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Kentarō Kaneko hopes that President Roosevelt’s son, Archie, is recovering from his illness. He assures Roosevelt that he did all he could in light of racial tensions in San Francisco, and will remind the Japanese government that Roosevelt has been a friend to Japan in the past.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-15
President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit to tell him stories of jumping the horses and of Skip the dog being lost. He describes dining with General Kuroki and his views on the navy and Japan. Roosevelt says he hopes that Secretary of War William H. Taft will be nominated as the Republican candidate for president over New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes.
1907-05-12
This map marks the positions of Japanese and Russian armies in China and North Korea as well as naval bases and particular generals.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-22
President Roosevelt tells Secretary of State Hay about Captain John F. Morrison’s assessment of the Japanese army. Morrison spent time with Japanese General Yasukata Oku’s army and observed that American attachés were favored over British attachés and the Russian prisoners—most of whom were wounded—were treated kindly. Morrison was impressed by the training and preparedness of the Japanese army, especially in comparison to the Russian army.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-05
President Roosevelt thanks Baron Kaneko for his concern about Archibald B. Roosevelt’s illness. He explains why the United States wishes to restrict members of the Japanese working class from migrating to the United States. Roosevelt believes that this will ease tensions between both countries. The new commission on immigration might also consider restricting immigration from Europe.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-23
President Roosevelt has read over Lieutenant General Hamilton’s two volumes again and complements Hamilton on his description of the Japanese army. Roosevelt describes a conversation he had with Tamemoto Kuroki about the superiority of guns over bayonets. Roosevelt notes that Kuroki and Kuroki’s aide like Hamilton’s work. He gives his impression of Kuroki. Roosevelt sends pictures of him jumping a horse named Roswell.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-15
President Roosevelt informs his son Kermit that he jumped the horse Roswell over a big hurdle. Others had jumped Roswell over it before, but Roosevelt is “a little too heavy” and the horse struggled. Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt and Ethel Roosevelt scolded him for it. Roosevelt describes the weather, flowers, General Tamemoto Kuroki’s visit, prospects for the presidential nomination, and news of the family’s dogs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-12
President Roosevelt comments on General Hamilton’s two-volume publication, A Staff Officer’s Scrap-book during the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt wishes he could see Hamilton to discuss the book. He expresses particular interest in Hamilton’s description of a gruesome play performed by Japanese soldiers. He wonders how industrialization in Japan will impact “the qualities which give them such an extraordinary soldierly capacity.” He notes that Kuroki will be visiting and that he will speak to Kuroki Tamemoto about Hamilton’s book. Roosevelt comments that he is pleased that the ships are doing well at target practice and that the fleet is satisfactory.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-08
Otto Gresham recounts for President Roosevelt his conversation with Seizaburo Shimizu, the Japanese consul in Chicago. Shimizu was concerned that the major papers in Chicago, especially the Tribune, might “lash the community into anger” against Japan because Eleanor Medill Patterson, daughter of a Tribune editor, had married a Russian nobleman. Gresham assured Shimizu that most Americans look poorly on foreign noblemen who marry American women and do not view such marriages as grounds for alliance. Gresham also mentions that Lord Curzon said the Japanese would try to take the Philippines from the United States. Shimizu, on the contrary, was shocked to hear this because he believes Japan wants the United States to keep the Philippines.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-26
Robert Means Thompson reports on a successful return of the Channel Fleet from exercises in the North Sea. Thompson also plans to take a yachting trip to meet with several Japanese generals he had previously befriended and asks President Roosevelt if, given the current tensions between the United States and Japan, there are any talking points he should or should not bring up.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-26
Kentarō Kaneko discusses the relations between the United States and Japan, especially regarding the current debate surrounding immigration. He describes Japanese responses to the unrest in San Francisco and urges President Roosevelt to stop it before it damages relations further. Kaneko praises Roosevelt’s views on international relations, as well as his new immigration commission, and condemns Cardinal James Gibbons’s recent article on international peace, which Kaneko feels is anti-Japanese.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-07
Hermann Speck von Sternburg, German Ambassador to the United States, thanks President Roosevelt for the photographs he sent of himself and his son Ted jumping horses. Sternburg sent most of the photos to German Emperor William II, who appreciated the kindness. Sternburg and his wife spent about five weeks in Italy. They will sail for New York on July 2.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-24
A retired army officer, writing from France, reports confidentially on a conversation that occurred during a recent dinner with diplomats from England and Japan. A “man of some importance” from Japan described the expected ententes that will soon be formed among the French, English, Japanese, Russians, and perhaps the Germans. Once those alliances are in place, Japan will turn its attention to avenging the insults it has received from the United States. Japan will not only take the Philippine and Sandwich Islands, but will make a colony of California and the Pacific Coast.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-11
General Hamilton commends President Roosevelt for his tact with handling San Francisco’s challenges to the Gentlemen’s agreement with Japan. He discusses different forms of combat. He believes that Japanese and Russian soldiers are more prone to fight in hand-to-hand combat, while superior soldiers rely on firearms. Hamilton relays his opinion of Captain Tanaka and Tamemoto Kuroki, and Japanese men more broadly. Hamilton was happy to see the photographs of Roosevelt riding his horse.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-11
The Office of Naval Intelligence reports on the positions and movements of the Russian and Japanese armies during the Battle of Mudken, which took place along the Hun River near the Manchurian city of Mukden, now Shenyang in the province of Liaoning. The report also details the movements of Russia’s Third Pacific Fleet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-10
The Office of Naval Intelligence reports on Japanese and Russian troop positions and movements. It is speculated that the Japanese troops may be planning to strike at the railroad line from Tashichiao to Liaoyang and that the Russian forces in the Liam River Valley are threatened. Included is a quote from the letter of a naval attaché at Tokyo which shows “the confidence with which the Japanese began the war.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-22
A retired army officer, writing from France, reports confidentially on a conversation that occurred during a recent dinner with diplomats from England and Japan. A “man of some importance” from Japan described the expected ententes that will soon be formed among the French, English, Japanese, Russians, and perhaps the Germans. Once those alliances are in place, Japan will turn its attention to avenging the insults it has received from the United States. Japan will not only take the Philippine and Sandwich Islands, but will make a colony of California and the Pacific Coast. This is a typed copy of the handwritten original.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-11