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President Roosevelt asks Senator Lodge if the enclosed document is alright and gives him permission to change anything he believes should be changed. He condemns a few newspapers for their invention of disunity among himself, Lodge, Secretary of War William H.Taft, and Senator Winthrop Murray Crane.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-22
Charles C. Bull writes to Theodore Roosevelt about progress on the Panama Canal construction, which he says is going well. He states his opinion that though he opposes “white slaves traffic,” as by law women cannot be brought across country lines for “immoral” purposes, he says there is a problem in Panama where there are too many canal workers and too few prostitutes, and the prostitutes that are there have venereal diseases. Bull thinks there needs to be a way to bring (specifically white) prostitutes who have freely chosen the vocation to Panama and to have better health monitoring. He discusses San Francisco politics and greater U.S. politics, stating he will not support William H. Taft and he does not think the Republican Party will do well the next couple of terms, so he hopes the Democratic Party runs a presidential candidate he does not dislike too much so he does not have to vote Socialist. Lastly, he believes part of the Panama Canal construction area is not well fortified and is vulnerable to potential attack.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-14
Joseph F. Budd advises Theodore Roosevelt that if he stays quiet and reserved he will be the next presidential nominee. Budd says he himself is a Democrat, but has always admired Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-13
George E. Miller understands where Roosevelt stands, but explains that people are disappointed in President William H. Taft’s leadership and remember all the good Roosevelt did. With how it is looking in Michigan, Miller would not be surprised to see a “Roosevelt Renaissance.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-11
Emile Kuntz read of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s accident and hopes it is not serious and she will recover quickly. Kuntz had the honor of being on the committee that notified Theodore Roosevelt of his nomination for president. Visiting Oyster Bay is one of his favorite memories.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-05
A. W. Graves expresses sorrow upon hearing of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s accident and hopes she is well recovered by now. Graves also shares concern for corruption in local government and hopes Theodore Roosevelt will accept the Republican Nomination for President as Graves believes Roosevelt is the only man who can bring harmony as president.
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt had been thrown from her horse on September 30, 1911, causing her to hit her head and remain unconscious for several days.
George W. Coons believes Theodore Roosevelt is the only man that might prevent disaster by becoming president. Coons encourages Roosevelt to accept the nomination for president if it comes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-05
Charles Dewey Hilles informs William Loeb that the “rank and file” of New Jersey Republicans are loyal to President Roosevelt and William H. Taft but that prominent officials are not. Francis Hendricks believes that if Charles Evans Hughes becomes an active candidate, he will have a large following even though Taft is regarded highly right now.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-19
Senator Hansbrough encloses his platform which will be sent to 3,000 Republican leaders in North Dakota.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-20
Representative Longworth advises President Roosevelt of the political situation in Cincinnati, Ohio. Roosevelt is more favored than Senator Foraker, but it remains to be seen whether this sentiment can be directed successfully toward nominating Secretary of War Taft for president in 1908. Many Republicans who lost their positions in the election of 1906 place much of the blame on a speech Taft gave at Akron. Longworth believes the attempts of Taft’s brother, Charles, to force a quick resolution of the issue are unwise.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-18
James Sullivan Clarkson informs William Loeb that his nephew, recently returned from the West, has informed him that the entire country is behind President Roosevelt for a third term and that “if the Republicans do not nominate him, the Democrats will.” Clarkson assures Loeb that the people he talks to also convey the same message.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-03
With 50 of the Oklahoma precincts reporting, Theodore Roosevelt has won 283 delegates to President Taft’s 70 delegates.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-03-03
Assistant Treasurer Fish writes to President Roosevelt through William Loeb that the political situation in New York has improved as previously reticent politicians, such as New York Governor Odell, are now showing support for Roosevelt’s renomination after the admirable way in which Roosevelt treated Senator Hanna’s initial lack of support. Fish closes by addressing the irregularities in the post office department and suggesting that any fraud should be investigated and punished.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06-05
The writer reports on the political situation in California, now that Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna has died. It appears likely that the Republicans will nominate President Roosevelt at their state convention next week. If William Randolph Hearst is nominated for the Democrats, there will be a fight to carry California, but it is likely Roosevelt will win the state. If Alton B. Parker or another conservative Democrat is nominated, it is all but certain that he will win it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04
Theodore Roosevelt asks if Governor Johnson is willing to second his nomination at the Republican National Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-05-23
A Republican elephant dressed as a palmist supposedly reads William H. Taft’s hands but actually reads President Roosevelt’s hands and says, “I see by the lines in your hand Mr. Taft that you will be the Republican nominee for president.” In a handwritten addition to the cartoon, John M. Woll writes, “I hope to God the above reading will come true.”
At first glance this political cartoon by William P. Canfield would seem to suggest that the bona fides of William H. Taft would be identical to the policies of Theodore Roosevelt, and that both men were happy to be so identified. Actually the cartoonist was suggesting, as many cartoonists and editorial writers did, that President Roosevelt fully intended to be the nominee in 1908 — hoping all along to be drafted, or using his endorsed favorite, Secretary of War Taft, as a stalking horse.
Secretary of War William H. Taft stands on President Roosevelt’s back and reaches for the “nomination pudding,” but he is unable to reach it.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle was a Democratic newspaper and therefore not expected to do otherwise than tweak the Republican presidential aspirations of William H. Taft, and the efforts on his behalf extended by President Roosevelt. Yet this awkward situation — Taft not in easy reach of the nomination, Roosevelt’s exertions, and even (predictably) the cartoonist’s target of Taft’s enormous bulk. His avoirdupois of approximately 325 pounds enabled cartoonists frequently to have fun at his expanse.
A bear labeled “Taft,” a wolf labeled “Fairbanks,” a fox labeled “Cortelyou,” and a cat labeled “Knox” chase a “Republican nomination” bunny into the “T.R.” tent. Beside the tent is a gun, a “big stick,” and a cowboy hat.
The redoubtable T. S. Sullivant, a cartoonist admired by contemporaries and later generations of cartoon scholars, hit closer with his trademark depiction of animals than the concept of this cartoon. The political-cartooning portion of his career, roughly 1904-1910, was devoted to the daily editorial pages of newspapers in the Hearst chain. Those newspapers have been insufficiently preserved and studied, and therefore Sullivant’s work of these years largely is unknown.
William H. Taft stands with a gavel in his hand as the delegates select President Roosevelt as the nominee. In the audience are Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. A balloon in the top right-hand corner shows William Jennings Bryan and William Randolph Hearst holding signs that read, “Gov’t Ownership” and “Socialism” respectively as they step on Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson.
Whether cartoonist Tyler McWhorter drew this cartoon as a prophecy or a hopeful dream, it was another cartoonist’s speculation on whether President Roosevelt would break his pledge of Election Night 1904 that he would not allow his name to be put into nomination in 1908. With its long caption, it also might have been an illustration for an article, or part of series. In any event the St. Paul Dispatch drawing was pasted in the White scrapbook, and presumably seen by the president.
President Roosevelt holds his “big stick” as he is trapped below the “feathered bed of private life.” Meanwhile, Uncle Sam sits on him and holds up a “candidacy lightning rod” with multiple prongs on it: “peace of Portsmouth,” “rate legislation,” “Panama Canal,” “beef trust,” “post office cleansing,” “coal strike,” “railroad merger,” “New Orleans,” and “departmental investigations.” Lightning from the “Republican nomination 1908” storm cloud hits this rod. Three other men—Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and Leslie M. Shaw—hold up much smaller lightning rods with no success.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905