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President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Morton a paper by Lieutenant Commander Sims for his private information and wishes he would use it in relation to the armament of the USS New Hampshire.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-06
President Roosevelt requests that Secretary of the Navy Morton review William Sowden Sims’ letter regarding defects on the battleships.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-24
Theodore Roosevelt is returning William S. Sims’ report. Roosevelt appreciates Sims’ report and asks William H. Moody to also get reports from Sims’ on his suggestions about the gunner and officer training and the sights. Roosevelt would like Sims to report on whether or not specializing gunnery officers would leave ships “helpless” if “considerable slaughter is made among them.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-01
President Roosevelt was pleased to hear from Captain Wainwright and will take up Lieutenant Commander William Sowden Sims’s case with Secretary of the Navy William H. Moody.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-05
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Richard Wainwright that pays tribute to the great service of Lieutenant Commander William Sowden Sims. President Roosevelt would like to reward Sims and requests suggestions from Secretary of the Navy Moody.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-05
President Roosevelt is impressed with William Sims’s letters and would like to discuss them with Rear-Admiral Taylor. Sims wrote about inefficiencies in naval training and equipment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-22
President Roosevelt asks Commander Cowles for his opinion on what to do about William Sowden Sims’s letter. Roosevelt calls Sims “a good man, but a preposterous alarmist,” and remarks that Sims once believed Spanish ships to be better than American ships.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-12-12
William S. Cowles thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the zebra skin, which will take the place of the mountain lion. He is not surprised by the death of Charles S. Sperry, who was always delicate. He comments on the reprimand Commander William Sowden Sims following an after dinner speech. Cowles also discusses the political situation regarding reciprocity, and believes there is a risk of Democrats winning the Senate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-09
President-Elect Taft has read William Loeb’s letter regarding the North Atlantic fleet’s target practice with interest.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-11
Commander Key is glad that President Roosevelt understands the issues with the Navy administration system and suggests that the future ships to be approved by the coming Congress will be an improvement. Key congratulates Roosevelt on the conference at Newport, which confirmed all his criticisms of the North Dakota and the Delaware except one, which he expands upon. After first-hand experience with the Navy Department, Key suggests the creation of a legal addition to oversee the fleet. He is pleased to hear that Roosevelt plans to create an investigative commission that will be reviewing the current Naval organizational structure.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-18
Albert L. Key wishes to reassure President Roosevelt that he was not disloyal to him during a recent encounter with Senator Benjamin R. Tillman in which Key insisted that William Sowden Sims be given a chance to make a full statement to an investigating committee. While he was visiting Tillman, Pay Inspector Samuel McGowan also visited and, Key later learned, urged Tillman to suppress Sims’s testimony. Key does not trust McGowan’s character, but says that Roosevelt can judge for himself.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-06
In accordance with President Roosevelt’s instructions, Admiral Converse responds to comments made by Commander William Sowden Sims about a report by Converse. Converse believes that the information he presented in his reports was as accurate as it could be, and therefore feels that Sims has insulted him and impugned his integrity.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-03
Rear Admiral Mahan responds to critiques made by Lieutenant Commander William Sowden Sims on his piece on the Battle of Tsushima. Mahan believes Sims did a disservice by referencing too few sources. He also believes his sources are superior to Sims’. He paints a different picture of the battle and the mechanics of it. He also believes they emphasize different naval philosophical differences in their critiques. Sims believes in the importance of machinery and Mahan thinks that resources should be devoted to manpower. Mahan analyzes successful battle tactics and logistics.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-22
Arthur Hamilton Lee enjoyed reading what President Roosevelt enclosed. While not familiar with long-term battle practice, Lee would like to compare Britain’s methods with those described by William Sowden Sims. Lee has written to the Admiral for more information and hopes to hear back by the time he returns to Washington, D.C. to visit Roosevelt early next month. There were photographs of the HMS Deadnought in a recent issues of the Illustrated London News and can be now rated a complete success.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-19
A. T. Mahan sends feedback to President Roosevelt on William Sowden Sims’ paper. Thayer also includes his opinions on what makes the most successful warship. Additionally, Thayer encloses a clipping and mentions that Blackwood this month will have an article on speed by Admiral Reginald Custance, and that Admiral Cyprian Bridge agrees with Custance.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-03
Charles J. Bonaparte encloses a letter from Senator Hale regarding the increases to the Navy. Bonaparte notes that Assistant Secretary Newberry’s request to be excused from service on the Personnel Board is under review by Lieutenant Commander Sims. Bonaparte further seeks counsel from President Roosevelt on matters of the Paymaster General shift, and the men recommended for dismissal by Admiral Sands.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-27
Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte assures President Roosevelt that, upon his return, he will look carefully into the collision and Admiral Evans’ possible role in it. Bonaparte relays that Lieutenant Commander William Sowden Sims has asked to be relieved from service on the Personnel Board because of a conflict with an important target practice in October, a reason Bonaparte finds legitimate. He expresses pleasure at reading Roosevelt’s remarks about the Navy that were published yesterday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-21
Louis A. Coolidge advises William Loeb of his travel plans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-26
William Loeb sends letters to William Emlen Roosevelt and asks him to return the letters when he is finished reading them. In a handwritten reply, Roosevelt states he will talk to President Roosevelt about the letters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-09
In his review of Henry J. Hendrix’s Theodore Roosevelt’s Naval Diplomacy, William N. Tilchin examines each of the seven chapters of the book, highlighting both the issues where he disagrees with Hendrix and praising him for “a well-crafted narrative account” of diplomatic milestones in Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. Tilchin challenges Hendrix on the latter’s account of the Venezuelan crisis of 1902 – 1903, and he takes exception with one of the conclusion’s assertions, but he finds great value in Hendrix’s chapters on the Panama Canal, the Ion Perdicaris affair, the Treaty of Portsmouth, and Roosevelt’s transformation of the United States Navy. Tilchin’s review includes a number of references to prior works on Roosevelt’s diplomacy, highlighting the historiographical debates which have marked issues addressed by Hendrix.
Three photographs of naval commanders under Roosevelt and two illustrations, including the book’s cover, supplement the text. An advertisement for chocolate bars from The Chocolate Lady of Oyster Bay, New York, appears at the end of the review.