Your TR Source
President Roosevelt is touched by the letter and enclosed clippings that Silas McBee sent to William Loeb. Roosevelt feels he does not deserve what McBee says, and would like McBee to come have lunch with him again soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-07
President Roosevelt thanks Judge Jones for his help during his trip through the South. He wishes Jones could have been present when he spoke about lynching in Arkansas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-01
President Roosevelt tells Robert Bridges that he is happy with his book Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter. He is also pleased that Bridges liked his Arkansas speech. Though it was extemporaneous, he felt compelled to speak about lynching in “a manner that would prevent any just offense being given to the southern people.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-31
President Roosevelt fully approves of John St. Loe Strachey’s editorial regarding lynching, murder, and corruption in the United States and hopes that growing public opinion on the matter may have “some slight…effect against the evil.” Wishing he could write more, Roosevelt briefly discusses the harm of delegating too many powers to local, instead of central, government, along with communities’ conflicting responses and tolerances. He is currently facing a dispute with the senate on arbitration treaties.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-09
President Roosevelt informs Ray Stannard Baker the District of Columbia is better off than the rest of the country regarding homicides. The president includes a copy of a letter from United States District Attorney Morgan H. Beach to William Loeb listing the number of homicides, acquittals, and convictions in the District of Columbia during the past ten years, and adds his own handwritten note that there were no lynchings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-05
President Roosevelt praises Ray Stannard Baker for his article in McClure’s Magazine about lynching. Roosevelt has admired Baker’s pieces about labor, but believes the recent piece on lynching is the best discussion he has seen of the topic anywhere, and is even better than to his other work.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-02
President Roosevelt congratulates John St. Loe Strachey and his wife on their three-year-old son, John Strachey, believing that “what really counts in this life is a full and happy home life.” Roosevelt believes that friendly critics do not need to only say pleasant things, but wishes that they would only say unpleasant things if that is truly their opinion. He remarks that when presented with a petition against the lynchings in America by English Peace Society, he agreed entirely with their position and told them that he believes all communities should condemn lynchings. The president concludes with a discussion about a third term.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-05
Theodore Roosevelt lets Maud Ballington Booth know that the Attorney General has strongly advised against clemency for Andrew J. Mathis and Monteville S. Ballard who burned two Indians at the stake.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-10
Theodore Roosevelt very much agreed with Clarence Hamilton Poe’s article in The Atlantic about lynching and thanks him for having written it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-16
President Roosevelt is pleased with Editor McBee’s reaction to Roosevelt’s stance on the appeal for clemency in a recent rape case and applauds a recent article on lynching. Roosevelt also comments on an article about Judge Alton B. Parker’s odd taste in art, noting that the article reflects poorly on its author, not on Parker. He compares the Parker article to a remark made by General Young regarding his disappointment in visiting the art galleries in Europe.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-10
President Roosevelt is pleased with the clippings and gratified if his letter on lynching influenced such opinions. Roosevelt is not concerned about the slur that occurred in the Bishop’s speech because he also made a strong appeal against lynching.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-18
President Roosevelt tells Governor Aycock that he wrote to Indiana Governor Durbin about mob violence and lynching because he thought writing to a northern governor would show that he was not looking at the matter from a sectional standpoint and his statement would be less likely to be misconstrued.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-29
President Roosevelt appreciates Joseph Bucklin Bishop’s approval of his letter to Governor Durbin. Roosevelt believes that the process of law “is infinitely more impressive in its effects than the violence of mobs.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-28
President Roosevelt expresses his horror at the growth of lynching in the United States and commends Governor Durbin for his recent action against lynching.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-06
President Roosevelt is distressed that many Southerners consider him hostile to the South. Roosevelt understands that his policy of appointing African Americans makes him unpopular, but he argues that his appointments of African Americans in the South are far less than there should be when compared to the African American population.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-30
President Roosevelt has prepared a speech on lynching and is looking for the right time to deliver it. He is considering keeping it for his message to Congress.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-29
After careful consideration, President Roosevelt has decided not to interfere in the case of Benjamin G. Hill and explains his reasoning.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-25
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of State Hay if it would do any good for him to say something on behalf of Russian Jews. Roosevelt has his doubts and compares his intervention to “the Czar expressing his horror of our lynching negroes [sic].”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-05-25
President Roosevelt has always enjoyed Octave Thanet’s work and is especially appreciative of her recent short story on lynching.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-07
President Roosevelt was pleased with Richard Wilson Knott’s editorial on Roosevelt’s Memorial Day speech and was surprised that his comments on lynching were taken as an attack on the south.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-06-18