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Secretary of War Taft asks William Loeb for information on the Southern Republican National Committeemen. He will give the information to his campaign manager, Arthur I. Vorys. Taft asks Loeb to set up a meeting with Charles Dewey Hilles “about the situation in New York.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-07
John Campbell Greenway encloses a letter from Allan Brown Jaynes, Republican National Committeeman, of Arizona. Greenway would like Theodore Roosevelt to come to Arizona and make campaign speeches in Douglas, Bisbee, and Phoenix. He summarizes the current situation in Mexico.
1916-08-23
Oscar K. Davis confirms receipt of a check covering three yearly subscriptions to the Progressive National Committee Bulletin. Davis also includes a copy of a circular letter which addresses recent press coverage of the Progressive Party campaign and encourages “efforts to assist the State and National Committees with their work.”
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1913-02-17
President Roosevelt wired Cornelius Newton Bliss and George B. Cortelyou as Charles Gates Dawes suggested. Roosevelt directs Dawes inform “people of the opposition” that if Roosevelt is running for president, Cortelyou will be Chairman of the Republican National Committee and that opposing Cortelyou is hurting the Republican cause.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-17
Postmaster General Payne encloses a memorandum on the record of John W. Pettit, a clerk in the Baltimore office. It appears that Pettit was employed during the 1900 campaign at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee while simultaneously being paid for his postal work but performed no duties. Assistant Postmaster General Joseph L. Bristow is continuing the investigation and Senator Nathan Bay Scott has been contacted about Pettit’s employment with the committee.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-05
James McCormick Dalzell does not believe that Senator Hanna will be a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee after President Roosevelt’s nomination.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-04
Panoramic photograph of the members of the Republican National Committee gathered at the home of President Roosevelt to officially notify him that he would be the 1904 Republican presidential candidate. Speaker Cannon, with cigar and hat in hand, is to the left of Roosevelt. Governor O’Dell of New York stands to his right.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1904-07-27
In his acceptance speech as the presidential candidate for the Progressive Party, Theodore Roosevelt describes the need for the party’s break from the Republicans and his campaign platform.
1912-06-22
Through Leslie W. Seylar, Theodore Roosevelt thanks everyone who attended the Roosevelt Club of Fulton County’s special meeting on June 5, 1912, and passed the resolution. He comments that now nothing will prevent his presidential nomination except his opponents’ crookedness and that, because the “plain” have won, they will not rest while the “bosses” steal their victory. Roosevelt hopes that similar resolutions will pass across the United States and that the plain people will become aroused against the actions of Roosevelt’s opponents and “certain” members of the National Committee.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-06-10
In a speech, Theodore Roosevelt attacks President Willliam H. Taft’s “feeble intentions” and his unscrupulous tactics in his New Jersey campaign.
1912
Jacob A. Riis describes Governor Roosevelt’s work as governor of New York leading up to his nomination as Vice President. Riis laments losing Roosevelt as a governor but gives his full endorsement.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1900-09
George B. Cortelyou responds to an inquiry about Thomas E. O’Shea, who at one time desired a position at Republican headquarters, but later was understood to have given up that request and simply wanted the staff to publish “the tariff book.” Cortelyou also notes that O’Shea has made and lost large sums on Wall Street, and that there are some positions to which he would not appoint him, not believing him to be entirely trustworthy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-03
George B. Cortelyou forwards to President Roosevelt an extract of a letter from the Republican National Committeeman in Oregon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-29
Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna about his upcoming travel plans to and from Boston, bringing members of the Republican National Committee. Edith Roosevelt will be glad to see Anna.
1891
Chairman of the Republican National Committee Cortelyou asks William Loeb to bring the enclosed letter from Robert H. Todd, member of the Republican National Committee in Puerto Rico, to the attention of President Roosevelt. He requests that the letter not be put in the official files.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-19
Chairman of the Republican National Committee Cortelyou suggests that William Loeb send copies of President Roosevelt’s speeches to the headquarters in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-17
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Cortelyou announces to President Roosevelt that he is resigning from the Cabinet to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Cortelyou also expresses his respect for Roosevelt and the job he has done.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-23
George B. Cortelyou responds to William Loeb’s letter about which mail should be forwarded to the Republican National Committee. Cortelyou notes that Patrick Egan’s letter was not enclosed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-23
James W. Alexander, president the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and generically labeled “Life Insurance Company,” drowns in a sea of papers labeled “Exposure, Bribery, Syndicate Profits, Dummy Deals, Wholesale Graft, Fake Transactions, Juggled Reports, ‘Yellow Dog’ Funds, Rake-off, [and] Investigation.” He is holding in his raised left hand a “Receipt for Campaign Funds Republican Nat’l. Com.” The “G.O.P.” [Republican] elephant dashes over a bluff on the coastline, losing a top hat and halo labeled “Geo. B.” Out at sea, lightning flashes labeled “Publicity.” A bouquet of flowers labeled “J.H.H.” (James Hazen Hyde, the vice president of Equitable, who had recently been ousted from the company’s board) has been tossed meaninglessly before Alexander.
Icons abound in this cartoon, but their meanings would have been clear to headline-followers in 1905. In the middle of the Muckraking Era, when public feelings rose high against Big Business and corporate corruption, the insurance industry — a “Trust” of a few major firms — was rocked by financial scandals and a high society sex scandal involving the heir to the Equitable Life fortune.
Although the sexual aspects were only rumors, a lavish costume ball thrown by the son of Equitable Life’s founder, and himself the vice president of the big insurance company, scandalized America. It was further rumored that the 29-year-old James Hazen Hyde had financed the extravaganza with Equitable funds.
George B. Cortelyou, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, appears as Sisyphus rolling a large boulder labeled “Majority for Roosevelt” up a steep hill.
George B. Cortelyou is one of the most neglected of the important figures in the career and accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt. He worked for the United States Post Office and rose through the ranks until he was recommended to President Grover Cleveland to serve as his chief clerk. When William McKinley assumed the presidency in 1897 he named Cortelyou as personal secretary to the president upon the recommendation of Grover Cleveland, despite the part differences between the presidents.
As president, Roosevelt nominated Cortelyou to be the nation’s first Secretary of Commerce and Labor in 1903. The following year Cortelyou resigned to become the Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the Roosevelt re-election campaign. After the spectacularly successful canvas, Cortelyou served as Postmaster General of the United States (for a time overlapping the roles), traditionally a dispenser of federal patronage.