Your TR Source
Robert Means Thompson introduces Theodore Roosevelt to Arthur H. Dadmun, corresponding secretary to the Navy League of the United States. The Navy League is currently raising funds by asking 100 gentlemen to contribute $100 every year for the next 5 years. Thompson hopes Roosevelt will assist them.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
Theodore Roosevelt tells Henry H. Ward that he will not be able to attend the Navy League’s convention because he will not be in California until March 21. Roosevelt wishes he could be in attendance because believes in the movement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-11
Theodore Roosevelt lets Willis Physioc know that he can show this letter to any representative of the Navy League.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-08-04
President Roosevelt praises Ernest K. Roden and the Admiral Dahlgren section of the Navy League of the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-28
President Roosevelt draws Secretary of the Navy Morton’s attention to an enclosed letter and publications from the Navy League of the United States. He hopes that they can order the 500 copies that the letter suggests.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-22
President Roosevelt is pleased that the Navy League offers a platform where American “patriotism can find an effective utterance.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-03-19
Henry H. Ward sends Theodore Roosevelt a draft of a speech which Lincoln C. Cummings will present at the upcoming National Convention of the Navy League. Ward expects the speech will make a great impact, and gives his permission for The Outlook to use it if desired. He regrets that Roosevelt will not be able to attend the convention, but hopes that some members may have the chance to meet with Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-25
When they met yesterday, Lincoln C. Cummings forgot to ask Theodore Roosevelt if he will be in California around the time of the Navy League Convention. He would like to take Roosevelt fishing for tuna and black seabass at Catalina.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-15
Although Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary already responded to the invitation to attend the annual convention of the Navy League, saying that his schedule would not allow him to go, J. Frederic Tarus feels it is his duty to extend one more invitation to Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-10
Lincoln C. Cummings would like to meet with Theodore Roosevelt to receive criticism and feedback on the speech he is going to deliver at the Navy League convention in Los Angeles.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-09
Robert Means Thompson invites Theodore Roosevelt to attend the annual meeting of the Officers of the Navy League in Los Angeles.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-07
J. Frederic Tarus informs Theodore Roosevelt that shortly he will be receiving an invitation to attend the sixth annual convention of the U.S. Navy League in Los Angeles. Tarus is the chairman of the Executive Committee and is tasked with presenting the invitation and communicating with Roosevelt. He asks if there is a time on Thursday when the committee can meet with Roosevelt to discuss matters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-07
Albert L. Key sends President Roosevelt a copy of his written statement and printed testimony given before the Senate Committee. He wants Roosevelt to know that he is not an “irresponsible agitator,” that he advocated for moving the naval base from Subic to Manila, and that he is not responsible for the criticism of the Navy and naval vessels in the press. His investigation into the Navy was done independently, and his report and recommendations are based on facts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-22
Secretary Curtis inquires of President Roosevelt if he has accepted the honorary membership previously offered to him from the American Maritime League.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-18
This lengthy edition of “News and Notes” opens with a report on the annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in New York City on November 8, 1987. The report details the election of the leadership of the TRA, and it highlights an address to the gathering by the Director of the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands. A section on the Broadway musical “Teddy and Alice” follows with a listing of its cast and crew, numerous quotes from New York newspaper reviews, and comments on the actors’ performances. A section on the Roosevelt Studies Center in the Netherlands highlights the conferring of the first Lawrence J. Saunders Awards for essays on American history by Dutch university students.
Updates from the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, the Navy League of the United States, and TRA member George Epstein also garner sections. A report on the second annual Teddy Bear drive sponsored by the TRA and the National Park Service, an update on the Roosevelt family genealogy project, and information about the 1988 TRA annual dinner to be held in Dallas, Texas, complete “News and Notes.”
Two scenes from the musical “Teddy and Alice,” three photographs from the Roosevelt Study Center, and a photograph of members of the TRA in Medora, North Dakota, join an illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion as supplements to the text.
Awards, award ceremonies, and award winners dominate this edition of the “News and Notes” section. Twelve different awards, ten of them directly involving the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), are discussed across five pages of the section. The Theodore Roosevelt Police Award, the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize, the Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest, and the John Paul Jones Award won by the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt are all discussed in their own subsections. A Christopher Award given to the documentary “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt” and the research grants awarded from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund at the American Museum of Natural History also merit detailed coverage.
“News and Notes” also touches on the speaking engagements of the TRA’s Executive Director John A. Gable, the passing of Horace M. Albright, a TRA Trustee and former Director of the National Park Service, and a change in the leadership of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site Foundation.
A photograph of the students, judges, and coaches at the Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest, a photograph of a smiling Theodore Roosevelt, and a photograph of Captain Paul W. Parcells and his family appear in the section along with an illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion.
