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William Roscoe Thayer expresses appreciation for Theodore Roosevelt’s remarks about Thayer’s book, The Life and Times of Cavour, at the overseers dinner. Thayer goes on to give his views on the role of the historian and on historical writing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-20
Theodore Roosevelt hopes that Senator Root will not vote for the treaty unless Root’s resolution is passed. Roosevelt also believes that Senator Henry Cabot Lodge’s amendment should be adopted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-09
Photograph of Henry Cabot Lodge with inscription, “Class photo. 1871.”
1871
Photograph of Henry Cabot Lodge with inscription, “H.C. Lodge. Ph.D.”
1876
Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1884 to December 1891. Notable events include the deaths of Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s time on his ranch, the completion of Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt’s birth, the “Great-Dieup” of cattle in North Dakota, and the founding of the Boone and Crockett Club.
Theodore Roosevelt Association
1985
Wilbur S. Hinman received Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt’s letter and followed his orders, except for the Ichabod Cole case. He explains why he has not written to Arthur L. Hanscom regarding Cole and includes a quotation from a conversation with the Chief Clerk. Hinman suggests that nothing be done until Roosevelt returns. Hinman informed Senator Henry Cabot Lodge that Wilson would get his old position at the Boston Navy Yard.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-10-15
Wilbur S. Hinman received Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt’s letter with enclosures and attended to the mentioned matters. He sends an article with information about the USS Constitution. Hinman updates Roosevelt on Arthur L. Hanscom’s letter concerning Ichabod Cole’s discharge. He explains that Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long will decide Wilson’s case on Monday and will send Senator Henry Cabot Lodge’s letter to him. Hinman will report tomorrow on the matters he did not have time to attend to.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-10-09
Jay Jorgensen examines President Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to appoint Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court in 1902. Jorgensen recalls Roosevelt’s knowledge of the law informed by two years of study at Columbia University, and he examines his judicial philosophy which was influenced by his study of and admiration for Abraham Lincoln. Jorgensen notes that Holmes’s nomination was supported by Roosevelt’s friend Senator Henry Cabot Loge of Massachusetts, and he emphasizes that Holmes’s dissent in the Northern Securities anti-trust case angered Roosevelt who felt betrayed by Holmes’s opinion. Six photographs, including four of Holmes, illustrate the article.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2021
President Roosevelt vents his frustration with the United States Senate in a letter to Senator Spooner of Wisconsin. Roosevelt concedes that the Senate has a right to amend treaties, but he believes that the amendments offered by the Senate in regard to a series of arbitration treaties are so drastic that they render the treaties worthless, and he admits that he may choose to withdraw them from consideration. On six occasions in the letter, Roosevelt pointedly claims that the Senate amendments will make the treaties “shams.”
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1905-01-06
Joseph R. Ornig chronicles Theodore Roosevelt’s work as a writer of histories, biographies, natural histories, essays, letters, and journalism. Ornig highlights some of these works, such as Roosevelt’s The Naval War of 1812 and The Winning of the West, by describing Roosevelt’s research, his aims, the books’ reception, and the time it took to complete them. Ornig also examines why Roosevelt wrote so much, citing the need to make money, articulating a reform agenda, and organizing his thoughts, and he notes those who acted as mentors to the literary Roosevelt like Henry Cabot Lodge and Owen Wister. Ornig also notes that Roosevelt assumed the role of mentor to many aspiring writers like the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson.
Eleven illustrations accompany the essay, including three of Roosevelt writing and two examples of his hand writing.
Nick Salvatore examines the growth of the corporation in the decades after the Civil War, and he also notes the many political movements and parties that emerged during Theodore Roosevelt’s political life to manage these combinations. Salvatore details Roosevelt’s response to industrial concentrations, including the reforms enacted during his second term in office like the Hepburn and Pure Food and Drug Acts. Salvatore asserts that Roosevelt wanted to enact reforms and oversee corporations to forestall revolution, hoping to prevent the rise of Socialism. He concludes his essay with a look at the campaign of 1912, highlighting the policy positions of Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Eugene V. Debs.
In addition to a photograph of Salvatore, the essay features two photographs of Roosevelt in dynamic speaking poses, as well as a photograph of Debs. A text box at the end of the article contains the vision statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.
Louis B. Livingston describes the process by which the prize money awarded to Theodore Roosevelt for his 1906 Nobel Prize languished for years before it was finally put to use to address the needs of soldiers and their families during World War I. Livingston notes that Roosevelt refused the prize money for his personal use and that he oversaw the establishment of a Foundation for the Promotion of Industrial Peace to promote better relations between workers and their employers. When the money went unspent, Roosevelt asked Congress to return the funds to him. Livingston asserts that this episode demonstrates Roosevelt’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances and his preoccupation with World War I in the last years of his life.
A photograph of Roosevelt with the representatives of Russia and Japan to the Portsmouth Treaty negotiations appears in the essay, along with a copy of Roosevelt’s Nobel Prize award check and a page from the Congressional Record.
John M. Thompson examines the domestic political dimensions of the United States’ efforts to secure a canal zone in Central America. Thompson identifies those who favored canal routes in Nicaragua or Panama, and he looks closely at the Congressional reaction to the revolt in Panama and the United States’ quick recognition of the new nation. Thompson lays out the opposition to the subsequent canal treaty from Democrats and anti-imperialists, and he details the publicity campaign waged by President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration to justify its course of action and win Senate approval of the treaty. Thompson highlights the role of Southern Democrats who supported the treaty because they saw the canal as aiding their region’s economy and because Democrats did not want to be seen as opposing a popular policy of constructing a canal. Thompson concludes his article by examining the various aspects of domestic politics that Roosevelt had to consider when making foreign policy decisions.
