Jerome, William Travers, 1850-1934

President Roosevelt updates Henry Cabot Lodge on personal and political matters. Roosevelt feels obligated to enjoy a series of essays by Westerlick because his wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, assumes he would not care for them; the puzzling problem of the re-nomination for Charles Evans Hughes for governor of New York; the plans for Roosevelt’s upcoming African safari, and his desire to tour Europe on the way home as a private citizen without pomp; his plans to write for Scribner’s and The Outlook post-presidency, and his reasoning for selecting those offers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-08

This French newspaper article cites several scandals that had occurred in President Roosevelt’s cabinet, and asks where in American politics is a healthy portion that can help guard the other areas of democracy. The British writer James Bryce lamented that Americans themselves agree about the corruption of their system of democracy, and notes that cities are particularly able to fall under the sway of political bosses. William Travers Jerome is noted as being a good municipal officer, and while a Democrat on the national scale wishes to avoid being tied to a party in local issues.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905

A large group of politicians and journalists appear as knights on a crusade against graft and corruption. Many carry large pens like a lance. Periodicals mentioned are “Colliers, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Puck, [and] McClure’s” Magazine. Caption: Marching embattled ‘gainst the Saracens of Graft.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Carl Hassmann, which resembles a poster, could indeed be a historian’s guide to the leading crusading Muckrakers of the day (circa 1906, the high-water mark of reform before the Progressive Era and certainly in journalism and books). The double-page cartoon is a panegyric to the movement, a paean to the personalities.

William Travers Jerome, District Attorney for the State of New York, defends a bridge that leads to “Honest Government” against a group of men led by Benjamin B. Odell, with “Big Tim, Little Tim, Abe Gruber, [and Charles F.] Murphy” among his followers. Caption: “Now, who will stand at my right hand and keep the bridge with me?”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Timothy Daniel “Big Tim” Sullivan, the “Boss of the Bowery,” controlled everything — voters and voting, the police, dives, opium dens, and prostitution — in lower Manhattan below Union Square. He was killed when run over by a train (and his body unidentified for weeks) at only 52 years old. Ge might have risen to be the next boss of Tammany Hall but for his death and an apparent case of advanced syphilis.

President Roosevelt asks Douglas Robinson to “act as a complaining witness” so William Travers Jerome can bring a libel suit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-27

President Roosevelt thanks Secretary of State Root for the humorous translation of a Spanish newspaper. He provides updates on the successful naval review, recent state elections, and the boiling pot of New York politics. Roosevelt finds that William Jennings Bryan’s eagerness for popularity causes him to commit “to preposterous positions,” as revealed by his recent speech.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-04

President Roosevelt appreciates William Dean Howells’s letter. He does not believe in “violent revolution” rather “steady and healthy growth in the right direction.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-28

President Roosevelt finds Alexander Lambert’s detailing of William Travers Jerome’s plan “interesting and characteristic.” Despite sometimes giving good advice, Roosevelt calls Jerome out as a lying “fakir.” Roosevelt has done all he can to help Representatives Parsons and Wadsworth, finding presidential interference does not help even in exceptional circumstances.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-27

President Roosevelt thanks Senator Lodge for the letter regarding Assistant Secretary of the Treasury James Burton Reynolds, and promises to not pay any heed to action taken against him. Roosevelt wishes action could be taken against Massachusetts District Attorney John B. Moran, who is undertaking a politically motivated investigation of Reynolds. Roosevelt compares Moran with William Travers Jerome of New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-04

President Roosevelt received Florence Bayard Lockwood La Farge’s letter and one from William Travers Jerome. Roosevelt does not think Jerome has behaved correctly, but his primary complaint against him no longer exists.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-07

President Roosevelt encloses two letters to William Travers Jerome which he says explain themselves. The letters are intended for Robert J. Collier and Norman Hapgood, but Roosevelt does not believe that they need to be published at present.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-27

President Roosevelt expresses to Columbia University President Butler his conflicted feelings taking personal action in the New York mayoral election. He does not think it wise to attend a dinner in support of William Travers Jerome, because he does not trust Austen G. Fox. He is also hesitant to write anything in support of Jerome, because he fears Jerome may use it “in some totally different contingency.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-10

Secretary of War Root is in London with the Alaska Boundary Tribunal and President Roosevelt provides updates on various events and political issues in the United States including the post office scandal, State Senator Greene, and political candidates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-03

Daniel W. Baker got all the presentments he asked for in President Roosevelt’s libel suit against newspaper publishers. The Grand Jury even decided to prosecute Joseph Pulitzer. Attorney General Bonaparte hopes to keep this news secret for a few days, so they can prepare the indictments.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-30

District Attorney Stimson informs Attorney General Bonaparte that he has served the subpoenas for the Panama libel case and discussed it with the prosecuting attorney, William Travers Jerome. Jerome has expressed interest in prosecuting a newspaper for libel against Secretary of State Elihu Root, although Root is apprehensive. Stimson believes the additional case may help to minimize any criticism of President Roosevelt in relation to the Panama case, and he encourages Bonaparte to discuss it with Root.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-15

Frances M. Wolcott writes to President Roosevelt regarding the shipping of bobwhite quail to the estate of Count Pourtales in Silesia. Wolcott also recounts his attendance at the Democratic State Convention in Buffalo, New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-11

Charles Sprague Smith does not believe that William Randolph Hearst is the right person to lead the Progressive movement. In Smith’s view, the people want progressive change and the Republicans should heed that and take progressive action.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-03

Congressman Parsons returns Cornell President Jacob Gould Schurman’s letter, and he hopes William Loeb will show it to President Roosevelt. Parsons believes that William Randolph Hearst will get the Democrat nomination for New York Governor, as there are not many supporters for William Jerome Travers. Several politicians have alerted Parsons that their constituencies would support Charles Evans Hughes as the Republican nominee, but Parsons is wary of a man with so little political experience and is afraid that his election could provide an opportunity for Benjamin B. Odell to gain a stronger hold on state politics.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-06

Representative Parsons responds to an inquiry from William Loeb about allegations of politically-motivated “terrorism” during the political campaigns leading up to the 1906 New York State Assembly elections. Parsons says the woman who wrote Loeb was not exaggerating, that serious intimidation and threats are being made, and he intends to go public with the allegations and to urge the police and elected officials to do something to stop the intimidation and violence. Parsons asks for Loeb’s help in directing New York City Police Commissioner Theo. A. Bingham’s attention to the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-05

Charles Sprague Smith has written to Attorney General William H. Moody recommending that Charles Evans Hughes be the Republican nominee for Governor of New York. Smith offers his assessment of the possible Democratic nominees, Congressman William Randolph Hearst, and New York County District Attorney William Travers Jerome.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-24