which details the Imperial Japanese Government’s position on peace negotiations now that their navy has beaten the Russian navy. The Imperial Japanese government thinks the peace negotiation should be limited to the belligerents and to friendly assistance of a neutral country. President Roosevelt is the choice of the Imperial Japanese Government and they will allow him to choose the place of negotiations, the procedures, and the attendance of any other powers. The Imperial Japanese Government will not approach the Russian government directly or indirectly to talk about peace.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-31

President Roosevelt writes to his son to say Bishop Lawrence would be happy to have Kermit stay at his house. Roosevelt says he and Edith are going to their cottage Pine Knot for a few days and he has been riding and playing tennis. Roosevelt adds that Commander Takeshita visited with half a dozen Japanese naval officers.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1905-06-06

President Roosevelt disagrees with the way several American and Japanese ships are classified in documents sent to him by Secretary of the Navy Metcalf. Roosevelt is of the opinion that the size of the guns matters more than the number of them, and argues that several Japanese armored cruisers should be classified as battleships due to the size of their guns.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-14

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that he is currently dissatisfied with the present organization of the Navy Department, as he feels that the people responsible for directing the building of ships are not doing their job. The Japanese navy has more and better battleships and armored cruisers than the United States does.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-09

President Roosevelt asks Admiral Sims, inspector of target practice, how long the battle ranges are on his ships and shares information on the British and Japanese fleets he received from former Civil Lord of the Admiralty of Great Britain Arthur Hamilton Lee. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-13

President Roosevelt cannot attend the dinner, but thanks George Brinton McClellan Harvey for the invitation. Roosevelt believes that it is injurious for the Japanese to behave as if they got the worst of the peace negotiations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-06

After telling Kermit Roosevelt he can stay with Bishop William Lawrence at Harvard, President Roosevelt updates Kermit on family events. The president will be going to Pine Knot, Virginia, with Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt next weekend. Yesterday the president played tennis with Ted Roosevelt and one of his friends. Yesterday evening, Admiral Isamu Takeshita brought some Japanese naval officers who had been with Heihachirō Tōgō at Port Arthur. The president called them “a formidable looking set and evidently dead game fighters!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-06

President Roosevelt asks if Secretary of the Navy Morton will read an article about the Japanese Navy from an English source since it is applicable to the U.S. Roosevelt would also like to speak with Morton about “the kind of bringing up” to give his sons, specifically about their education.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-13

Elmer Roberts reports that German advisors to the Emperor believe the Japanese navy is superior to the American navy, should the two nations go to war. Roberts believes that this is unbiased information because the Germans despise Japan and are generally favorable to the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-11

Elmer Roberts, Associated Press correspondent in Berlin, reports to Melville Elijah Stone two conversations regarding international affairs, particularly the relationship of Japan and the United States. The British naval attache, Philip W. Dumas, states that Japan is building up its navy to prepare for war with the United States and to claim the Philippines back from them. Friedrich von Holstein speculates that the British are spreading this rumor, in hopes of influencing the United States to align itself with Great Britain against Japan. Such an alliance would keep the United States from drawing closer to Germany.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-10

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Newberry asks William Loeb to file the attached with the confidential comparison of the United States and Japanese navies that Roosevelt sent on October 27. The attachment includes more definite information about various Japanese ships than the memorandum to Roosevelt of October 30 and provides a list of the number and types of ships in the Japanese Navy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-02

Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry transmits a letter from the President of the General Board and a comparison of the strength of the United States and Japanese navies to President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-30

Lieutenant-Commander Sims addresses recent conclusions A. T. Mahan drew in an article on the battle of the Sea of Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. Sims contends that while Mahan’s conclusions may have been correct given the facts he was working from, the facts were inaccurate. Addressing each argument, Sims refutes Mahan’s arguments prioritizing gun-power over speed, asserting that all-big-gun ships are mistakes, and saying that the size of ships should not greatly increase. Sims illustrates how the converse of each of these would lead to a stronger, more modern navy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-27

A listing of the naval strength of the Japanese navy, noting number of battleships, armored cruisers, cruisers, defense vessels, destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines, and noting which are or are not currently available.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-30

Praising remarks made by Japanese Admiral Heihachirō Tōgō, Florence Bayard Lockwood La Farge asks President Roosevelt if he can send it to be published in The Outlook or if she can have permission to have it published in another weekly publication. La Farge thinks the address would be more valuable to the civilian than the military man. She recommends that Roosevelt read the book Religion, a Criticism and a Forecast by G. Lowes Dickinson.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-07

A description of various battles fought during the Russo-Japanese War between February 8, 1904, and October 1, 1904, including the tactics used and results of the battles. The report focuses on Russian ships, as information on the injuries sustained by Japanese ships is not available.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-15

Admiral Tōgō sends President Roosevelt his calling card and a photograph.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905