Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946

Frank Knox reports to Theodore Roosevelt that support for Roosevelt to be the Republican presidential nominee is naturally spreading amongst the delegates. Knox cautions against allowing Gifford Pinchot to make a statement saying Roosevelt would accept the nomination and John Appleton Stewart convening a meeting of Roosevelt’s friends to discuss the nomination. Knox thinks both things would be bad publicity for Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-21

Silver cup dedicated to First Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon inscribed with the signatures of fellow members of the Tennis Cabinet, including President Roosevelt, Assistant United States Attorney General Alford Warriner Cooley, Commissioner of Corporations James Rudolph Garfield, French Ambassador J. J. Jusserand, Postmaster General George von Lengerke Meyer, Lawrence O. Murray, United States Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot, Herbert Knox Smith, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Beekman Winthrop. In addition to the signatures, the cup is inscribed with the date October 11, 1907.

Comments and Context

While president, Theodore Roosevelt’s unofficial “Tennis Cabinet” comprised an inner circle of unofficial advisors with whom Roosevelt would play tennis and discuss policy matters. Including men both from within and outside Roosevelt’s official administration, the group was influential in helping shape and carry out many of Roosevelt’s policies and reforms.

Collection

America

Alden Stevens provides a brief biographical look of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, giving particular focus to his experience with and impact on conservation in the United States.

Collection

Grand Canyon National Park

Creation Date

1958-10-27

The front cover of the issue features a 1930 poster promoting Gifford Pinchot in his campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania. The poster features an posthumous endorsement from and the signature of Theodore Roosevelt. Page one of a eulogy for Roosevelt written by Pinchot for the Journal of Forestry in February 1919 appears on the back cover.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1930

Michelle A. Krowl of the Library of Congress presents twenty items from the library’s Theodore Roosevelt Collection. The material, consisting of twelve letters, four other documents, three political cartoons, and a campaign poster, encompass the years 1884 to 1934. Twelve of the documents were penned by Roosevelt, and Krowl provides context and background for each item while including quotes from the document in her description. The twenty items are preceded by a short introductory essay by Krowl which includes two photographs of the Library of Congress.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2021

Char Miller recounts the friendship and working relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, and he gives an introduction to a eulogy Pinchot wrote for the Journal of Forestry after Roosevelt’s death in early 1919. In the eulogy, Pinchot discusses the important role that Roosevelt played in establishing the United States Forest Service and in greatly expanding the scope of federally protected forest land.

Three photographs, including two of Pinchot, a 1912 campaign poster supporting Roosevelt, and a page from the Journal of Forestry eulogy supplement the article. The text includes the complete eulogy penned by Pinchot.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Bibi Gaston gives an account of her day aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt as part of the “Friends and Family Day Cruise” on the aircraft carrier. Gaston recounts the food, visiting various parts of the ship, including the kitchen, and taking a nap in the infirmary. Gaston interweaves her narrative with thoughts on the relationship between her great-great-uncle Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt.

Two photographs and three pages from the Friends and Family Day Cruise booklet supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In the “Book Reviews” section, Scott Gurney says that Gifford Pinchot is “the hero” of The Greatest Good: 100 Years of Forestry in America, and he notes that the book conveys its story mostly through pictures and graphics. Charles Hamman describes the aerial demonstration provided by the aircrews of the USS Theodore Roosevelt during the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s (TRA) visit to the carrier on October 30, 1999. Spurred by the aerial display, Hamman recalls his encounters with U.S. airpower during his service in Vietnam, and he cites statistics regarding the size and capabilities of the Theodore Roosevelt. Tsakhia Elbegdorj, a former Prime Minister and President of Mongolia, says that his country admires Theodore Roosevelt for his conservation legacy, and he notes that his post-Communist nation emulates the United States.

