Oliver, Frederick Scott, 1864-1934

President Roosevelt thanks Ambassador Reid for keeping him updated on personal matters in the midst of his other work. He specifically mentions learning about George Macaulay Trevelyan from Algernon Charles Swinburne’s work, Songs Before Sunrise. Roosevelt is concerned about Secretary of State Elihu Root and believes turning smaller matters over to Assistant Secretary Robert Bacon has helped. Roosevelt is interested in Root’s and Reid’s opinions on British administration of Newfoundland.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister after a trip to Trinidad.  He thanks his sister for her letter and mentions writer Frederick Scott Oliver.  Roosevelt is glad his sister is resting, but asks her to bring Cortizzoz and Corbins to lunch when she returns.  He also discusses President Wilson and World War I.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1916-03-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt has read Frederick Scott Oliver’s book and agrees that Oliver’s description of English politicians is equally relevant to American politicians. William H. Taft has been “floundering around in the professional pacifist mudpuddle” and President Wilson has failed to prepare the country for war. Roosevelt wishes that more public men had advocated on behalf of Belgium and military readiness.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-08-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna Roosevelt Cowles that he is glad Archie and Quentin were able to see “Sheffield,” referring to Cowles’s son William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. Roosevelt saw his brother-in law Douglas Robinson Thursday and they spoke about what Teddy Roosevelt had done, but Robinson asks they keep the conversation confidential. Roosevelt “cannot overestimate the beauty of the Canadian Rockies” from which he and wife Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt recently returned. Roosevelt is pleased with Will’s success running a Sunday school picnic which he compares to manning a battleship. Roosevelt asks if his sister has read “Ordeal by Battle” by Frederick Scott Oliver.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-08-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt enjoyed Louisa Lee Schuyler’s letter, and says he will send it along to Kermit Roosevelt. Roosevelt asks if Schuyler and her sister, Georgina Schuyler, would be able to visit this winter, as he would like to talk with them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-17

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt thanks Kenneth Grahame for the books he sent, saying he and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt will especially enjoy them. Roosevelt invites Grahame to stay at the White House.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-20

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt believes Arthur Hamilton Lee handled the “Swettenham matter” efficiently, calling the matter itself a “cosmic incident” and citing others like Swettenham in American Government, most notably General James Harrison Wilson. He was amused by the opinions of John William Burgess, who was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt professorship in at the University of Berlin. While Roosevelt admires some of Burgess’s scholarly accomplishments, he considers Burgess “hopefully wrong-headed” and criticizes his first lecture denouncing the Monroe Doctrine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt asks Ambassador to Great Britain Reid if he ever meets Algernon Charles Swinburne to ask him about his poem, “A Watch in the Night.” Roosevelt is enjoying Frederick Scott Oliver’s book, especially the insights on governmental unity and greatness.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-26

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt tells Senator Lodge that he has forwarded the letter from William E. Alger to Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon. He agrees with Lodge about Frederick Scott Oliver’s book, and admits that he could not help telling Oliver what Lodge thought about it, because he knew it would bring Oliver Joy. Roosevelt hopes Lodge still approves of his recent letter now that it is published, and notes a change he made to it, backing a recent statement by Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt thanks George Haven Putnam for the book on Alexander Hamilton by Frederick Scott Oliver, and says that he greatly enjoyed reading it. Roosevelt largely agrees with the book, but feels that, although he is no fan of Thomas Jefferson, the book did not do him justice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-09

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt was glad to hear Ambassador Reid’s news that the British Government is likely to take the same stance as the United States at the Hague Conference. Referencing a letter he received from Andrew Carnegie, Roosevelt remarks that he does not want the Liberal Government “to go to any maudlin extremes at the Hague Conference,” and that while it is good to minimize the chance of war, nations should not put themselves at a disadvantage compared to militaristic nations. Roosevelt comments on several United States politicians, particularly John Sharp Williams, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

James Brown Scott acquired a copy of Ordeal by Battle by Frederick Scott Oliver at the recommendation of Theodore Roosevelt. He lays out the case for intervention on the part of the United States in World War I, citing international law established at the Hague Peace Conferences, Germany’s violation of Belgian neutrality, and the history of similar cases such as the 1861 Trent Affair.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-07-27

Creator(s)

Scott, James Brown, 1866-1943

Senator Lodge returns the letter from Frederick Scott Oliver to President Roosevelt and thanks him for sending it. He thought the letter was very interesting.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-19

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Ambassador Reid has forwarded President Roosevelt’s letter to the people of Salisbury, and he is sure it will promote kindly feeling. Reid hopes that they may be able to bring the “slow-moving” Colonial Office to an early agreement, as the only currently contentious issue between the parties is that of purse-nets. Reports of William Jennings Bryan’s speech in Madison Square Garden produced instant revulsion in Great Britain, as the public thought he “dished” himself by proposing government ownership of the railways. Reid has not yet had a chance to discuss Roosevelt’s letter to Andrew Carnegie with Sir Edward Grey, but plans to bring it up at first chance. Frederick Scott Oliver, author of the new book about Hamilton, does not seem to be a prominent literary figure among the Englishmen Reid has asked. Reid has been watching the Cuban situation with great anxiety, as he has always believed the United States made foolish decisions about Cuba at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-14

Creator(s)

Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912

Senator Lodge praises President Roosevelt’s letter. Lodge thinks Speaker Cannon’s speech on the labor issue was courageous, and he deserves to have them stand by him. Lodge has seen indicators that Charles E. Littlefield will win, which he thinks will have a great influence for good throughout the country. Lodge has written to Attorney General Moody that the Republican party ought to draw its platform in exact accord with Roosevelt’s letter. Henry Melville Whitney, Eugene Foss, and the Boston Herald are pressuring Governor Guild to come out for present revision and against Roosevelt, which Lodge thinks would be a foolish thing to do. Lodge feels that the Republicans should all unite on Roosevelt’s letter. John B. Moran is apparently going to carry off the Democratic nomination, and Lodge thinks this will lead to a nasty personal campaign in which Republican union will be all-important.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-28

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Senator Lodge encloses a letter from William E. Alger, consular agent in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who happens to be Lodge’s cousin. Lodge thanks Roosevelt for sending him Frederick Scott Oliver’s biography on Alexander Hamilton and reviews the work and other Hamilton biographies, and expresses his opinion on early American politics.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-20

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Senator Lodge is sorry that President Roosevelt has reached the time of life where physical exercise has ceased to be a rest. Lodge thinks that if William Randolph Hearst runs in any way in New York, the Republican party will be able to carry the state. The political situation in Massachusetts has revived Lodge’s hopes of retaining control of the House. The reciprocity revision movement appears less militant than last year, and higher wages in the cotton and wool industries has weakened agitation against Republicans on behalf of changing the tariff. Lodge thinks the unknown quantity in the Congressional elections is the labor vote under the direction of Samuel Gompers. Lodge agrees with Roosevelt that there is more baseless praise poured out over Thomas Jefferson than any man in our history.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-08

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Theodore Roosevelt describes his trip with Edith Roosevelt, on which he saw Douglas Robinson. He was most impressed with the beauty of the Canadian Rockies and was well received in Canada.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1915-08-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919