Platt, Thomas Collier, 1833-1910

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1884 to December 1891. Notable events include the deaths of Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s time on his ranch, the completion of Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt’s birth, the “Great-Dieup” of cattle in North Dakota, and the founding of the Boone and Crockett Club.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt between January 1879 to December 1883. Notable events include Theodore Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Alice Hathaway Lee, his appointment to the New York State Legislature, and his first visit and buffalo hunt in North Dakota.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

In a letter to Governor General Taft, President Roosevelt expresses his admiration for certain members of the Senate with whom he has been able to work to pass legislation through Congress, but he also makes clear his frustration with others, including those from his home state of New York. Roosevelt concedes that the administration failed to pass tariff relief for the Philippines, and he hopes that Taft will take up the post of Secretary of War when Elihu Root leaves the position.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1903-03-19

In his review of A Most Glorious Ride: The Diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, 1877-1886, Duane G. Jundt takes stock of the content of the diaries, highlighting aspects like Theodore Roosevelt’s religious life before and after the death of his parents and first wife. Jundt asserts that the diaries provide glimpses into the evolution and maturation of Roosevelt, and praises the contextual essays penned by the editor Edward P. Kohn, but takes issue with Kohn’s grasp of Roosevelt’s time in the West and his contention that Roosevelt’s life in the eastern seaboard proved more important than his tenure in Dakota and the larger West.

An excerpt from the diaries, three photographs, and the front cover of the book accompany the review. An advertisement for a book about Ronald Reagan by Theodore Roosevelt Association Trustee Gene Kopelson appears on the last page of the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin argues that the Spanish-American War did lead to the United States becoming a global power, but he asserts that the most consequential result of the war was the elevation of Theodore Roosevelt as a war hero, a status that made his rapid rise to the presidency possible. Tilchin argues that the Spanish-American War provided the potential for the United States to become a world power, but that it took Roosevelt’s presidency and his actions, most notably enlarging the navy and creating a close working relationship with Great Britain, to realize America’s potential as a great power. Tilchin highlights some of the major accomplishments and episodes of Roosevelt’s presidency in the international arena such as the acquisition of the Panama Canal zone and diplomatic overtures to Japan. 

Photographs of Tilchin, Roosevelt, Secretary of State John Hay, and the Great White Fleet supplement the text.

Richard O. Weber examines Theodore Roosevelt’s term as Governor of New York, emphasizing his efforts at reform, rooting out corruption, and protecting natural resources. Weber focuses on Roosevelt’s foes in these varied efforts, Thomas Collier Platt, the Republican boss of New York, and the Democratic political machine Tammany Hall. Weber highlights Roosevelt’s call for civil service, election, and police reforms, and he notes that some of Roosevelt’s initiatives were later implemented by Governor Benjamin B. Odell. 

Two photographs of Roosevelt appear in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Edward Renehan praises John A. Corry’s A Rough Ride to Albany: Teddy Runs for Governor because it illuminates one of the few episodes in Theodore Roosevelt’s life that has not been thoroughly studied. Renehan touches on some of the key players in New York state politics and notes that Roosevelt, despite his recently won fame as a Rough Rider, barely prevailed in the 1898 contest. A photograph of Roosevelt speaking from a flag-draped platform appears in the review. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2001

R. Hal Williams examines the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas B. Reed, who twice served as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Williams notes that despite their different backgrounds, the two Republicans became good friends united by their love of books, the workings of politics, and the fortunes of the Republican party. Williams presents forty-one letters exchanged between the two from 1888 to 1902, and he provides annotations to the letters in 117 endnotes.

Two photographs of Reed and one of Roosevelt visiting Reed’s home in Maine appear in the article. The article also features two photographs of King Hussein of Jordan visiting the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 1995 as well as a list of the members of the executive committee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Based on his book Police Administration and Progressive Reform: Theodore Roosevelt As Police Commissioner of New York, Jay S. Berman examines Theodore Roosevelt’s tenure as President of the Police Board of New York City. Berman looks at the political obstacles posed by Senator Thomas Collier Platt and Police Superintendent Thomas Byrnes, and he notes how Roosevelt’s penchant for action and for assuming a leadership role manifested themselves in his job as Police Commissioner. Berman looks at Roosevelt’s late night, undercover inspections and how Roosevelt used them to improve the police force, and he adds that they also improved Roosevelt’s political standing and reputation.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1988

