Your TR Source
President Roosevelt is glad to hear that Ernest McGaffey’s wife will be alright after the operation. He envies McGaffey’s farm. He also is glad to have McGaffey’s Poems of Gun and Rod dedicated to him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-22
President Roosevelt admires how George Otto Trevelyan handled matters with Jamaica Governor James A. Swettenham. Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt gifted Roosevelt a volume of Rennell Rodd’s histography, with the Frankish occupation of Greece being of particular interest to him. While he admires the “American money-maker” that contributes to the betterment of all society, he cannot say the same of a wealthy man who has made that money with little to no moral compass.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-10
President Roosevelt reviews for his son Kermit a poem and letter he has received and describes some pictures of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and himself. The President describes the recent weather and assesses a political challenge from Senator Joseph Benson Foraker of Ohio and Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania in the wake of the Brownsville Affair.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-11
President Roosevelt updates his son Kermit about his mother’s and siblings’ lives, as well as the legislative progress he has made recently. Roosevelt has had difficulties with California, Japan, and Panama. He agrees with Kermit about the merits of Mark Twain and Robert Browning and their use of history as a narrative tool.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-16
President Roosevelt thanks Malvina Shanklin Harlan for the poem, which he agrees is “most orthodox in sentiment!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-04
President Roosevelt thanks T. A. Daly for his note and says he has enjoyed the poems.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-08
President Roosevelt tells T. A. Daly he has just received his book of poetry from Maurice Francis Egan. Roosevelt was delighted by Daly’s poem about the thrush and hopes that Daly will write a poem about American thrushes in the future.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-05
President Roosevelt thanks William J. Lampton for sending the poem and editorial.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-05
President Roosevelt admires an article written by Richard Watson Gilder.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-19
President Roosevelt recommends a book to Maurice Francis Egan that he and his wife Edith have both enjoyed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-04
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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-26
President Roosevelt found the poem “immense.” Although he is not “in trim” to play tennis, he invites C. Grant La Farge to come early on Saturday, and Kermit Roosevelt will play instead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-30
President Roosevelt thanks Lyman Abbott for the poem. He encloses a letter from William H. Fleming that he feels “is worth your while.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-05
President Roosevelt asks Robert Bridges to not publish the poem under the actual name of his son, Theodore Roosevelt, but to use a pseudonym. Ted worries that if it were published under his own name, he would receive comments that it was only published because he is Roosevelt’s son, and could lead to negative consequences. Roosevelt additionally forwards a letter from Christian Karl Bernhard von Tauchnitz, a German publisher to whom Roosevelt has given permission to use one of his books. He asks that Bridges communicate with Tauchnitz on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-14
President Roosevelt tells Richard Watson Gilder that he enjoyed meeting Henry T. Rodman. He also met with Secretary of War William H. Taft recently, who was able to do what Gilder asked. Roosevelt encloses a poem from a friend and asks if it is worth publishing. If not, would like the poem to be returned.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-21
President Roosevelt forwards his son Kermit Roosevelt a note he received from Endicott Peabody which he believes shows that Kermit’s decision has raised him in his estimation. The situation with meat packers has been “perfectly crazy,” and has engendered a large amount of resistance from rich industrialists. Roosevelt comments that while the capitalists who first made big fortunes were disagreeable, they nevertheless had “tremendous energy and a great deal of cold clear-sightedness,” which is lacking from their descendants. The present Congress has achieved a great deal, and Roosevelt believes that it is one of the most productive he has had since becoming president.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-13
President Roosevelt looks forward to receiving a book from Frederick Jesup Stimson. He thanks Stimson for sending him a syllabus, and is not surprised that the class produced many answers in answer to a question on poetry.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-14
President Roosevelt was amused with the poem Robert Bridges sent him, and remarks, “good for the farmers!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-30
President Roosevelt thanks George W. Patterson for the poem he wrote about him, and says that he accepts it, “not in the least as being a description of me, but as a description of that which i ought to try to be and which I shall try to be.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-23
President Roosevelt thanks Arthur L. Hanscom for sending him the “pleasant little poem.” He was glad to see the Harvard Class of 1880 last June.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-01