Kansas

Magazine article featuring a letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Hay recounting his trip west in 1903.

Collection

Grand Canyon National Park

Creation Date

1951-12-10

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Ryan congratulates Governor Roosevelt on his vice-presidential nomination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1900-06-23

Volney O. Johnson sends Theodore Roosevelt a photograph of deer he took while “being concealed in a brush pile.” Additionally, he encloses a clipping about the park where the deer live.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-14

Charles Moreau Harger encloses newspaper clippings from his paper, The Daily Reflector, as well as clippings from the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capital, and the Kansas City Journal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-21

Benjamin F. Beazell tells Theodore Roosevelt that he has traveled through many midwestern states and all republicans he meets are dissatisfied with William H. Taft and will not vote for Taft even if nominated. Beazell states the dissatisfied businessmen and farmers are true blood republicans, not insurgent republicans. Beazell believes the office will seek out Roosevelt despite Roosevelt not seeking office and offers to help in any way he can.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-12

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Henry Justin Allen for his work and dedication during Roosevelt’s presidential campaign. Roosevelt writes that the task is now to make the Progressive Party permanent and hopes that Allen will lead the way in Kansas.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912-11-15

President Roosevelt discusses the current state of the presidential election and predicts that the Republicans will win the electoral college. He notes their prospects in various states, and in particular notes that although they are “horribly handicapped” by the unpopularity of Governor Charles Evans Hughes, he believes they will win in New York. Roosevelt inquires if William Sturgis Bigelow has shown Senator Lodge the new five dollar gold piece, and reports that he plans to address the Sorbonne upon his return from Africa.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-07

President Roosevelt found the article sent by Lawrence F. Abbott on midwestern farmer Franklin Taylor to be an accurate portrayal of the type of man who will decide the election results in states like Kansas. Roosevelt does not think he should publish another piece in the midst of a campaign unless he absolutely must, and instead William H. Taft must convince the voters himself. Roosevelt agrees with Abbott that William Jennings Bryan would be worse for the country now than he would have been in 1898, and if Roosevelt does write another letter, he will follow Abbott’s suggestions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-16

President Roosevelt is uncertain what to make of Representative William S. Bennet’s letter but sends it to Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou because of what it says about laborers. Roosevelt has also received a letter from the Kansas Law Department concerning the federal government’s role in regulating the sale of liquor. He asks Cortelyou for his opinion on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-24

President Roosevelt shares his thoughts regarding the upcoming presidential election and the land fraud case against Idaho Senator William Edgar Borah with William Allen White. Roosevelt outlines his personal reasons for supporting Secretary of War William H. Taft for president as well as the political considerations necessary to secure his nomination. In the case of Borah, Roosevelt would like White to come to Oyster Bay to discuss the matter with him and Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte; Roosevelt thinks it would look bad for Borah to come himself, and asks White to bring Borah’s lawyers on August 9.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-30

President Roosevelt would like Senator Burton to recommend a man from Kansas to be appointed as an army chaplain. Roosevelt would prefer if the appointee was a Baptist as the “army is very short of Baptists.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-16

Mr. Tracy has requested that his application be withdrawn. Senator Burton recommends J. S. Dean for the position and will present endorsements from officials and leading lawyers in Kansas. Pending satisfactory endorsements, President Roosevelt would like Dean to be appointed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-30

William Allen White assures President Roosevelt that the railroads have fared well this past winter. White believes the slump in railroad stocks is due to anti-railroad sentiment in the middle Western states and the unwanted interference of attorneys hired by railroad executives Edward Henry Harriman, George Jay Gould, and Mr. Marowitz in local politics.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-15

William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, expresses his hurt at President Roosevelt criticizing him to Kansas Representatives Philip Pitt Campbell and Charles F. Scott for supporting Senator Robert M. La Follette. Roosevelt’s criticism was based on White’s having invited La Follette to Kansas to fight the railroad interests and the senatorial candidacy of Charles Curtis. White likens the situation to that of Roosevelt working with Tammany Hall operative Patrick Divver and with Pennsylvania Senator Matthew Stanley Quay. In each case, White notes, Roosevelt was working to achieve a good end, while differing greatly with the other person on politics. White asks Roosevelt to withhold judging him for working with La Follette and to not become directly involved with the political fight in Kansas.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-02

William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, informs President Roosevelt of his concerns about a new order that gives congressmen hiring and firing power over rural postmasters. White is worried that politicians he considers corrupt, like Representative Justin De Witt Bowersock, will misuse the order to fire their political opponents. White is not as concerned that this power will be abused immediately under the Roosevelt Administration’s watch or by elected officials he finds upright, like Representative William Alexander Calderhead, but that it will be abused when the Roosevelt Administration is out of power or distracted. White asks Roosevelt to assure Calderhead that the editor holds him in high regard, as White worries a rumor has made Calderhead think White considers him as corrupt as Bowersock.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-19

Adolphus Clay Bartlett states his opinion to Paul Morton why Arizona and New Mexico should not be combined. He states that Arizona is clearly American and that New Mexico is clearly Mexican. There is only one reason they should be combined and it is merely a political excuse. Bartlett looks to Morton to use his influence to prevent this from happening.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-16

President Roosevelt holds “that big stick” as he whacks the table on the stage of the Republican National Convention. In the crowd, signs for “Ohio,” “New York,” “Pennsylvania,” “Vermont,” “Kansas,” “Indianne,” “Missuri,” and “Illinois” can be seen. Caption: The next Republican National Convention.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Albert Turner Reid’s vision of the 1908 Republican Presidential Convention was meant to suggest, as per the caption, a nightmare for Democrats — not, as the bare cartoon would suggest, a captive and frightened hall of delegates, nervous eyes and anxious expressions. In fact most Republicans clamored for Roosevelt to break his declination pledge and decide to run again.

President Roosevelt sits at his desk with a paper in front of him and a sign that reads, “My busy day.” His “big stick” is leaned against the desk. All around him are bouquets from various states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and “John T. Graves, Georgia, 3rd term.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Hugh J. Doyle, the longtime Philadelphia cartoonist, drew this cartoon probably in response to anti-Roosevelt rumblings in the Republican Party at the time. There were few, but influential, men who had personal reasons to snipe at the president.

There have been several changes to President Roosevelt’s cabinet and James Wilson may be departing as Secretary of Agriculture. Kansas seems entitled to a position in the cabinet and F. D. Coburn would be an acceptable candidate to succeed Wilson.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902

Photograph showing audience of Russian Germans waving American flags.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-06-11