Primaries

New York City Postmaster Willcox sends Civil Service Commissioner Cooley an official circular regarding the regulation of political activity among those in the federal service, and wonders if he has been interpreting the regulations correctly. Willcox has been focused on carrying out “the spirit as well as the letter of the Civil Service regulations” and believes that political activity by federal employees in primary contests is as strictly prohibited as political activity before the general elections. Willcox asks Cooley if he is being too strict in his interpretation, specifically asking about the case of Deputy Surveyor Collin H. Woodward, who was cleared after Cooley found the charges against him in regard to political activity to be unfounded.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-31

Mrs. Morris Weissberger begs President Roosevelt for bodily protection for her husband during the upcoming primary election. Her husband is a lifelong Republican and captain of a voting district where his life has been threatened because he has broken away from the Odell organization and has succeeded in carrying the district for the Republicans. Mrs. Weissberger assures Roosevelt that they will be able to carry the district if they have the necessary protection.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-03

In his conversations with President Roosevelt, William Barnes did not mean to imply that John Clay Davies was not enthusiastic. He believes they will gain a majority in Oneida County, New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-12

Kermit Roosevelt writes Theodore Roosevelt and exclaims the convention must have been “extraordinary.” He informs Roosevelt that Rudyard Kipling placed a bet on Roosevelt during the Republican primaries against an American who thought he was dead. Kermit Roosevelt and Helen Robinson Roosevelt visited Frederick Courteney Selous and learned his trip to British East Africa was very successful although he had a close call with a buffalo. Kermit tells his father that Edmund Heller is fine and an intelligent progressive.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-1919

James Blanchard warns Theodore Roosevelt of a seating dispute between the Wisconsin delegations to the National Convention led by Governor Robert M. La Follette and Senator John C. Spooner. Blanchard fears that Wisconsin may go Democratic in the fall election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-19

This article is the platform adopted by the Republican Party of Michigan ahead of the Republican National Convention. The topics mentioned include foreign trade, monetary and fiscal policies, the state electoral process, and Theodore Roosevelt’s candidacy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-25

John Robert Greene tells the story of Frederick Morgan Davenport of New York state, whose political affiliations would move from the Republican party to the Progressive party, back to the Republicans, and would end with him as a supporter of the New Deal working for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Greene covers Davenport’s early career as a minister and teacher with an interest in the history of American revivals. He details his entry into New York politics and discusses his interest in adoption of the direct primary which led him to seek the support of Theodore Roosevelt. Greene examines the warfare in the Republican party between 1912 and 1916, and he notes Davenport’s work for Syracuse University in the 1920s. Davenport’s support of President Herbert Hoover and his work on behalf of tariff reform are covered as is Davenport’s gradual embrace of the New Deal while heading two agencies dealing with government personnel matters. Greene notes that Davenport was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1951.

Two of Davenport’s campaign posters, a photograph of the 1912 Progressive Party convention in Chicago, and a political cartoon from the 1912 campaign illustrate the article.

The Democratic State Central Committee of Arkansas rejected the proposition for a presidential primary. J. H. Harrod, president of the Woodrow Wilson Club, submitted resolutions to have candidate names put on the ticket but withdrew it after Senator James P. Clarke and the majority opposed it. Harrod believes Wilson is the only candidate who can defeat Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-04

In the first cartoon, William H. Taft with a large “R” on his shirt charges ahead of Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Taft says, “They can’t catch me.” In the second cartoon, William Jennings Bryan with a large “D” on his shirt charges ahead of Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson and George Gray. Bryan says, “What an easy snap.” Caption: Winners of the trial heats.

comments and context

Comments and Context

With two weeks to go until the Republican National Convention in Chicago, and another three weeks after that before the Democrats would gather in Denver to nominate their presidential candidate, cartoonist John Colman Terry dismissed the somewhat hyperbolic suspense that fellow artists invested in commentary about the nominations. Barring genuine surprises, two Williams — Taft and Bryan — would be their parties’ nominees.

The Des Moines Daily Capital reports on the Polk County Republican convention in Iowa on Saturday. After reports on corruption in the vote counting process in favor of S. F. Prouty, John A. T. Hull was given the nomination for the House of Representatives. In addition to nominating Hull, the convention named delegates to the state convention and issued a resolution calling for a reform of the primary voting process, expressing support for President Roosevelt’s renomination, and commitment to the Republican platform. A second article contains an allegory about a young politician who lost a race and learned that he should not “squeal.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-07

Following the death of Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, Governor Herrick informs President Roosevelt on his course of action and pledges to lead the Ohio delegates to support him at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Chicago.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-25

A campaign postcard sent to George W. Conover urges New Jersey republicans to cast their primary votes on May 28, 1912, for delegates that support Theodore Roosevelt. Postcard includes a listing of delegates and a printed quote from Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912-05

Governor William Sulzer sits in a horse-drawn wagon labeled “Direct Primaries,” between William Randolph Hearst and President Roosevelt.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The context is a matter of “strange bedfellows” — the Progressive Roosevelt, New York Governor William Sulzer, and reformer publisher Hearst. The three were uneasy allies, especially as the radical United States Representative Sulzer was elected governor in 1912. One of his first initiatives was to strengthen New York’s weak direct Primary system by a ballot initiative in 1913 — the subject of Lambdin’s cartoon. The move was defeated, and due to Sulzer’s break with the corrupt Tammany Democrat organization, he was impeached on vague accusations and removed from office. In 1914 he sought the Progressive nomination for governor.

Report of a fight that occurred outside the Precinct E polling center in the Fourth Ward in Cincinnati involving U.S. Marshal Vivian J. Fagin, his supporters, and his political opponents and their supporters. Fagin and a young man named Thomas allegedly beat a man who tried to vote for his opponent. Fagin has been arrested and denies the charges against him. To prevent further unrest, officers in the ward have been instructed to use their nightsticks to administer “practical justice.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906

Theodore Roosevelt sends Meyer Lissner the letter that Mr. Hard sent him and his response. Hard’s correspondent wrote that the Midwest was against them, and Roosevelt will try to rouse them up next Saturday. Roosevelt is pleased by the Republican primaries.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-04-22

Theodore Roosevelt does not know how to reach men who love President Woodrow Wilson after his three years in office. If they are not awakened to the need for Americanism and preparedness, then they are naturally against him and nothing he says will change their mind.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-04-22

Theodore Roosevelt chastises Representative Gardner for putting him in a difficult position regarding the political campaign. If he starts campaigning now there will be considerable backlash. Roosevelt needed to start campaigning in the primaries early and everywhere but decided against contributing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916

Folded, one sheet handbill promoting Theodore Roosevelt’s candidacy and delegates for the 1912 Republican presidential primary in Massachusetts. The cover features a photograph of Theodore Roosevelt sitting in a chair.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) C. Seymour Dougherty for her support in the California primary. Roosevelt denies the stories that are circulating regarding his drinking habits. He does not know how to confront this type of enemy and is glad that Dougherty was not “misled by such false and malicious rumors.”

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912-05-28

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Bonney Snitjer Armstrong for her letter of support regarding his success in the California primary. He particularly appreciates the votes of women.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912-05-27