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William S. Cowles congratulates Theodore Roosevelt on becoming a grandfather and says he likes Roosevelt’s article “Dante and the Bowery.” Cowles praises Senator Boies Penrose. President William H. Taft and Governor Simeon E. Baldwin will be at the Connecticut State Fair. Cowles is glad John Ellerton Lodge is getting married, ending an awkward situation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-31
President Roosevelt writes to Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus that although Senator Boies Penrose may have offered the position (of Commissioner General of Immigration) to someone, no one but the president has the authority to make the decision. Roosevelt intends to give the position to Daniel J. Keefe, a highly qualified man, but he can likely find another position for Duncan, unless Duncan has been supporting Samuel Gompers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-15
Senator Lodge informs President Roosevelt about his sister-in-law’s health and comments on dealings among several political figures, including Secretary of War William H. Taft and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-13
Senator Lodge writes to President Roosevelt discussing the deteriorating health of his sister-in-law. He also discusses the potential candidates for the 1908 presidential election and their various levels of support.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-07
Edward Henry Harriman and Henry Hustleton Rogers fire Senator Boies Penrose from a cannon labeled “extra dry” at the White House.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-08
Several senators—West Virginia Senator Nathan Bay Scott, Iowa Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver, Michigan Senator Julius C. Burrows, Pennsylvania Senator Boies Penrose, and Montana Senator Thomas Henry Carter—all white wash Benjamin F. Barnes. President Roosevelt holds the “big stick” and says, “Thicken your white wash and get to work, you clumsy Senate fellows” while South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman looks on and says, “Shame on you ind your ‘master.'”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-29
President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit about a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson and encloses pictures of Roosevelt and Ted jumping their horses. Roosevelt mentions that the excitement over the conspiracy, revealed by Senator Boies Penrose while drunk, has died out. He adds that big business in New York is against him and Republican Senator Joseph Benson Foraker is leading the fight. Roosevelt closes by mentioning speeches he has to finish and Archie.
1907-04-11
Secretary of State Hay can inform Senators Matthew Quay and Boies Penrose that Smith will be promoted as soon as possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-08
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary writes to Samuel May with a rebuttal to the arguments made by Winslow Warren about Roosevelt’s actions in establishing a third party following the loss of the Republican nomination.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-09-12
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary defends Roosevelt’s rebuttal of statements made by Senator Boies Penrose and John D. Archbold. Such rebuttal does not indicate, as W. B. Winslow implies, an “inward admission that there may be something in what the other fellow is saying.” Rather, it is a necessary correction to false statements being made about Roosevelt. While Winslow asserts that no one believes Roosevelt has done anything wrong, Roosevelt’s secretary disagrees and asserts the importance of Roosevelt making himself understood.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-09-13
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary informs John Mulholland that Roosevelt cannot choose who goes in front of the Senate Committee investigating the political contributions Standard Oil gave the Republican Party in 1904. Roosevelt only wants the facts to be known in the case. The secretary encourages Mulholland to continue talking with Walter F. Brown in order to do good work together.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-29
As the Senate committee was unable to see him, Theodore Roosevelt offers his testimony in writing. He denies knowledge of requests for campaign funds directed at the Standard Oil Company for his presidential campaign of 1904. These requests supposedly promised lenient treatment and favors in exchange for large contributions. Roosevelt offers documentary evidence that in 1904 he instructed any money received from Standard Oil to be returned. Furthermore, according to campaign records, no funds were ever received from Standard Oil.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-28
Theodore Roosevelt encloses two letters. Roosevelt thinks that the Progressive Party should not associate with Senator Penrose’s gang in Pennsylvania. Roosevelt also remarks upon the Senate committee’s “contemptible trick” of not allowing him to appear before them; instead, he has sent them every letter connected to Standard Oil.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-28
Theodore Roosevelt regrets that he cannot attend the mass convention and moose barbeque in Michigan to which Harold G. High invited him. Roosevelt expresses confidence that Michigan, which saw the foundation of the Republican Party, will support the Progressive Party, which is now doing the work of Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt compares Lincoln’s departure from the Whig Party to his own departure from the Republican Party, which he sees as dragged down by bosses like Senator Guggenheim, Boies Penrose, and William Barnes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-13
Theodore Roosevelt objects to Senator Kenyon’s statement that the Progressives hope to usurp the Republican party power from Senator Kenyon in favor of William Barnes, Winthrop Murray Crane, and Boies Penrose. Roosevelt contends that neither Albert Baird Cummins nor Herbert S. Hadley could have won the Republican nomination over President Taft. Roosevelt also negates Cummins’s comments about Roosevelt’s hope to win the Republican nomination himself.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-24
Theodore Roosevelt writes to F. A. Johnson in regard to his statements published in the North American. Roosevelt discusses the Progressive campaign and contends that running on a third party ticket is necessary in states such as New York where the Republican political machine is controlled by William Barnes, Simon Guggenheim, and Boies Penrose. Otherwise, in states like Minnesota, Roosevelt advocates campaigning from within, converting Republicans to Progressives.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-25
President Roosevelt discusses the presidential campaign and the platforms of the other candidates.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-10
Theodore Roosevelt writes John C. Kelly about the organization of a Progressive party movement in Iowa and expresses his frustration with those aligned with the Republican party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-10
President Roosevelt writes to National Progressive Party Maryland elector nominee, Colonel Joseph R. Baldwin, confirming that Baldwin’s name will be printed and reminding him that he expects his vote in the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-12
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