Reid, Whitelaw, Mrs., 1857-1931

President Roosevelt reflects to Ambassador Reid on the broader implications of the peace negotiated between Russia and Japan. The British Ambassador to France, Sir Francis Bertie, believes that the terms were too harsh on Japan and will make the United States and Roosevelt unpopular there. Roosevelt believes that Japan’s belief that if it continued the war, it could gain a large indemnity from Russia was incorrect, and nonetheless stresses the importance of the United States remaining ready for any international developments. In a postscript, he takes issue with British criticism of American conduct in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-11

President Roosevelt tells Ambassador to England Reid he believes “the Russian case is absolutely hopeless” after Japanese Admiral Heihachirō Tōgō’s “smashing” of Russian Admiral Zinoviĭ Petrovich Rozhestvenskiĭ. Roosevelt has encouraged Russia to negotiate for peace. In other news, the president has struggled with British Ambassador to the United States H. Mortimer Durand and gets along better with his chief secretary. Although Roosevelt believes Durand is an “honorable public servant” and does not want to hurt him, Roosevelt would rather have someone he knew as ambassador like Cecil Spring Rice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-05

Mariane Starkey Dusenberg asks Theodore Roosevelt to send her Whitelaw Reid’s address.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-23

Ambassador Reid received Theodore Roosevelt’s letter and is proud of the last pheasant shoot. He is leaving soon for the United States and will tell Roosevelt about the British election, which the recent elections in America cannot equal in “surprises and inconclusiveness.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-12-22

Ambassador Reid thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the gift of the elephant foot, which a taxidermist has turned into a beautiful waste basket. The London newspapers have reported that the political situation in the United States is tangled up, but Reid trusts that this is an exaggeration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-08-18

Creator(s)

Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912

Ambassador Reid advises Theodore Roosevelt to look for a tract by George Grey, the brother of British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, with advise on how to avoid malaria in Africa. Reid also insists that both Edith and Roosevelt stay at his house when they are in England following his trip. He provides additional advise on where Roosevelt should stay during his trip through England. Reid has opted not to send Roosevelt clippings about his leaving office because he believes he is already inundated with them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-03-08

Whitelaw Reid encloses a copy of the letter he wrote to President-elect William H. Taft in which he explains why he believes he should maintain his post longer than currently planned. The King of England appreciated President Roosevelt’s speech on British rule in India and mentioned as well that he hoped Reid would remain Ambassador. Reid updates Roosevelt on diplomatic work he has been doing concerning the Panama Canal and Newfoundland.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-22

Ambassador Reid writes to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt a “letter of indiscretions” about English society life and the state of affairs in Europe. First, he reflects upon the precarious and sad position of the German Emperor William II, who keeps making blunders and “plunging from one extravagance to another” in hopes of making people forget about his last mistake by making new ones. Reid fears that some mistakes, like his asking France to apologize for a matter when he had already agreed to arbitration, could lead to war in Europe. Reid also updates Roosevelt about Walter Spencer Morgan Burns’s drinking problem, and the controversy surrounding the separation of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill and Consuelo Vanderbilt Spencer-Churchill. King Edward VII has banned the Marlboroughs from Court until they live together again, but the Duchess is refusing to reconcile. Mrs. Reid’s private secretary, Helen Rogers, is recovering from surgery to remove her appendix. Reid has discussed having an American or Anglo-American Exhibition in a year or two, at the White City in Chicago. Mrs. Reid will be sailing in December to visit her father, but Reid cannot go because the State Department issued a circular instructing all Ambassadors to remain at their posts and not take further leaves of absence.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-12

Anna Roosevelt Cowles celebrates the election of William H. Taft, which was a triumph for President Roosevelt. She was amused to hear that Ambassador Whitelaw Reid and his wife want to stay in London. She discusses the electoral results in Connecticut, where George L. Lilley was elected governor. Walter L. Goodwin and John Q. Tilson also won their elections, while Joseph W. Alsop also did well. She hopes to hear more about the details of her brother’s African trip and heard from his son Ted by telephone when he assured her the he was “all perfectly right.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-08

Ambassador Reid sends a copy of a speech that Sir Dyce Duckworth made toasting President Roosevelt’s health. Reid also encloses a report in the Daily Telegraph of his speech in Bath. Reid will likely not travel to the United States this winter and would not be able to vote in the election even if he had returned to New York, as he does not have continuous residence or registration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-23