This edition of the “Book Reviews” section examines four works. “How Does TR Rate?” focuses on the poll numbers assigned to Theodore Roosevelt in The Rating Game in American Politics and finds that Roosevelt places in the great or near great categories. The review gives an overview of the essays in the collection, and highlights those on Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. William Davison Johnston reviews Edward L. Beach’s The United States Navy: 200 Years and notes that it is not a narrative history, and he stresses that it was awarded the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize for 1987.
In “The Independent Progressives,” John A. Gable reviews Eugene M. Tobin’s Organize or Perish: America’s Independent Progressives, 1913-1933 which studies former members of the Bull Moose Party like Amos Pinchot and George L. Record. Gable notes that these figures operated outside of elected offices and built organizations, but that they lacked the strength and numbers to build a political party. Gable notes how Tobin’s work adds to our understanding of the larger Progressive era. The section concludes with a notice that the Naval War College has published a comprehensive bibliography of the writings of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan.
A photograph of Johnston and Beach shaking hands at a Theodore Roosevelt Association event in October 1983 appears in the section.
This edition of “News and Notes” opens with coverage of the commissioning of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. A letter from Captain Paul W. Parcells, Commanding Officer of the ship, praises the work of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in making the commissioning a success. The section also discusses the thirteen flags donated by the TRA to the carrier. Each flag of the city, state, or entity is identified and is followed by a brief paragraph about its history and meaning to Theodore Roosevelt. The individual responsible for donating the flag is also noted. A notice about a new prize, the Roosevelts Gold Medal, awarded by the New York Council of the Navy League of the United States, also features in the section.
“News and Notes” reviews the plans of Prism Entertainment to issue a video cassette of the film “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt,” and it notes that the company will establish a fund to promote historical and environmental films, and will donate money to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund at the American Museum of Natural History. The section also highlights two recent publications by John A. Gable, Editor of the TRA Journal, and it quotes from a letter from President Ronald Reagan on the occasion of the opening of the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands. “News and Notes” closes by quoting from three letters by members of the TRA praising its work.
Six photographs appear in “News and Notes”: two depict scenes of the carrier’s commissioning; three show Roosevelt, one in a dynamic speaking pose and two with members of the United States Navy; and one shows dignitaries at the opening of the Roosevelt Study Center. An illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion also appears in the section.
William Davison Johnston, President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), opens this lengthy and crowded edition of the “News and Notes” section by praising the documentary “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt,” noting the opening of the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands, and discussing the role of the TRA in the commissioning of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The section covers the conferring of two awards sponsored by the TRA: the TRA Police Award and the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize. Officer Vivian F. Picciarelli won the Police Award for 1986 and was the first woman to do so while Ronald H. Spector won the Naval History Prize for his book Eagle Against the Sun. “News and Notes” also discusses the work of historians Edmund Morris and Joe F. Decker on Theodore Roosevelt’s political language, and it notes the recent publications of TRA Executive Director John A. Gable on Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and Amos Pinchot.
“News and Notes” also covers the death of David Russell Roosevelt, a great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the reprinting of Sagamore Hill: An Historical Guide by the TRA, efforts to mark the spot of Roosevelt’s famous bear hunt of 1902 in Mississippi, and the various student contests and awards for high school students sponsored by the TRA. The section also examines the donation of letters to Harvard University by Joanna Sturm, Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s granddaughter. Letters to and from Theodore Roosevelt with Alice Hathaway Lee, his first wife, and Longworth, his daughter, make up most of the donation. An exhibit at Harvard and an article, both based on the correspondence, are also covered. The section closes with a report on three benefits, two balls and a reception, held in July and August 1986, to benefit the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The historic locations for the events, the involvement of the Roosevelt family, and the officers of the ship who attended are all discussed.
A photograph of Harrison Engle and Sidney D. Kirkpatrick working on the documentary “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt,” an illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion, an illustration of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and the Roosevelt family coat of arms appear in “News and Notes.”
This edition of the “News and Notes” section features the announcement of a “Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize” to be awarded annually by the New York Council of the Navy League. The announcement discusses the background of the award, who will serve as judges, and how to apply. The section also covers five speaking engagements undertaken by John A. Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), during the fall of 1984. Brief notes on a variety of ceremonies, celebrations, a children’s play, and a traveling exhibit about Roosevelt complete the section.
An illustration of teddy bears taken from Robert Quackenbush’s Don’t You Dare Shoot That Bear!, a photograph of some of the dignitaries involved in the launch of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and a photograph of sculptor Gregory Glasson and his family supplement the text.