Ten photographs and five political cartoons populate the article.
David G. Haglund notes that American presidents are often not popular in Canada, and he asserts that Theodore Roosevelt is especially disliked because of the perception of him as a unilateralist and because of the outcome of the Alaska boundary dispute in 1903. Haglund argues that Roosevelt’s bad reputation in Canada is undeserved because for the first time in American history the United States actually grew smaller as a result of its concessions in the boundary dispute. Haglund says Canada feels aggrieved because of Great Britain’s desire to draw closer to the United States at Canada’s expense. Haglund writes that Canada’s embrace of Franklin D. Roosevelt while scorning his distant cousin is the result of a “fundamental misperception.”
A map of the Alaska-Canada boundary dispute and two photographs supplement the text.
Henry J. Hendrix argues that President Theodore Roosevelt did not see diplomacy and the deployment of the United States Navy as separate and unrelated actions, but rather he saw and used them as complements to one another, and Hendrix cites examples of episodes during Roosevelt’s presidency to bolster his argument. Hendrix cites the Venezuelan crisis of 1902, intervention in Panama in 1903, the kidnapping of Ion Perdicaris in 1904, and the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 as examples of Roosevelt deploying assets of the United States Navy in support of his diplomatic efforts. Hendrix asserts that Roosevelt used a very hands on approach to his statecraft, in effect acting as his own Secretary of State and Secretary of the Navy.
Two photographs of Hendrix and one of Secretary of State John Hay appear in the article along with a text box containing the mission statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.
Susan Dunn examines Theodore Roosevelt’s policy positions during and after his presidency and asks whether Roosevelt was a cautious conservative or a radical progressive. Dunn emphasizes that Roosevelt often made it difficult for others to determine his stance because of his muddled language, but she asserts that Roosevelt was constrained by the need to work with others in the Republican party and by the Constitution which, with its checks and balances, limited the power of the president. Dunn notes that some of Roosevelt’s stances, favoring an inheritance tax and the review of judicial decisions, cost him the support of friends and colleagues such as Henry Cabot Lodge. Dunn labels Roosevelt “a bold, courageous leader” who achieved much despite the need to compromise with his party and the Constitution.
Seven photographs of Roosevelt from 1875, 1880, 1899, 1901, 1910, and 1914 illustrate the article.
Don Arp describes the University of Nebraska’s decision to recruit Theodore Roosevelt to become its chancellor in 1891. Arp notes that Roosevelt was seen as a good fit for the Nebraska post because of his affinity for the West and his work as a historian. Arp details Roosevelt’s immersion in his work as a United States Civil Service Commissioner, and he notes that at the time of the Nebraska offer, Roosevelt was increasingly distracted by the troubles surrounding his brother Elliot Roosevelt. A portrait of Roosevelt by Johann Waldemar de Rehling Quistgaard accompanies the text.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2005
Seven books receive scrutiny in the “Reviews” section, including two biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, specialized studies of the White House and Memorial Day, a collection of Roosevelt’s writings, a look at the Rough Riders of Arizona, and a study of turn of the twentieth-century American foreign policy. John A. Gable notes that Stacy A. Cordery’s biography of Roosevelt serves as a comprehensive historiographical study as it draws on thirty years of Roosevelt scholarship in its quotes and analysis. Gable also offers thoughts on Kathleen Dalton’s biography of Roosevelt, and he provides excerpts from five other reviews of the work that highlight Dalton’s coverage of the role of women in Roosevelt’s life and that affirm Roosevelt as a moderate radical. Of Brian Thomsen’s collection of Roosevelt’s writings, The Man in the Arena, Gable says: “there is no reason to buy this book.”
Gable also reviews Marty F. Feess’s Theodore Roosevelt’s Arizona Boys which examines the life of the Arizona Rough Riders after the Spanish-American War and the many actions taken by their Colonel to help them succeed in their post-war lives. Henry J. Hendrix faults Warren Zimmermann’s First Great Triumph for injecting present day views into his analysis of the makers of foreign policy in Roosevelt’s presidency. Hendrix also examines A History of Memorial Day which traces the transformation of the holiday from a solemn occasion to a day of recreation. Jeremy M. Murphy highlights Gable’s chapter on the Roosevelts in his review of The White House: Actors and Observers, and he also notes the work’s use of the photographs of Frances Benjamin Johnston.
David H. Burton provides biographies of three Roosevelt women: Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Burton emphasizes Edith Roosevelt’s importance to her husband, Theodore Roosevelt, from raising their children to overseeing the renovation of the White House. With Longworth, Burton notes her marriage to Nicholas Longworth and her antipathy to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he says that her influence suffered because “she was never for anything.” Burton highlights Eleanor Roosevelt’s sad childhood but pays attention to, and praises, her considerable humanitarian work both as First Lady and in her later life.
A drawing of Edith Roosevelt by John Singer Sargent and photographs of Longworth and Eleanor Roosevelt supplement the text. A text box containing contact information for the Theodore Roosevelt Association also appears in the article.
R. Hal Williams examines the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas B. Reed, who twice served as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Williams notes that despite their different backgrounds, the two Republicans became good friends united by their love of books, the workings of politics, and the fortunes of the Republican party. Williams presents forty-one letters exchanged between the two from 1888 to 1902, and he provides annotations to the letters in 117 endnotes.
Two photographs of Reed and one of Roosevelt visiting Reed’s home in Maine appear in the article. The article also features two photographs of King Hussein of Jordan visiting the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 1995 as well as a list of the members of the executive committee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.