Annie Nathan Meyer wishes she had known about President Roosevelt’s recent trip to Henderson House, as it is near the preserve that she has tried to persuade Roosevelt to visit. She describes a recent “glorious experience” in the preserve. She and her husband, Alfred Meyer, will be in Washington, D.C., for the upcoming Tuberculosis Congress and hopes to visit and discuss women’s rights. The prestigious magazine, The Studio, published Meyer’s article on American artist Homer Dodge Martin.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-29

Ambassador Reid informs President Roosevelt he has heard from Sirdar F. R. Wingate, who is gathering information for Roosevelt regarding his African trip. Believing it will amuse Roosevelt, Reid shares “the queer transmutations” that the third modus vivendi on the Newfoundland fisheries underwent. Roosevelt’s perplexity about journalist Edward Dicey amuses Reid, who shares the same opinion of him. Reid details the seeming ill-luck of British statesmen and their families. Ogden Mills Reid, Reid’s son, plans to return to the United States to participate in the presidential election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-22

Ambassador Reid thanks President Roosevelt for his well wishes. His father-in-law is still sick, and Mrs. Reid will be with him for some time. She is hoping Anna Roosevelt Cowles will come visit. Reid hopes to be in Washington for a few days before returning to his post. One of the pictures of Roosevelt with Kaiser Wilhelm II is back on the market and being held for Reid. He hopes to get the original of the other picture, but it may have to be redrawn.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-09

Whitelaw Reid heard that President Roosevelt wanted to see the speech he gave at the Titmarsh Club in London, and encloses a brochure, noting that he was referencing Charles Dickens at the same time that Roosevelt was referencing Martin Chuzzlewit. He updates Roosevelt on the health of his wife’s father and provides a forwarding address. A handwritten postscript says that he spoke with Secretary of State Elihu Root about copies of old King George III commissions for libraries that were sent by the London Custom House.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-06

Ambassador Reid quickly replies to President Roosevelt before going grouse-shooting in Scotland. Reid closed the modus vivendi regarding Newfoundland fisheries, but is waiting to formally execute it based on Premier of Newfoundland Robert Bond’s response. Regarding Joseph Hodges Choate and the immunity of private property at sea, Reid sees no reason for follow-up as Choate was likely misled by poor information. He briefly mentions France’s “hornet’s nest” in Morocco.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-11

Ambassador Reid sends Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt descriptions of social events and diplomatic gossip from Great Britain. In a handwritten postscript, Reid says his wife and daughter are going to see her sick father in the Adirondacks and he will be alone by the end of summer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-25

Anna Roosevelt Cowles apologizes for taking so long to return a deed to her brother, President Roosevelt, but explains the difficulty she had in getting a notary. She is glad to be able to gift him something that will be of use. Cowles promises to write Roosevelt about possibly visiting at Oyster Bay later in the summer, after the upcoming Naval Review. Her vacation has been pleasant so far, but she comments that sometimes “it is difficult being your sister to stay in a hotel and not be made too conspicuous just on account of the relationship.” She heard good things about the honeymoon Roosevelt’s newly married daughter, Alice Longworth, and her husband Nicholas Longworth were able to take to England, and hopes they had a good time. Cowles also shares a humorous story where her son, William Sheffield Cowles, shared that he hoped President Roosevelt could find something to do in Farmington, Connecticut, after leaving the presidency so that they could see him often.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-19

Ambassador Reid writes to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, describing three dinners he recently attended which were hosted by the Chinese Minister, the Pilgrim’s Society, and the Royal Geographical Society, respectively. Reid includes anecdotes about British politicians like Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Winston Churchill, Augustine Birrell, John Morley, and George Curzon. Reid also references issues associated with the education bill, the administration of India, “trouble” in Natal, and negotiations with Russia over Seistan. Reid felt that the details he included might be of interest to Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-12

Ambassador Reid writes to Edith Roosevelt about several events in Great Britain, including a Thanksgiving dinner he attended in spite of personal mourning for the death of Mary Harrison, a weekend house party featuring a wild bird shooting, and a wedding.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-12-06

Whitelaw Reid writes to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt to explain the appointment of Captain Walsh, not as his new private secretary but as a “controller” for his country home. Reid also discusses the British social scandal surrounding Captain Walsh’s postponed engagement to Lady Nora Churchill. He describes the country home as well as the gardens and neighbors.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-18