Presidential candidates

Frank P. MacLennan appreciates Theodore Roosevelt’s letters and plans to give them to his daughter. Some of Roosevelt’s friends in Kansas are mistaken about his position regarding the presidential election, especially Governor Walter Roscoe Stubbs. He suggests Roosevelt write Stubbs and clearly state his position on being nominated. He discusses his farm, including the crops, haying, and his homing pigeons. MacLennan will be in New York in December for business meetings and wants to take up Roosevelt’s invitation. He comments on being vice president of publishing associations. Recently, he started publishing a full sheet of comics in black, red, and blue, in his newspaper and believes he is the first to do so. In a postscript, MacLennan apologizes for writing such a long letter. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-05

Robert H. Bruce updates Theodore Roosevelt on Texas Republican politics, which are in a “serious muddle.” He believes the state can go Republican if they also back strong, local Republican candidates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-29

Lillie Larson sends Theodore Roosevelt a picture of herself and her little brothers. Her father lives on a homestead, while the rest of the family lives in town. They hope Roosevelt will be president again; then the cost of living would not be as high.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-29

Daniel Rhodes Hanna is concerned about the current political situation, especially as a businessman. Like many others, he believes that Theodore Roosevelt is the only Republican who can be elected president. Hanna wants Roosevelt to name twenty-four Republicans to meet and discuss the situation. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-26

Frederick E. Von Riethdorf congratulates Theodore Roosevelt on his birthday. He hopes President William H. Taft sees the folly in running for president again. Taft is not popular in the West, and Westerners predict the Republican Party will certainly be defeated if Taft is renominated. Von Riethdorf comments that his translation of From Rough Rider to President is selling well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-25

James M. Sligh urges Theodore Roosevelt to accept the 1912 Republican nomination, believing he is the only one who can unite the party and prevent its defeat.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-09

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-08

Creator(s)

Cauchois, John J., -1914

Recipient

Harper, Frank, 1882-1971

Harry Worcester Smith commends Theodore Roosevelt’s “clean cut, open stand” in the Tennessee Coal and Iron matter. He warns that events leading up to 1916 will climax, and America will need Roosevelt more than ever. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-26

Hegbert E. Thomason asks Theodore Roosevelt to support Senator Robert M. La Follette if he is not going to be a candidate. He feels that President William H. Taft is “a miserable failure as President and a traitor to you.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-24

Samuel V. Leech assures Theodore Roosevelt he will abide by his decision not to be a candidate for 1912. With the nomination, President William H. Taft will carry the Republican Party to defeat. Leech discusses Taft’s various failures.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-08

Albert H. Walker knew President William H. Taft while he was a federal judge. As a presidential candidate, Walker wrote letters with material for Taft to use in platform speeches, which he continues to do. He encloses a copy of his most recent letter since it is on a topic that interests Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-09

Arnold Pollak is disappointed he missed Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to San Francisco and hopes to meet him on another trip to the coast, perhaps during the Panama-Pacific Fair. He shares public opinions of Roosevelt and President William H. Taft as heard during his travels across the country and comments on the likelihood of an upcoming significant political change.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-10

James Rudolph Garfield is pleased with Theodore Roosevelt’s statement regarding the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company and sends an editorial from the Cleveland Leader. He hopes Ernest Abbott told Roosevelt his idea. Some Ohio Republicans feel William H. Taft should not have a solid delegation from the state. Garfield comments on Controller Bay, Alaska, and likes Roosevelt’s drafted statement on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-07

Samuel V. Leech sees in the papers that Theodore Roosevelt strongly supports renominating President William H. Taft. As a Republican and Roosevelt’s devoted friend, Leech offers advice. He regularly corresponds with Methodist preachers who are primarily Roosevelt men, but bitterly oppose Taft due to his treatment of Methodist senators Jonathan P. Dolliver, Albert J. Beveridge, and Joseph L. Bristow. Leech feels that only Roosevelt and Justice Charles Evan Hughes can lead the party to success in 1912. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-31

Presley W. Morris sends Theodore Roosevelt a clipping from the West Virginia State Journal advocating for Roosevelt to be the Republican presidential nominee, and would like to hear Roosevelt’s opinion of it. Morris is the editor of the State Journal, and believes it to be the first Republican paper to suggest Roosevelt’s candidacy for 1916.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-01

E. Mont Reily thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the letter and advice, and understands how Roosevelt feels about the situation. He may decide to attend the luncheon at John Hays Hammond’s house, but hopes to be able to speak with Roosevelt first, and will report on the proceedings to him. Reily illustrates a point he made in his previous letter that President William H. Taft is in a worse position than Benjamin Harrison was when seeking reelection by sharing a conversation in which a Taft appointee opined that the election was hopeless unless Roosevelt was the nominee.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-04

E. Mont Reily expresses his concerns regarding the upcoming presidential election to Theodore Roosevelt. Reily has been invited by John Hays Hammond to a luncheon and conference to meet President William H. Taft and begin planning for the 1912 campaign. He does not believe, however, that Taft has a chance of winning the election, and thinks that Roosevelt is the only one who can save the Republican party from defeat. He asks for Roosevelt’s advice on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-24

Thomas P. Revelle inquires if Theodore Roosevelt would like to be considered as a presidential candidate on behalf of a club that is being formed in Seattle, Washington. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-26

Franklin A. Shotwell, on behalf of the Progressive Republican League of Nebraska, asks Theodore Roosevelt to consider being nominated as the Republican presidential nominee. Shotwell expresses that the Republicans of Nebraska almost unanimously prefer Roosevelt as their candidate and feel assured of his success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-09

Frank Knox encloses an editorial of his own based off the editorial “Roosevelt and the People” that appeared in the Philadelphia North American.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-04

Creator(s)

Knox, Frank, 1874-1944