A small photograph of Elbegdorj appears alongside the text of his remarks.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Listing and description of seven commissions, conferences, and congresses convened by President Theodore Roosevelt, five of them in the last year of his presidency. These gatherings dealt with land use and the conservation of natural resources. Each entry notes when the meeting occurred and includes the scope of its mandate. A text box containing contact information for the Theodore Roosevelt Association also appears in this article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1999

Four titles, two books for children and two for adults, come under scrutiny in this edition of the “Book Reviews” section. Linda E. Milano praises Cheryl Harness’s biography Young Teddy Roosevelt, especially its illustrations, and she finds that A Christmas Tree in the White House, though fiction, still teaches important lessons about conservation. Randall Holdridge highlights the five journeys undertaken by Louis Abernathy and Temple Abernathy, the sons of John R. Abernathy, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt and United States Marshal for Oklahoma. Holdridge asserts that Bud & Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys demonstrates the inspirational value of Roosevelt’s character. 

Grace Frisone says that The Birth of American Imperialism does not break much new ground, but that it does acknowledge the importance of Roosevelt to turn of the twentieth-century American foreign policy. Frisone also says that this work, written in Italian, brings a European perspective to the study of American history. A photograph from the 1998 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association appears in the section.

Gregory A. Wynn explores the life of American photographer Edward S. Curtis who photographed Theodore Roosevelt’s family in 1904 and 1905. Wynn argues that Curtis’s 1904 portrait “is the single best studio photograph” of Roosevelt. Wynn details Curtis’s decades long struggle to photograph, write, and produce his multi-volume The North American Indian, and he highlights the roles played by Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan in promoting and financing the project. In an addendum to his essay, Wynn notes that the Roosevelt collection of his friend Peter Scanlan came to auction, and he highlights the sale of pieces that have been featured in previous editions of his material culture column. 

Five Curtis photographs supplement the text along with the title page of The North American Indian and illustrations of three items from the Scanlan auction. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Char Miller charts the long path that led to the passage in 1911 of the Weeks Act which provided for the purchase of forest lands in the eastern and southern United States by the federal government to protect the adjacent navigable rivers. Miller highlights the efforts of John W. Weeks of Massachusetts who pushed for the legislation as a member of Congress. Miller lists some of the provisions of the legislation, and he notes how the preservation of forest lands was extended to the Appalachian Mountain watershed in the South. Miller argues that combining the preservation of forest lands in the Northeast and South gave the legislation more support in Congress, and he describes how Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt tried to overcome southern hostility to measures by the federal government to purchase forest land. 

Photographs of Pinchot and Weeks, two advertisements from the U.S. Forest Service celebrating the centennial of the Weeks Act, and the text of a speech by Roosevelt supplement the article.

Francis P. McManamon examines the origins of the Antiquities Act of 1906 that President Theodore Roosevelt and his successors used to safeguard natural and scientific sites across the United States. McManamon asserts that it was threats to ancient archaeological sites across the American Southwest that led to calls for greater government intervention, and he highlights the case of the Casa Grande ruins in Arizona. McManamon notes the work of private organizations, government agencies, individuals, and members of Congress, most importantly Congressman John F. Lacey of Iowa, who worked to save important sites before the passage of the Antiquities Act. McManamon traces the slow path to passage of the Antiquities Act, and he highlights its important text and provisions. He notes how Roosevelt used the act to set aside eighteen national monuments, and he asserts that Roosevelt’s actions, especially in regards to the Grand Canyon of Arizona, set important precedents for his successors, especially President Bill Clinton.  

Two photographs and two illustrations supplement the text. 

Mark W.T. Harvey begins his review of Douglas Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior by noting that it is a very large book with much to say, but Harvey asserts that in his zeal to convey the story of Theodore Roosevelt as a conservation crusader, Brinkley tries to cover too much, provides too many details, and overwhelms the reader with his accumulation of facts and anecdotes. Harvey also argues that this barrage of knowledge comes at the expense of analysis and interpretation, and he believes that Brinkley lets his enthusiasm for his subject overtake the need for a critical perspective. Harvey contends that Brinkley does not adequately explore what terms like conservation, preservation, and wilderness meant in Roosevelt’s time and how Roosevelt acted to fulfill the meaning of these designations. Although he faults Brinkley for making Roosevelt too much of “a conservation hero,” Harvey concludes his review with praise for Brinkley for raising the profile of Roosevelt as an unrestrained lover of nature and a bold leader in the fight to conserve the nation’s natural resources.

