Your TR Source
Mike Donovan, bare-knuckle boxer and coach, sends President Roosevelt a copy of his book, The Roosevelt That I Knew. He hopes Roosevelt will find the book interesting, and will be upset if Roosevelt takes offense at the contents.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-28
Richard Watson Gilder of The Century Magazine reminds President Roosevelt of his promise to write his reminiscences for the magazine when he is out of the White House and suggests other items he could write for them.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-02
Richard Watson Gilder of Century is pleased with what President Roosevelt said about his memoirs, and hopes that he will start writing them after he finishes his articles on big game. He also suggests Roosevelt making a “survey of the globe” and writing for Century. Gilder informs Roosevelt that Robert Underwood Johnson will be attending the conference on conservation on behalf of the magazine.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-07
George Palmer Putnam is publishing the article describing President Roosevelt’s work in a little book, and would like to use the title “A Week in the White House with Theodore Roosevelt: A Study of the President at the Nation’s Business.” William Bayard Hale asks William Loeb if that title is okay.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-25
Kermit Roosevelt updates President Roosevelt on what he has been reading, stating that Abraham Lincoln by John Torrey Morse is both “uninterestingly written” and “prejudiced against Lincoln.” Therefore, he plans to read the novel The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer by Charles James Lever, a writer whose work he remembers his father not liking very much. Kermit also discusses his exercise regimen, which has included snowshoeing when the weather permitted as well as running when it has not.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-17
Jacob A. Riis assures President Roosevelt that he depicted Roosevelt accurately in his recently published biography, as it has been “the delight and comfort” of Riis’s life to know the president well enough to write such a book. He expresses concern for Roosevelt’s safety in his travels and asks to join a future trip in the capacity of a bodyguard. Riis also expresses agreement with Roosevelt’s choice of Ernst J. Lederle as sanitary expert on the Isthmus of Panama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-26
George Haven Putnam thanks President Roosevelt for writing the forward to the Federal Edition of the Writings of Abraham Lincoln. Putnam also describes his unsuccessful experience trying to include materials copyrighted by the Century Co.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-27
George Haven Putnam writes that his upcoming biography of Abraham Lincoln in no way violates the copyright of John G. Nicolay and John Hay, who together also have published a biography of Lincoln, because he is using different source materials. Putnam hopes that President Roosevelt will still agree to send him an introductory note to be included in the biography.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-25
Henry Beach Needham thanks President Roosevelt for generously giving his time for an interview for McClure’s Magazine, and requests photos for the article, namely of Roosevelt as a boy, at college, from his ranching days, and playing tennis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-19
J. Martin Miller tells William Loeb that he has made the suggested changes to his book, The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt. He expects the book to sell very well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-01
J. Martin Miller writes to inform William Loeb that the prospectus for Miller’s book, The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt, has been released and the book is expected to sell very well. He encloses the proofs of the introduction and sample pictures.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-23
William H. Fleming writes President Roosevelt to say that he is still awaiting a copy of Rough Riders. He states that if the copy that William Loeb ordered for him does not arrive soon, he will place an order with Scribners himself.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-25
Advertisement for Colonel Roosevelt, the final volume of Edmund Morris’s trilogy on the life of Theodore Roosevelt. The ad features an illustration of Roosevelt, the front cover illustrations for all three volumes, and six endorsement excerpts from newspapers and magazines.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2010
In a chapter titled “A Most Just and Proper Revolution,” taken from the second volume of his biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, Edmund Morris details the machinations in Washington, D.C. and Panama that resulted in the revolution against Colombian rule on the Isthmus and the establishment of the independent nation of Panama. Morris describes the careful actions and words of administration figures like Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay, and he charts the movement of ships of the United States Navy sent in support of the insurrection. Morris adds to his Panama narrative interludes about the November 1903 elections in the United States, Roosevelt’s visit to Sagamore Hill, and his compilation of a reading list.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2001
Carlos Camargo and Tweed Roosevelt examine misconceptions about Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood struggle with asthma. Camargo and Roosevelt find that Theodore Roosevelt’s asthma was not psychosomatic, and they counter the assertions made by biographer David G. McCullough that Theodore Roosevelt used asthma attacks as a way to avoid church. Camargo and Roosevelt also contend that Theodore Roosevelt’s initiation of a vigorous exercise program did not “cure” his asthma, but they note that Roosevelt believed it did. The authors recognize that Roosevelt’s belief that he had overcome his asthma by pursuing a strenuous life was beneficial to him and important to his worldview.
