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Theodore Roosevelt writes W. F. Cochran concerning the presidential race. In response to Mr. Cochran’s suggestion that he withdraw his candidacy, Roosevelt contends that he was unable to do so despite the unlikelihood that he will be elected. He asserts his belief that Woodrow Wilson’s presidency would be negative for the country.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-16
Theodore Roosevelt agrees with Commissioner Herbert Knox Smith that both political parties are dominated by political bosses with large interests, noting that there is no need to switch Republican Guggenheim-Penrose-Barnes for Democratic Murphy-Taggart-Sullivan. He also criticizes the Democratic platform, which exhibits no progressive vision to meet the needs of the nation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-13
Theodore Roosevelt confirms with T. J. E. Yocum that he will continue to work with his current campaign staff.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-06
Theodore Roosevelt shares with Joseph Bucklin Bishop that his letter is the first long one that Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt has been able to enjoy. He is glad Bishop likes John Avery McIlhenny and is interested in Bishop’s inside information about the political situation. Roosevelt comments on the recent elections, which were unfavorable for the Republican Party overall. His nephew, Theodore Douglas Robinson, won despite fraud by the J. S. Sherman machine.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-11-11
Edith Roosevelt enjoyed seeing Louisa Lee Schuyler, and Theodore Roosevelt hopes to see Schuyler soon. Roosevelt also offers his views on the men who left the Republican Party last year. He fears that they have “started a movement for evil which will be hard to control,” making the political situation much more difficult. Roosevelt also writes that he is “rather a woman suffragist,” noting that little “evil” has been done in Idaho and Washington, but rather women’s suffrage has done some good.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-12
Theodore Roosevelt commends Lucius B. Swift’s excellent letter to President William H. Taft. One thing he most wants to avoid is mixing in purely state affairs where he can do no good. He has been supporting the reciprocity movement. While he sympathizes with the farmers, it is not enough to oppose the movement. Roosevelt agrees with Swift about the political situation in Indiana. However, New York is slightly worse. He discusses machine politics, especially as played out in the most recent election. In theory, the people of New York want Roosevelt to be involved in state politics, but in practice, it makes him suspicious.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-08
Theodore Roosevelt tells William Loeb that he will continue to stand up for Canadian reciprocity, although he feels uncomfortable about several parts of the treaty. He also expresses his disgust with the current state of New York politics. Voters had the chance to get rid of both Republican boss William Barnes and Democrat boss Charles Francis Murphy, but did not. He believes that Barnes’s return to power is inevitable.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-03
Theodore Roosevelt thinks it is probable that in the course of his libel suit with William Barnes he will need to relate how the fight was undertaken. Roosevelt notes that it started at Cambridge, when Charles Evans Hughes asked him to do all that he could to get the Primary Bill through. Hughes had told Roosevelt that the “Barnes-Republicans” had joined with Tammany Hall to hold up the legislation, and that an appeal needed to be made to decent citizens to override the combination. Roosevelt cannot recall whether Hughes had used the term “Barnes-Republicans” or “Barnes-machine,” but he does remember Hughes using the word “Barnes.” Roosevelt does not remember Hughes using the word “Murphy” when speaking about Tammany Hall. Roosevelt writes simply to let Hughes know what his memory is in the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-13
Theodore Roosevelt does not think that Hamilton Fish II needs to reply to William R. McCredie’s letter. Roosevelt responds to Herbert Parson’s letter to Fish, in that Roosevelt never wanted personal loyalty from Parsons, but wanted him to act honestly at the Republican National Convention. Roosevelt believes that the William H. Taft delegates were wrongfully seated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-11-27
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Hannibal L. Hamlin, regarding the campaign’s “religious issues.” He believes that Senator Lodge’s people might want to look into the situation. Roosevelt believes it is a branch of the old American Protective Association.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-23
Charles H. Betts was glad to receive Theodore Roosevelt’s letter to him regarding a recent judicial decision, but finds himself unable to agree with Roosevelt’s ideas of judicial recall. Betts outlines his thoughts on the topic, and explains why he must disagree with Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-10
State senator Franklin D. Roosevelt discusses the current election for United States Senator from New York. Matters remain deadlocked, but he believes that ultimately William F. Sheehan will be defeated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-03
George Haven Putnam writes to President Roosevelt to inform him of some developments of a libel case Putnam has been involved in against Thomas S. McAvoy. Putnam had previously asked Roosevelt for counsel regarding McAvoy’s term as an Inspector of Police in New York, and thought he may be interested to hear how the case turned out. The case was decided in Putnam’s favor, and he believes that Judge Leonard A. Giegerich managed the case very fairly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-03
Charles Sprague Smith spoke with Nicholas Murray Butler, and thinks Charles Evans Hughes’s campaign for governor of New York is in good shape. They tried to enlist Jacob A. Riis’s help, but he is unwilling to help due to a newspaper attack on his friend Richard Watson Gilder. Smith also believes that the Republicans should enlist the help of rabbis to help convince Jewish voters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-29
Richard Watson Gilder thanks President Roosevelt for his kind words about Gilder’s anti-Hearst letter. Gilder notes that Jacob Riis has procured the printing of his own fierce letter in the New York East Side Jewish papers on a daily basis until the election. Gilders says the Republicans have the millionaire back roads well-beaten.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-27
William Randolph Hearst has been nominated for Governor of New York by the Democratic party, a position which in five of the last ten national elections has led to the Democratic nomination for the presidency. The article notes that this will be Hearst’s first major political contest and predicts a hard-fought election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-06
Representative Parsons informs President Roosevelt that Charles Evans Hughes is reluctant to accept the Republican nomination for Governor of New York, but that he could be convinced to do so if there was unanimous demand and it was agreed that he was the only candidate who could beat William Randolph Hearst. The incumbent Republican Governor Frank Wayland Higgins has become so unpopular among members of his own party and the press that it seems advisable to replace him, but Higgins still might be able to win if the Democrats nominate William Travers Jerome instead of Hearst, thus making the governorship a three-way race between Hearst, Jerome, and Higgins.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-17
John A. Gable discusses the discovery of three photographs that show Theodore Roosevelt and his cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt together. Gable also provides context for the photographs, discovered by the author Geoffrey C. Ward, in detailing the libel case brought against Theodore Roosevelt by William Barnes. The three photographs show the two Roosevelts on their way to court in Syracuse, New York, on May 4, 1915. Two of the photographs appear in the article. The photograph on the back cover of this issue, and referenced in the article, shows Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt onboard a ship with Theodore Roosevelt upon his return to the United States from his African safari in 1910.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1990
Timothy L. Woodruff seems to have been ousted from his position of leadership in the Kings County Republican organization, with Frederick J. H. Kracke having taken the lead at a recent meeting. This change comes as part of a plan to redirect the organization towards President William H. Taft’s reelection in 1912.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-21
Two highlighted clippings from the New York Globe discuss the Republicans’ electoral hopes in the upcoming election. The first advocates nominating current Secretary of War Elihu Root to run for governor of New York in response to the Democrats’ nominating Judge Alton B. Parker for the presidency. The second clipping points out that with things going well in the country, Republicans are right to urge voters to reelect President Roosevelt and maintain the status quo. The Democrats have no better alternatives to offer.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-30