Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt tells Governor Noel that his wife Edith and daughter Ethel will not be joining him until he reaches New Mexico, so they cannot accept the invitation to visit Noel and his wife in Mississippi. Roosevelt himself is happy to meet her.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-03
Theodore Roosevelt complains about misrepresentations in the press, such as publications appearing in Hearst’s American, and including a recent conflict with Governor Baldwin and previous battles with Senator Platt. He agrees with Senator Lodge regarding Canadian reciprocity and is distressed at the many contradictions in the potential treaty. Roosevelt believes that the Lorimer case is very clear. He views Senator Lorimer’s unexpected election, corrupt past, and the bribery confessions of Illinois legislators as sufficient proof of Lorimer’s guilt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-31
Theodore Roosevelt thinks Judge A. H. Whitfield would make a good federal judge. Roosevelt believes Mississippi is in good hands with a senator like LeRoy Percy and a governor like Edmond Favor Noel.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-19
Theodore Roosevelt encloses a letter and believes it would be splendid if they could make a showing for a Progressive candidate in Mississippi.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-08-20
President Roosevelt tells Mississippi Chief Justice Whitfield that he would be pleased to show the letter to president-elect William H. Taft, and comments on Whitfield’s courage, broadmindedness, and understanding of the Constitution as a living document. If a vacancy had occurred in the federal courts in Mississippi during Roosevelt’s presidency, he would have been pleased to appoint Whitfield. Speaking about Judge Andrew P. McCormick, Roosevelt believes that if he retired, he would have to be replaced with another Texan, given the amount of work done in Texas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-26
President Roosevelt writes Richard Watson Gilder a lengthy refutation of an article in the Evening Post in which William Garrott Brown misconstrues his actions in the Republican Party. Namely, Brown accuses Roosevelt of neglecting Republicans in the South and of doing a poor job of making nominations to local offices and positions. Roosevelt asserts that where the Republican party is not strong in the South, he has had to appoint Democrats who were quality men, rather than incapable men who are Republicans. Where he believes the party has a chance to compete with Democrats, he does all he can to support it. Roosevelt also writes that he did not use his influence on officers to get William H. Taft the nomination, but rather Taft was nominated because Roosevelt’s policies were popular, and Taft is the man who will continue those policies. Roosevelt believes that Brown is either ignorant or willfully ignorant of a number of facts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-16
President Roosevelt outlines and refutes the falsehoods in Alfred Holt Stone’s Studies in the American Race Problem. He tells John Graham Brooks that he judges a work’s reliability by seeing what it says about a subject he is familiar with, and then deciding if he can trust it on things that he does not know as much about. He explains that Stone is spreading falsehoods about the so-called “referee” system in the Southern states, especially Mississippi. Roosevelt points out that the practice was common with presidents before him, and that it is necessary in areas where the Republican party does not have a strong enough presence to provide good appointees to positions. He also discusses his handling of the case of African American postmistress Minnie M. Geddings Cox, who was forced by an angry mob to resign her position and leave town.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-13
In the wake of a tornado outbreak in Mississippi, President Roosevelt informs Governor Noel of the legal channels through which the War Department will dispatch aid and personnel, and provides him with the names of people to ask for aid. The Red Cross is also sending aid and nurses.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-02
President Roosevelt offers Mississippi Governor Edmond Favor Noel sympathy and federal aid following destructive tornadoes in Mississippi.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-26
President Roosevelt informs Mississippi Governor Noel that three surgeons have been ordered to inquire with him whether their services are needed. The National Red Cross Society will contact Noel to find out how many nurses are needed. (Mississippi had been hit with a tornado outbreak several days prior.)
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-27
President Roosevelt thanks Governor Noel of Mississippi for the invitation to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, but says that she cannot accept, as she is trying to avoid public functions. Her trip to Mississippi is only to take the Roosevelt children on a short holiday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-23
President Roosevelt tell his son Ted about his recent trip down the Mississippi River, and gives him details about both a bear and a deer he shot. Roosevelt also mentions his reception on the trip down, particularly in Mississippi. Roosevelt is also concerned about his son’s health and wonders if he will be able to play with Harvard’s first string of football.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-22
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of War Taft about conditions in the South regarding Taft’s nomination to be the presidential candidate for the Republican Party. One of Roosevelt’s informants told him that the constituents in Alabama will vote for Joseph Benson Foraker if Taft is approved. Roosevelt still believes that the southern states will be in favor of Taft. On another matter, Roosevelt reports that many people want him to nominate John K. Beach over Walter Chadwick Noyes for a circuit court judge position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-10
President Roosevelt writes to Lyman Abbott encouraging him to publish a speech by LeRoy Percy, a Southern Democratic lawyer who operated sharecropping plantations in Mississippi. Roosevelt believes that Percy’s speech demonstrates the path that the nation must take to promote racial harmony in the South.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-23
President Roosevelt describes to Mark Sullivan the considerations that have gone into his selections for federal judgeships. Roosevelt reviews his appointments in detail, noting that some were made at the request of the local organization and some against their wishes. The goal in each case was to appoint someone “of the high character, the good sense, the trained legal ability, and the necessary broad-mindedness of spirit…essential to a good judge.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-13
President Roosevelt will read the article that Robert P. Porter of The Times sent with interest as it seems like the kind that has not appeared in an English newspaper for a long time. He will be going to Mississippi in October.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-22
President Roosevelt likes William H. Fleming’s response to Judge Alexander L. Miller’s attack on Fleming’s recent speech on race. Roosevelt was surprised that Fleming received criticism from Miller, noting that he would have expected it only from men like Governor James Kimble Vardaman of Mississippi. Roosevelt has received letters from Judges Horace H. Lurton and Thomas Goode Jones, who both strongly support Fleming’s position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-11
President Roosevelt tells John Milliken Parker that it appears he will not be able to go hunting in November, but that there is a possibility of doing so either next spring or next November. He questions Parker about which of these options would be better, and says that if he gets the chance he is anxious to go on a hunt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-23
President Roosevelt thanks Mary Abarr and the children of the Sunshine Sunday School for their generous contribution to the Japanese famine fund.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-05
Although President Roosevelt has officially relieved him of his duties as an active advisor regarding political appointments in Mississippi, he would still like Edgar S. Wilson to update him on any issues, or if there is “any falling off in the high character of the government appointees” whom Roosevelt has appointed mainly based on Wilson’s advice.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-07