Your TR Source
President Roosevelt tells cartoonist Homer Davenport that his “good enough for me” cartoon helped contribute to Roosevelt’s electoral victory, and he thanks him for it. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt invites Davenport to visit soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-09
President Roosevelt writes to famed illustrator Howard Pyle about a cartoon he drew, saying he will pass it on to George B. Cortelyou. Roosevelt feels it is “too good” to appeal to those who read cartoons, but it may attract a higher class of others who are not typical cartoon readers. Roosevelt and his wife Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt would like for Pyle to visit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-08
President Roosevelt agrees with Secretary of State Hay that the Parker Constitution Club is the “most absurd feature” of the Democratic Party’s presidential campaign. Roosevelt encloses a cartoon that he thinks will amuse Hay. He also worries that the New York governorship race might swing the state’s electoral votes to the Democrats.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-15
President Roosevelt discusses his reaction to several political cartoons depicting him as a dictator of the Republican Party with Joseph Bucklin Bishop. Roosevelt also inquires whether Bishop could come for a visit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-04
President Roosevelt would like to have the original of the cartoon and believes that Charles Green Bush is the “ablest cartoonist in the country.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-14
President Roosevelt and his friends were pleased with the cartoon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-14
President Roosevelt reports that “Bub” enjoyed the cartoon. In a post script, Roosevelt requests a meeting with Senator Hanna and Henry C. Payne in order to discuss an invitation to speak in Illinois and Roosevelt’s summer speech schedule in general.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-28
Senator Lodge encloses a political cartoon by Clifford Kennedy Berryman that he found amusing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-05-14
Elijah E. Knott pleads for William Jennings Bryan to support Theodore Roosevelt and fight for the people’s rights against special privilege. Knott encloses a cartoon calls “Bird of a Feather,” which Knott believes to be expressive of the truth.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-03-11
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-07
Thompson, Amos H. (Amos Hodgdon), 1841-1917
Henry Wallace sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of his speech on the Rural Church and a book he wrote twelve years ago about trusts. He enjoyed Roosevelt’s recent article in the Outlook, especially because he was preparing to give a lecture about King Solomon. After a lecture series in February or March, he will visit their mutual friends and plans to see Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-04
Bishop Herbert Bury thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the kind inscription on the portrait, and shares how glad he was to meet him. Bury counts Roosevelt among his “high flyers” and asks him whether he has seen the political cartoon of Kaiser Wilhelm II as an eagle returning to his cage.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-15
Ambassador Jusserand sends Theodore Roosevelt Christmas wishes and hopes for his continued safety. He informs Roosevelt of his election to the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences on his own merits, with no opposing votes. Jusserand shares an incident of a mother cat saving her kitten from a caged tiger. Roosevelt’s letter was delightful and complemented his articles in Scribner’s Magazine, which everyone follows with interest. He does not have much to comment on regarding internal politics other than that he deplores the quarrel between Gifford Pinchot and Secretary of the Interior Richard Achilles Ballinger. Jusserand updates Roosevelt on several of their friends. Ambassador to France Robert Bacon was recently injured in a fall from his horse before leaving for his assignment. A letter “full of pleasant chattering” from Justice Alford Cooley hints at a possible improvement in health. Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Beekman Winthrop are trying to capture Jose Santos Zelaya in Nicaragua. While Henry Cabot Lodge and Anna Cabot Mills Davis Lodge are in good physical health, they still mourn for their son George “Bay” Cabot Lodge, especially on Christmas. Jusserand includes a newspaper clipping on Roosevelt’s election to the Academy and part of a political cartoon featuring Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-12-25
Jacob A. Riis explains that at a speech in St. Louis, he spoke of President Roosevelt’s work with the health commission in New York and said that he would love to have Roosevelt as mayor of his city. This sparked the enclosed cartoon. Riis has also read that Roosevelt has been asking college presidents for practical chemists to serve on a board to investigate the use of chemicals in pressing fruit and other activities. He asks William Loeb if Roosevelt would consider Max Heinius of the Wahl-Henius Institute of Fermentology.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-26
Ambassador Reid sends President Roosevelt a “clever” cartoon from the British newspaper the Pall Mall Gazette. He also provides updates on the arbitration agreement regarding American fishing in Newfoundland waters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-09
John A. Sleicher asks President Roosevelt for “one or two good, stirring sentences” that he could use in conjunction with a cartoon he is creating for the magazine Judge to help the Republican ticket in Pennsylvania. In addition, Sleicher is glad Roosevelt has come out for Herbert Parsons, who will need all the help he can get. Sleicher also suggests that the Secretary of the Treasury make his examination of national banks as carefully and as conservatively as possible in order to give a feeling to the people of greater security in the national banking system.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-30
Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon assures President Theodore Roosevelt that he played no role in the publication of a recent cartoon in the Washington Post and has told anyone who spoke to him about it that the drawing has “no foundation in fact.” The cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman depicts Roosevelt telling Cannon “You will be President,” but Cannon wants Roosevelt to know that he lacks “the Presidential bee” and is focused solely on the upcoming midterm elections. So that the cartoon does not become a distraction to the nation, Cannon wonders if Roosevelt wants him to release a rebuttal or simply ignore it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-23
S. S. McClure is sending President Roosevelt proofs from a collection of cartoons by John T. McCutcheon and asks if Roosevelt would consider writing an introductory note for the book.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-26
A commentary on the character of William Randolph Hearst in relation to how he has used his newspapers to shape public opinion about people in public office and current events. Focuses especially on the political cartoonists Hearst has employed, the editorials featured in his papers, and how he has used his ability to report and shape the news to aid his political efforts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-06
Nathan Bijur defends President Roosevelt’s actions and character in response to a political cartoon published in the New York Herald. He was surprised that a dispatch printed in the Herald contained incorrect information about the reason that Roosevelt refused to see a delegation from the National Association of Stationary Engineers. Since Roosevelt can only receive delegations related to public business, Bijur argues that the situation “has not the remotest relation to labor or labor movements.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-17