Mormons

Frederick V. Fisher sends Theodore Roosevelt a program from the first session of the Utah Chautauqua and expresses regret that Roosevelt could not participate. He invites Roosevelt to speak at the next session in July 1912, assuring him of a warm welcome. Fisher also references his recent Outlook article on the Mormon situation, noting both criticism from church authorities and support from local Utah residents.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-11

Alfred Henry Lewis sends a copy of The Mormon Menace to President Roosevelt. Lewis edited and introduced the book which was written by John D. Lee.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-02

An old man labeled “Mormon Hierarchy”, wearing a coat of stitched together fragments of cloth labeled “Polygamy, Mormon Rebellion, Resistance to Federal Authority, Blood Atonement, Murder of Apostates, [and] Mountain Meadow Massacre,” stands outside the door to the “U.S. Senate” and places a puppet labeled “R. Smoot” inside the Senate chamber.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon was drawn at the commencement of the first trial in the United States Senate of Reed Smoot of Utah, elected the previous year but challenged over his status as a prominent “Apostle” in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As a Mormon he was scrutinized over policies and controversies surrounding the denomination. Polygamy supposedly had been outlawed — a major concern of Americans — but Smoot himself had a mother who was the sixth of his father’s simultaneous (“plural”) marriages. Smoot was seated by the Senate, but trials continued for four years.

Two Mormon elders discuss another Mormon who has been found guilty of bigamy. Caption: Elder Heaperholmes–He has been tried by the church and found guilty of bigamy. / Elder Holikuss–Guilty of bigamy? / Elder Heaperholmes–That’s the judgment. He’s been married only twice.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the time of this cartoon, bigamy was more common than it is today. Mormons were heavily criticized outside of Utah and other areas where the sect dominated, and there were many laws proposed to restrict polygamy. Ehrhart’s cartoon — with the Temple and a horde of children surrounding one father in the background — jokingly suggested that Mormons disfavored those with merely two spouses.

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary responds to J. R. Cole’s letter to the editors of The Outlook. He explains that Roosevelt wrote I. K. Russell, a Mormon, concerning articles about the Mormon Church. Collier’s published the letter in full, which Cole can obtain for answers to his other questions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-21

Theodore Roosevelt is outraged by what I. K. Russell has told him about The World and will write to Dr. Young at once to see what can be done. Roosevelt will also write a letter stating the facts, and he suggests that the association publicly denounce The World. Roosevelt does not think that he can do anything about The Times since they regard him as a “persona non grata.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-19

Theodore Roosevelt admits that it was an “unpopular thing” to write the letter that he did on behalf of the Mormons. He would have been ashamed of himself if he had not stood up for people who were being falsely assailed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-05

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary informs Horace G. Whitney that Roosevelt’s letter about the “Mormon controversy” was published in the April 15 issue of Collier’s Weekly.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-18

President Roosevelt explains to Hannah Kent Schoff that the reason he has not “settled the Mormon question,” as many people have asked her, is that such a question is essentially meaningless. While Roosevelt would like to see a constitutional amendment against polygamy adopted, he does not think such an amendment is needed, as there have been fewer polygamous Mormon marriages in recent years than there have been bigamous marriages among other Christian sects. Mormons have as much a right to practice their religion as any other faith, and there does not seem to him to be anything that needs to be “settled.” Attacks on Mormons in Idaho have driven them to act more like a unified group, whereas before the attacks they were beginning to divide and act more independently.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-07

Theodore Roosevelt responds to allegations that the Mormon vote will go to the Republicans in return for “a promise to seat the Mormon Senator.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-03

Edward Wingate Hatch’s correspondent describes the situation in Utah and supports the information Theodore Roosevelt has already heard. Roosevelt believes that the Mormon polygamy issues are really about “pure faction fighting.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-01

J. M. Cole recently read an article in Everybody’s magazine arraigning Theodore Roosevelt for his attitude towards Mormons and polygamy, particularly during the investigation of Senator Reed Smoot. If the Editors of The Outlook allow such articles to go unanswered, Cole says, he and others will stop reading Roosevelt’s reform articles in The Outlook. Cole is suspicious of Roosevelt’s links to Mormons, and wonders why he does not speak out against them more.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-06

Monroe G. Haight shares his opinions about Mormons in Idaho with Theodore Roosevelt. He feels that many Idaho residents want their politicians to take an anti-Mormon stand, and that doing so may help some politicians into office. Haight hopes Roosevelt can take advantage of this and further the cause of good citizenship.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-01

I. K. Russell certifies “that you can’t beat it,” sharing how the newspapers assert that by denying “collusion with the Mormons,” Theodore Roosevelt proves the veracity of such claims. Following advice that Roosevelt’s letter appear in Eastern magazines, Russell contacted Colliers, who agreed to publish it. Fellow “muck-rake” magazines McClure’s and Everybody’s then turned on Colliers for going against them. Russell explains how Harvey Jerrold O’Higgins deliberately misquoted and doctored the comments of Joseph F. Smith, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to appear he approved the continued practice of plural marriage. Russell sincerely thanks Roosevelt for writing the letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-22

Henry C. Lawrence writes to Theodore Roosevelt and asks if he has been made aware of a series of articles by Alfred Henry Lewis on Mormonism. Lawrence asks whether there has been any federal action to stop the growth of Mormonism.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

Mrs. E. N. McIntosh wrote an autobiographical story while recovering from a broken hip. She asks Theodore Roosevelt for publishing advice. She shares how she urged Senator George F. Edmunds and President Chester Alan Arthur twenty-six years ago to either enforce or repeal the Edmunds Act. McIntosh wants to publish her book before death.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-17

Calvin Cobb relays to President Roosevelt the results of effective political efforts by Colorado workers and Republicans. Cobb attributes the change in public opinion towards the governor to Roosevelt’s support and Secretary of War William H. Taft’s visit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-19

Secretary of War Taft informs President Roosevelt of the political situation in Idaho where he was sent to campaign for the reelection of Governor Gooding. Gooding is confident that he will win the gubernatorial race, but he faces significant opposition in response to the arrest of Charles Moyer and William Dudley Haywood and the efforts of the Western Federation of Miners to defeat him. Senator Dubois has been trying to make Mormonism another central issue in the campaign and to portray Taft in a negative light by associating him with the religious group. Taft concludes by stating his admiration for Secretary of State Root’s speech on William Randolph Hearst.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-04

William H. Andrews agrees with William Loeb about Joseph H. Kibbey, Governor of Arizona Territory, and discusses his strategy for getting Kibbey’s support. Andrews addresses Major William H. H. Llewellyn’s reaction to a letter written by Kibbey, noting that Llewellyn has done nothing or said nothing to anyone about it. Andrews expresses a need for financial support from the Congressional Committee and hopes that Loeb can get them to do something. He further discusses getting support for statehood from corporations, which he thinks may provide great assistance to the cause.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-09

William H. Andrews encloses newspaper clippings related to the meeting of the Democratic and Republican Territorial Committees on joint statehood of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as two letters from O. D. M. Gaddis. He notes that Charles Henry Akers, publisher of the Phoenix Gazette, is anxious to provide his support for joint statehood but is also indebted to his paper. Andrews reports that he has heard nothing from Senator Boies Penrose regarding the matter of President John Mitchell of the United Mine Workers of America.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-07