Six photographs of Theodore Roosevelt, two of the authors, two tables, and three illustrations populate the article.
Tweed Roosevelt reveals the genesis of his project with Carlos Camargo to study Theodore Roosevelt’s struggle with asthma as a child. Roosevelt writes that he was skeptical of David G. McCullough’s assertion that Roosevelt’s condition was psychosomatic and designed to keep him from attending Sunday church services. Roosevelt and Camargo found that Theodore Roosevelt never shirked church attendance, and they also note that, despite his assertions, Theodore Roosevelt did not cure himself of his asthma by his vigorous exercise regimen and living a strenuous life.
A photograph of Tweed Roosevelt and the front cover of McCullough’s biography, Mornings on Horseback, accompany the essay.
In her review of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, Alice L. George notes that the book provides biographies of both presidents, as well as pointing out their differences and similarities. In keeping with the structure of Goodwin’s work, George emphasizes the 1912 campaign and the schism between Roosevelt and Taft. Goodwin also chronicles each man’s relationship with the press, a process mastered by Roosevelt and neglected by Taft. George acknowledges Goodwin’s “writing prowess,” but asserts that the book is too long and should have been shortened by at least 100 pages.
The front and back covers of The Bully Pulpit illustrate the essay.
Stacey A. Cordery reviews the final volume of Edmund Morris’s trilogy of the life of Theodore Roosevelt, Colonel Roosevelt. Cordery contends that with his final volumes on Roosevelt, Morris has restored his reputation as a biographer which had been damaged by his inventive biography of Ronald Reagan, Dutch. Cordery praises Morris for his “marvelous prose” and his ability to set a scene, but she balks at some of the language he employs, especially references to sexuality and race. Cordery asserts that Morris handles politics poorly, and that he pays insufficient attention to the women in Roosevelt’s life, especially his wife Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. Cordery believes that Morris has not adequately incorporated the latest in Roosevelt scholarship, but she recognizes that his work has made Roosevelt known to legions of readers and elevated his place in American culture.
The front cover illustrations for all three volumes of Morris’s trilogy appear in the review.
Robert Wexelblatt praises Philip McFarland for his even-handed approach in his dual biography Mark Twain and the Colonel: Samuel L. Clemens, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Arrival of a New Century. Wexelblatt notes that the disagreements between the writer and the politician will interest most readers, and he highlights Twain’s anti-imperialism as the foremost of these issues. Wexelblatt commends McFarland for explaining the views of Twain, Roosevelt, and their contemporaries in the context of their time. He notes that McFarland also covers the similarities between “the two most famous and celebrated Americans,” and he credits McFarland for his research and his lively prose.
Photographs of Twain and Roosevelt, and the front cover illustration of Mark Twain and the Colonel, accompany the review.
Michael Kort opens and closes his book review essay with thoughts on the equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt that used to mark the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Kort cites the statue as emblematic of the argument made in Edward P. Kohn’s Heir to the Empire City: New York and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt that New York City was more important to shaping the man and his policies than the Dakota Badlands. Kort believes that Kohn makes a persuasive case, but he does question the book’s lack of academic citations and Kohn’s use of speculative language.
The front cover of Kohn’s book, a political cartoon, and a photograph of James Earle Fraser’s equestrian statue of Roosevelt accompany the essay.