Republican National Convention

Theodore Roosevelt believes that Colonel Leland can do the most good at his current munitions position under Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Roosevelt admires Lloyd George’s work and the recent differences between the United States and Great Britain are that the British have Lloyd George and the United States has no one. He has been surprised at the resilience of the Central Powers and feels that Germany is currently “on the whole victorious.” Roosevelt is pleased that Leland supports conscription and Roosevelt has been working in support of obligatory American military training and service. He believes the British were too harsh on the leaders of the Irish Easter Rising and should not have used capital punishment. Roosevelt is disgusted at the policies of the Wilson administration and has been waging a lonely war in favor of military readiness and against hyphenated Americanism. He does not expect to be a presidential nominee and believes the Republicans will nominate Justice Hughes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-06-07

Theodore Roosevelt denies stating that he would only run for president if he was nominated by the Progressive and Republican parties. His final decision will have to wait until after the Republican National Convention. Roosevelt hopes the Republican nominee will be someone that Progressives can support. However, it may be necessary to run a separate ticket and he is unsure if he will head such a ticket. Roosevelt’s course will be determined by what he believes are in the interests of the country and the actions of the convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-29

Theodore Roosevelt cannot support an unfit candidate for president even if he is nominated by the Republican Party.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-27

Theodore Roosevelt does not believe he will receive a nomination for President at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Roosevelt agrees with John Campbell Greenway about having delegates at the convention, including Greenway as the Chairman of the Arizona Progressive delegation. Roosevelt is grateful for Greenway’s report on injured soldiers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-03

Theodore Roosevelt is glad to receive the copy of a letter Frederick L. Eldridge wrote him in 1914. Roosevelt wonders what will happen at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Chicago.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-04-26

Theodore Roosevelt thinks that it is much better to have the delegation go uninstructed, and he is glad that Dwight B. Heard is limiting the resolutions to Americanism, preparedness, and efficiency. Roosevelt thinks it is the wrong time to introduce resolutions about social and industrial justice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-04-17

Theodore Roosevelt writes to Walter H. Foster that he has refused to take part in the primary contest of any state. The Boston Herald has tried to draw Roosevelt’s opinion out about Mr. Hughes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916

Print of photograph showing chair decorated with flags, bows, portrait of President Roosevelt, and other graphics.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-12-14

President Roosevelt has given strict instructions for officeholders to abstain from advocating his reelection at the Republican National Convention as it would be a “serious violation of official propriety.” Despite this, Governor Curry has publicly declared his support.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-25

Resolutions passed by the Commercial Travellers’ Sound Money League in support of President Roosevelt and his nomination at the Republican National Convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-08

President Roosevelt has decided to allow the Republican National Convention to select his running mate for the 1904 presidential election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-06

Scrapbook of clippings from various periodicals related to Theodore Roosevelt’s time in the New York State Assembly, the Republican National Convention of 1884, and civil service reform.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1883-1894

Print shows a pack of hyenas labeled “N. Y. Commercial, N. Y. Sun, N. Y. Herald, Washtn. Post, The Rosecrans Letters, [and] 306” crowded around a sepulchral monument to James A. Garfield labeled “Fame.” Those hyenas labeled “306” are pulling on a rope that spells “Slander” tied to the top of the monument. A lightning bolt labeled “Public Contempt” has severed the rope, spilling the hyenas into an abyss labeled “Oblivion.” The number “306” represents the number of delegates who supported Ulysses S. Grant for a third term at the 1880 Republican Convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-03-22

Lyrics to “Teddy’s Dawg,” written to the tune of “Casey Jones.” Produced for the Republican National Convention at the Coliseum in Chicago, June 1912. One sheet with an illustration of a bull dog at the top of the page against a red box with border. Words printed in black on white ground. At the bottom of the page is an illustration of a hat with the initials “T. R.” inside the hat.

Collection

Gregory A. Wynn Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1912

Score and lyrics showing popular support for TR for President in 1912, written by a West Virginian, sung at the National Republican Convention in Chicago.

Collection

Gregory A. Wynn Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1912

Score and lyrics showing popular support for Theodore Roosevelt for President in 1912, sung at the National Republican Convention in Chicago.

Collection

Gregory A. Wynn Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1912

Governor Roosevelt was nominated to be the Republican vice presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-06-25

James Roscoe Day, chancellor of Syracuse University, stands with his arm around President Roosevelt. The caption states that Roosevelt has decided to accept a nomination for a third term from the Republican National Convention.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1908-06-10

Cover of the “Official Souvenir National Republican Convention, Philadelphia, June 1900. Published under the auspices of the Republican National Committee” with pictures of William McKinley, a building, and the U.S. seal.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1900-06

Theodore Roosevelt sits on a bench, resting a mallet labeled “My Policies” on his right knee. A large jar labeled “Republican Convention,” which he has just corked, lies on the bench next to him. On shelves behind him are bottles that he has corked: on the bottom shelf Alton B. “Parker Esopus Pickle,” Cipriano “Castro” which has popped its cork, and “Portsmouth Peace”; on the middle shelf George B. “Cortelyou,” James Roscoe “Day,” Charles Evans “Hughes,” Joseph Gurney “Cannon,” Robert M. “La Follette,” “Chan”[…], Philander C. “Knox,” and [unlabeled] Charles W. Fairbanks; and on the top shelf “Bowen,” Chester I. “Long,” “Bellam[y] Storer,” Edward Henry “Harriman,” “J. London,” [and] “Seton Thompson” (i.e. Ernest Thompson Seton).

Comments and Context

“A perfectly corking time!” — very close to another joyful expostulation of the time, “BULLY!” This cartoon appeared just as the Republican presidential nominating convention gave its prize to William H. Taft, just as President Roosevelt had wished and hoped and manipulated for almost two years. His work to anoint a successor was often behind the scenes but also, as befit Roosevelt, could be quite open and public too.

Roosevelt, after seven and a half years, had mixed feelings about leaving the office at age 50, younger than many presidents were when they assumed the office. “No man,” he admitted and frankly asserted, “more thoroughly enjoyed being president as much as I did.” Yet the always-restless Roosevelt had immediate plans to explore “Darkest Africa” as few white men ever had done; and there beckoned uncountable activities including those he mastered before the presidency — historian, author, speaker, and so forth. Yet he would miss, and knew he would miss, being at the center of power, and influencing events as White House denizen.