Cover of The Verdict magazine for June 1, 1899, depicting a photograph portrait of newly-elected Governor Roosevelt above a caricature of present-day Roosevelt with an exaggerated neck, sitting in his office chair surrounded by letters addressed from “T. C. Platt” and “Elihu Root.” Roosevelt holds an opened letter “Dear Teddy don’t do anything till you hear from me, T. C. Platt.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-06-12

Newspaper clipping of cartoon showing Theodore Roosevelt with a feather duster approaching Senator Thomas Collier Platt, covered with cobwebs. Cartoon refers to speculation that Roosevelt would vie for Platt’s Senate position when he left the presidency.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909

Stephen Fox reviews T. J. Jackson Lear’s No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880-1920. Fox lists some of the attributes of the movement as well as some of its well known adherents, and he contends that the conservation movement also belongs to the antimodernist tradition. J. David Valaik finds that Dale L. Walker’s Death Was the Black Horse: The Story of Rough Rider Buckey O’Neill adds little to our knowledge of one of Theodore Roosevelt’s most famous troopers. John A. Gable argues that Richard L. McCormick’s From Realignment to Reform: Political Change in New York State, 1893-1910 provides valuable context for understanding Roosevelt’s political career in the Empire State.

An advertisement for the Roosevelt Savings Bank of Garden City, New York, listing its various branch offices is found at the end of the reviews.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Remarks by President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the dedication of Sagamore Hill as a historical site in June 1953. Eisenhower read a proclamation declaring a “Theodore Roosevelt Week” in the United States, and in his brief remarks he challenged the stereotype of Roosevelt as an impetuous leader, saying that he was “not a swash-buckler,” and that he engaged in “patient work.”

A picture of President Eisenhower receiving a framed manuscript written by Roosevelt from Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association Director Hermann Hagedorn on the porch at Sagamore Hill accompanies the article.

G. Wallace Chessman looks at the evolving historiography of the study of Theodore Roosevelt and places his own work on Roosevelt’s time as Governor of New York within that framework. He asserts that Roosevelt’s reputation suffered in the 1930s with the publication of Henry Pringle’s biography (Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography), but the work of historians such as George Mowry and John Blum served as a correction to Pringle’s work. Chessman argues that the 1930s, with its isolationism in foreign affairs and its hostility to big business, further undermined Roosevelt’s standing.

Chessman argues that as Governor of New York, Roosevelt mostly took stands that should be viewed as “progressive,” and that he successfully navigated a course between obedience to the New York political machine led by Thomas Platt and his own reform agenda. He says that Roosevelt’s time as governor prepared him for the presidency, and he concludes his essay by contending that Roosevelt, however much he loved the American West, should primarily be seen as a man of New York City: “T.R. was surely an urban man.”

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

A note states that Clemens Herschel has the endorsement of Senator Thomas Collier Platt for Engineer Commissioner. Item contains shorthand.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-06-23

New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell shakes hands with Republican National Committee Chairman Odell. On the wall behind him are somber pictures of President Roosevelt, Indiana Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, and New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-12

“Chairman of the Rep. National Committee” Marcus Alonzo Hanna collects for the “Republican Campaign Fund for Teddy” as he walks down “Wall Street” past the “Cotton Trust,” “Meat Trust,” “Sugar Trust,” “Copper Trust,” “Oil Trust—Rockefeller,” and “Steel Trust—J. P. Morgan.” Hanna wears a sign that reads, “Please Help Roosevelt—The Trusts.” Various men say, “I would not give him a soup bone,” “Millions for Hanna but none for Teddy,” and “Speak for yourself Mark!” Below, a diminutive William Rainey Harper, says, “Teddy ought to get me to do his collecting. I’m the champion.” Caption: Tom Platt’s advice to Presidential candidates: If you have no friends in Wall Street you might as well throw up the sponge.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08

President Roosevelt, Frank Swett Black, New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell, and New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt all call for donations. Republican National Committee Chairman George B. Cortelyou holds a “cash contributions wanted!!!” flag. They call down from the “Republican breastworks” toward “General Apathy.” A number of men surround the general and lie on the ground.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-26

President Roosevelt pets a cat with New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt’s face as he holds a “list of smoothed downers” in his other hand: “Morgan. Hill (J. J.) Gould. Harriman. Addicks. Black. Odell. Payn. Platt.” On the wall is a sign: “Oyster Bay. Notice. Smoothing down done with neatness and despatch. T. R.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-17

A “St. Louis telegram” hits the “Greatest Show on Earth” tent that collapses on a Republican elephant, George B. Cortelyou, New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt, President Roosevelt, and New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell. Indiana Senator Charles W. Fairbanks runs away.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-14