Obaldia, Jose Domingo de, 1845-1910

President Roosevelt looks forward to seeing President-elect Taft on February 24, and will give any advice or counsel that he can. He discusses the work of the Isthmian Canal Commission, and admires Taft’s letter to President Jose Domingo de Obaldia of Panama. Roosevelt has been having a difficult time with the California Legislature over the “Japanese business,” and has sent a letter to future Secretary of State Philander C. Knox about it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-13

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt authorizes Secretary of War Taft to warn Panama President Manuel Amador Guerrero that the United States will intervene and install Jose Domingo de Obaldia as president if the election is fraudulent. He also approves Taft’s proposed action regarding Jackson Smith.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-11

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President-elect Taft encloses a letter from Sir Harry Johnston about the dreadful conditions at the Hotel Imperial in Colón, and his own reply. He found Johnston’s decision to complain at length about his personal discomfort to another country’s head of state perplexing. Taft’s wife, Helen Herron Taft, did not share his “intense amusement” at Johnston’s “extremely English” tone. Taft also encloses the self-explanatory letter he wrote to President Jose Domingo de Obaldia of Panama after a call from Obaldia’s competitor, Ricardo Arias. Taft is disgusted by Representative Henry Thomas Rainey’s “diatribes” in the House of Representatives.

Governor Blackburn relays the results of his investigation into the upcoming election in Panama. While the majority of people prefer candidate Jose Domingo de Obaldia, current president Manuel Amador Guerrero supports candidate Ricardo Arias and is attempting to rig the election in his favor. In particular, Amador Guerrero has dispatched police to suppress voting, and removed three provincial governors who supported Obaldia and installed three partisans who will support Arias. Blackburn has made it clear that the United States will not recognize a president elected through corrupt practices.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-05

Creator(s)

Blackburn, Joseph C. S. (Joseph Clay Stiles), 1838-1918

Secretary of War Taft reports to President Roosevelt on his visit to the Panama Canal Zone. Taft was investigating reports of poor conditions in the Subsistence Department to head off a scandal. As a result, Jackson Smith has resigned from the Commission, and Taft suggests personnel and organizational changes. Taft also reports on attempts to rig the upcoming election in Panama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-16

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Secretary of War Taft informs Panama President Amador Guerrero that the United States is aware of plans to fraudulently rig the upcoming election for Ricardo Arias over Jose Domingo de Obaldia. Taft warms Amador Guerrero that if this occurs, the United States will be forced to intervene in the election. He includes a quotation from President Roosevelt stating as such.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-12

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Citing further evidence of a plot to commit fraud to secure the election of Ricardo Arias in Panama, Secretary of War Taft asks President Roosevelt if he should go to President Manuel Amador Guerrero and warn him that the United States will intercede in future elections if the current election is unfair.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-10

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Secretary of War Taft relays conditions in the Canal Zone, detailing two main points. First, he describes the self-serving actions of Jackson Smith and recommends he be removed from service. Second, Taft outlines the political situation in Panama and a plot by Manuel Amador Guerrero and his supporters to steal the election from Jose Domingo de Obaldia, creating the risk of another revolution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-09

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Secretary of War Taft informs President Roosevelt about the update on the Panama treaty. Taft has held a few meetings regarding this issue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-18

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

United States Minster to Panama Magoon telegraphs Secretary of State Root about action taken by the Panamanian government in response to a suspected assassination attempt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-11

Creator(s)

Magoon, Charles E. (Charles Edward), 1861-1920

Ricardo Arias sends William Nelson Cromwell a telegram that he just received from Panamanian President Manuel Amador Guerrero praising and welcoming a visit from a number of Americans, including Secretary of War William H. Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-22

Creator(s)

Arias, Ricardo, 1852-1927

Second Assistant Secretary of State Adee writes to William Loeb about enclosed correspondence from Panama’s Ambassador, John Barrett, and Panama’s Ambassador to the United States, Jose Domingo de Obaldia. Adee requested guidance from President Roosevelt about differences that have occurred.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-02

Creator(s)

Adee, Alvey A. (Alvey Augustus), 1842-1924

Assistant Secretary of State Loomis informs William Loeb that he received the letter enclosing a dispatch from Ambassador Barrett. Loomis discusses a conversation with General Obaldia about matters between the two nations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-02

Creator(s)

Loomis, Francis B. (Francis Butler), 1861-1948

In a chapter titled “A Most Just and Proper Revolution,” taken from the second volume of his biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, Edmund Morris details the machinations in Washington, D.C. and Panama that resulted in the revolution against Colombian rule on the Isthmus and the establishment of the independent nation of Panama. Morris describes the careful actions and words of administration figures like Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay, and he charts the movement of ships of the United States Navy sent in support of the insurrection. Morris adds to his Panama narrative interludes about the November 1903 elections in the United States, Roosevelt’s visit to Sagamore Hill, and his compilation of a reading list.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2001

Creator(s)

Morris, Edmund

William Loeb informs Secretary of State Hay that the note of congratulations from the Panamanian Minister was acknowledged.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-08

Creator(s)

Hay, John, 1838-1905

Secretary of War Taft interviews Captain George Reynolds Shanton about James M. Maguire, who has displayed poor conduct in the Canal Zone. Shanton also discusses the political situation in Panama, where it is likely that the election will be corrupt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-09

Creator(s)

Unknown

J. Gabriel Duque provides an update on events in Colombia’s Panama Department. Local sentiment strongly favors independence but Duque does not see the leaders or funds necessary for a conflict. The troops, including their commander General Esteban Huertas, are starving, despondent, and ignored by the central government. Duque suggests the soldiers could be readily bought off.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-21

Creator(s)

Duque, J. Gabriel

Minister to Argentina Beaupre informs Secretary of State Hay that to assure the election of Rafael Reyes as President of Colombia, new Governors have been appointed for Bolivar, Magdalena, and Panama who are pledged to the treaty and to Reyes’s election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-12

Creator(s)

Beaupre, Arthur M. (Arthur Matthias), 1853-1919