The front cover illustration of The Wilderness Warrior, one of Roosevelt’s bird lists, two photographs of the Elkhorn Ranch, and seven photographs of Roosevelt accompany the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The front and back covers of this issue feature photographs of President Theodore Roosevelt conversing with Gifford Pinchot on the deck of a boat on the Mississippi River in October 1907. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1907

James G. Lewis explains how deforestation in China became a central part of President Theodore Roosevelt’s last annual message to Congress in December 1908. Lewis notes that Roosevelt’s conservation efforts had been increasingly thwarted by Congress in the last two years of his administration, and Roosevelt decided that he needed to make a strong case to Congress in his last message. Roosevelt used the example of what had happened to China’s soil, rivers, and climate after massive deforestation had rid many of its mountains of trees and vegetation. Roosevelt relied on evidence, eyewitness accounts, and photographs supplied by Frank Nicholas Meyer and Willis Bailey to emphasize the damage done in China. Lewis notes that Roosevelt was the first president to add photographs to his annual message. 

Five photographs appear in the article, including three of deforestation in China, a similar scene from Utah, and one of Meyer. 

William N. Tilchin provides an introduction to former Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal editor John A. Gable’s last major public address of October 23, 2004. Tilchin notes that Gable’s speech called for a comprehensive study of Theodore Roosevelt and conservation and that Douglas Brinkley has met that need with his 2009 book The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. The journal reprints Gable’s address in its handwritten version with Gable’s final edits added by Tilchin.

In the speech, Gable asserts that Theodore Roosevelt’s record as a conservationist and an environmentalist has not been adequately explored by historians and biographers, and he notes the work of Tweed Roosevelt in trying to correct this shortcoming. Gable also argues that Roosevelt, a man of many seeming contradictions, was both a use-conservationist and a preservationist when it came to natural resources, and he quotes Theodore Roosevelt and cites examples from his record as president to bolster his argument. 

Four photographs of Gable supplement the text. Gable’s address first appeared in volume 26, number 3, 2005 issue of the journal.

James M. Strock examines Theodore Roosevelt’s approach to leadership by identifying and exploring twenty tenets of Roosevelt’s leadership style. Among these are seizing the initiative, hiring talented subordinates, and delegating authority. Strock draws extensively from Roosevelt’s leadership of the Rough Riders and his management of the Panama Canal construction for examples with which to illustrate Roosevelt’s leadership, and he cites Elihu Root and Gifford Pinchot as examples of talented subordinate leaders. Fifteen of the twenty tenets offer examples of how Roosevelt managed those who worked for him in various capacities.  

Six photographs populate the article, including ones of Roosevelt, Root, and Pinchot. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin asserts that President Theodore Roosevelt was guided in his policies by a strong sense of morality, one that had been instilled in him by his father. Tilchin examines four areas of Roosevelt’s presidency–the control of corporations, the status of African-Americans in the Jim Crow South, the conservation of natural resources, and diplomacy–and argues that in each Roosevelt’s sense of morality, of right and wrong, guided his approach. Tilchin states that Roosevelt’s greatest moral shortcoming in his policies occurred over race, noting Roosevelt’s failure to adequately curtail lynching and his treatment of African-American soldiers in Brownsville, Texas. On the other hand, Tilchin says that in his conservation policies, Roosevelt “was the very model of an effective moral leader,” and he praises Roosevelt for his foreign policy that had as one of its underpinnings that the United States acted as a “morally upright” and civilized nation.

A political cartoon and three photographs of Roosevelt supplement the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable asserts that Theodore Roosevelt’s record as a conservationist and an environmentalist has not been adequately explored by historians and biographers, and he notes the work of Tweed Roosevelt in trying to correct this shortcoming. Gable also argues that Roosevelt, a man of many seeming contradictions, was both a use-conservationist and a preservationist when it came to natural resources, and he quotes Theodore Roosevelt and cites examples from his record as president to bolster his argument. The section also includes a text box with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, an announcement about the establishment of the Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization at Tulane University, and information about the 2005 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

The article includes ten photographs of Gable with various figures, including three Presidents of the United States–Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and George W. Bush.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal