Your TR Source
President Roosevelt has received Attorney General Bonaparte’s telegram and has no objections to U.S. District Attorney for Wyoming Timothy F. Burke, but will let Bonaparte decide.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-13
Attorney General Bonaparte forwards President Roosevelt a telegram he received from Assistant Attorney General Marsden C. Burch regarding the misconduct of District Attorney N. M. Ruick. Bonaparte asks Roosevelt to wire him with any instructions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-13
Attorney General Moody requests William Loeb’s opinion regarding a proposal to promote Mr. Lloyd to the Assistant District Attorney position vacated by Henry C. Platt in New York. In the proposal, Lloyd’s former position is eliminated and the salary distributed among the other employees in the office. Moody also asks if William Michael Byrne, who wished to take Platt’s position, would accept a lesser job in the district attorney’s office.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-05
President Roosevelt would like to clear up a misunderstanding about whether Lyman Metcalfe Bass will resign as United States Attorney for the Western District of New York on March 4. If he is going to resign, Roosevelt would like to nominate his replacement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-31
President Roosevelt encourages Attorney General Bonaparte to select the man of his choice to assist James Scarlet in prosecuting the powder trust case, and suggests Reuben D. Silliman might be a good man for the job. Roosevelt is glad Bonaparte has been in touch with Secretary of State Elihu Root regarding matters concerning the border between Mexico and Texas. Roosevelt encloses copies of the orders he sent to three departments regarding the enforcement of the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-28
President Roosevelt explains that Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte had at first recommended that District Attorney George B. Curtiss be removed, or that he be allowed to serve out his term without reappointment. Based on this information, Roosevelt informed John W. Dwight, J. Sloat Fassett, and George W. Dunn about the situation. Since then, however, the opinion within the Department of Justice has changed, and so Roosevelt no longer has any ground to not reappoint Curtiss. He understands, however, that William Barnes has been put in a difficult position because of this, and promises to look into the matter further.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-03
President Roosevelt regrets to inform Senator Platt that District Attorney George B. Curtiss will not be reappointed due to his conduct while in office on recommendation of the New York Attorney General William S. Jackson.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-14
President Roosevelt tells Missouri Senator Warner that Attorney General Bonaparte disagrees with the appointment of Judge Daniel P. Dyer as District Attorney due to his advanced age. Roosevelt believes that this position requires a man of “courage, ability and independence” who will not be swayed by bias, as Roosevelt expects the District Attorney to prosecute Dyer’s son Daniel Dyer Jr.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-27
President Roosevelt hears highly of Lyman Metcalfe Bass and tells Senator Platt he will gladly send his letter of nomination for United States Attorney for the Western District of New York after the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-13
President Roosevelt confirms that Lyman Metcalfe Bass will be appointed as the United States Attorney of the Western District of New York but Frances M. Wolcott, his mother, must say nothing until after the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-13
President Roosevelt has received a number of recommendations from important politicians and judges advocating for the appointment of Potter C. Sullivan as District Attorney for the Western District of Washington. Given these recommendations Roosevelt would normally do so without hesitation, but has some reservations about Sullivan’s past alcoholism. Roosevelt has decided to appoint Sullivan to the position, but warns that should Sullivan become addicted to drinking again he will have to request his resignation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-15
President Roosevelt has seen the telegram in which Judge Wolverton says that he cannot endorse Judge James A. Fee for District Attorney “without reserve.” Roosevelt would like to know why.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-17
President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock, and Senator Philander C. Knox all feel that Francis J. Heney should have sent his telegram about District Attorney William C. Bristol to Attorney General William H. Moody. Knox believes that the Senate would reject any renomination of Bristol on the grounds that his letter explaining his conduct is unsatisfactory. They will probably send the evidence against Bristol to the Oregon Bar Association. Roosevelt does not feel that under the circumstances, Bristol can be retained.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-07
President Roosevelt has decided to appoint Ernest F. Cochran as District Attorney instead of John G. Capers. He tells Capers that this should not be seen as a reflection upon him; he simply decided that Cochran’s appointment would be best for the interests of the service.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-22
President Roosevelt laments to Attorney General Moody that the Yale class of 1878 “has the call” for District Attorney. No Rough Riders are available and “every individual in the Southern District of the Indian Territory . . . appears to be either under indictment, convicted, or in a position that renders it imperatively necessary that he should be indicted.” As such, George Richard Walker, who attended Yale with Secretary of War William H. Taft, should be nominated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-16
President Roosevelt informs Robert C. Morris that his decision not to appoint him District Attorney was solely because there were other men who more clearly met the requirements of the circumstances. Roosevelt does not feel that Morris lacks integrity or has a poor legal capacity, and he believes that the charges against Morris were “entirely baseless.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-13
President Roosevelt tells John H. Adams that he nominated Erastus J. Parsons for District Attorney based on seemingly excellent recommendations about his standing as a lawyer. Alabama Governor William Dorsey Jelks has endorsed him, half of the Alabama delegation in Congress supports him, but the other half opposes him. Roosevelt is unsure whom to ask for advice in this situation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-10
President Roosevelt believes that he should remove at least Charles H. Scott as a referee, and asks if Judge Jones can suggest any “really first-class upright Republicans” from Alabama whom he could consult. The Democratic delegation in Congress is divided over whether to approve Erastus J. Parsons as District Attorney.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-08
President Roosevelt informs Senator Platt that it is necessary to hurry the appointment of the new district attorney as he will have to begin his tenure by undertaking “one of the most important suits that has been undertaken” by the Department of Justice. Roosevelt believes that Henry L. Stimson is the best man for the position, and Stimson has said he will accept if he is offered the position. Roosevelt hopes that Platt can support him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-07
President Roosevelt informs Senator Platt that Attorney General William H. Moody has told him that his appropriation will not allow him to appoint another Assistant District Attorney. Further more, Francis J. Carmody is “strikingly unfit” to serve in that position, and appointing him would be a scandal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-21