Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt informs Matthew Hale his letter has been received, just as Roosevelt is on his way to Boston. Roosevelt cautions Hale against George L. Records because of his poor judgement and impractical propositions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
Theodore Roosevelt telegraphed Robert P. Bass and encouraged him to speak. He warns that George L. Record has some wild plans that can be alienating.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
Theodore Roosevelt is pleased by George W. Perkins’s letter to William McAdoo and is impressed with Perkins’ speech. Roosevelt informs Perkins that he has made many of the same points in the past and gives Perkins specific examples in his speeches that can be found in Roosevelt’s Presidential Addresses and State Papers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-18
Theodore Roosevelt congratulates Victor Murdock for his speech in Philadelphia, saying speeches like Murdock’s help keep the party stay united during times of unrest. Roosevelt also encloses a speech George L. Record wanted Roosevelt to give advocating their return to the Republican party and announcing Roosevelt’s candidacy for president. Roosevelt asks that Murdock return the copy to him once he is done.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-19
Theodore Roosevelt supports progressive and “well-nigh expropriatory taxation of swollen inheritance.” He does not care for the income tax and dislikes taxes on small incomes and inheritances. Roosevelt objected to Amos Pinchot and George L. Record because they took positions “too far off to one side.” He views the Industrial Workers of the World as representing destruction, not advancement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-06
Theodore Roosevelt expresses his admiration of Chester H. Rowell and says he suggested Rowell as a candidate for chairman of the Progressive Party’s national committee. However, the general feeling favored a candidate from the geographic center of the country. Roosevelt agrees that the reaction against the Progressive Party was temporary, a “stomach vote.” He says there are many opinions on the future of the party and that he has received contradictory advice ranging from continuing the fight to rejoining the Republican Party. He does not want to abandon “forward movement” through the Progressive Party, but admits it is currently impossible in many areas of the country.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-12-17
Theodore Roosevelt does not believe the Progressive Party should speak out much immediately after their poor showing in the election. The public is tired of politics and wants to see what the victors will do. In a year, the public might be more receptive and the party can reaffirm their principles and dedication to the Progressive platform. Roosevelt no longer considers Amos Pinchot or George L. Record a Progressive. He wants them treated with courtesy, but they are attempting to damage the party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-23
Theodore Roosevelt thanks William Flinn for sending him a copy of Flinn’s letter to George L. Record. Roosevelt believes Record’s idea of confiscating railroad lands is immoral and would send the United States into a depression.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-02-06
Theodore Roosevelt will not be attending the Progressive Party executive committee meeting but he suggests Everett Colby attend. Amos Pinchot and George L. Record are only remaining in the party to do damage. It is important that those opposed to Pinchot and Record do not take a reactionary position at the meeting. Colby’s statement about Roosevelt’s nomination is the “veriest pipe-dream imaginable.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914-11-28
President Roosevelt tells Nicholas Murray Butler that New Jersey governor Edward C. Stokes is coming to lunch today. As far as Roosevelt is aware, Mark M. Fagan and George L. Record have not said anything against Stokes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-27
Everett Colby protests the appointment of George L. Record to the Committee of Organization for the Progressive Party without consultation with the New Jersey delegation. Colby claims that Record had previously opposed the Roosevelt campaign and advocated that the New Jersey delegation support Senator La Follette.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-06-24
Matthew Hale asks Theodore Roosevelt to telegraph Governor Robert P. Bass, requesting him to speak at the public meeting of the progressive republicans of Massachusetts. Bass’s support is essential for the meeting’s success. Gifford Pinchot and Samuel McChord Crothers are also speaking at the meeting. Hale assures Roosevelt the movement is not tied to a particular candidate, especially not Senator Robert M. La Follette.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-10
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge will give a speech tomorrow against the direct election of senators. John Callan O’Laughlin asks Theodore Roosevelt to ask Lodge to include his views against Senator William Lorimer in the speech. Roosevelt should also write to George L. Record about acting in conjunction with New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson to secure passage of legislation against corruption like in the Lorimer case. Roosevelt should also write to any one else who could help with this matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-05
This edition of the “Book Reviews” section examines four works. “How Does TR Rate?” focuses on the poll numbers assigned to Theodore Roosevelt in The Rating Game in American Politics and finds that Roosevelt places in the great or near great categories. The review gives an overview of the essays in the collection, and highlights those on Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. William Davison Johnston reviews Edward L. Beach’s The United States Navy: 200 Years and notes that it is not a narrative history, and he stresses that it was awarded the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize for 1987.
In “The Independent Progressives,” John A. Gable reviews Eugene M. Tobin’s Organize or Perish: America’s Independent Progressives, 1913-1933 which studies former members of the Bull Moose Party like Amos Pinchot and George L. Record. Gable notes that these figures operated outside of elected offices and built organizations, but that they lacked the strength and numbers to build a political party. Gable notes how Tobin’s work adds to our understanding of the larger Progressive era. The section concludes with a notice that the Naval War College has published a comprehensive bibliography of the writings of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan.
A photograph of Johnston and Beach shaking hands at a Theodore Roosevelt Association event in October 1983 appears in the section.
During the annual dinner of the Progressive Republicans of Hudson County, President George L. Record read a letter from Theodore Roosevelt stating, “I am a progressive,” and discussing what that means.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-31
A booklet published by the Progressive National Committee. The publication lists the names of people in the Progressive Party’s administration and outlines the party’s ideals and goals. The Table of Contents is as follows: Organization of the National Service; Division of Administration – Organization of State Services, Office Organization; Department Work – Social and Industrial Justice, Conservation, Popular Government, Cost of Living and Corporation Control; Bureau of Education; Bureau of Legislative Reference.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1913-03-31