Smoot, Reed, 1862-1941

President Roosevelt explains his opinion to Lyman Abbott on several points on which they disagree. First, Roosevelt would interfere on behalf of the Armenians if they were willing to fight. Second, he is currently trying to form an agreement with Japan that would prohibit laborers from each country immigrating to the other. However, he feels that all the Japanese already in the country should be given “the franchise and school facilities,” and treated as well as possible. Third, he is “not well acquainted with the situation in Utah,” but thinks Mormons should be treated exactly as anyone else. He does understand the situation in Idaho, which was not about Mormonism. McLain W. Davis’s claims regarding polygamy among Mormons in Idaho were investigated and found baseless.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Secretary of the Interior Garfield informs President Roosevelt that Assistant Secretary of the Interior Thomas Ryan has resigned, and he will be replaced by Frank Pierce, a Williams College man. While Garfield is sad to see Ryan go, he needs a man “who can do hard work this winter.” Garfield also asks Roosevelt about the Friends School in Washington because he is thinking of sending his son James Abram Garfield there.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-12

Creator(s)

Garfield, James Rudolph, 1865-1950

Lyman Abbott is not sure what the United States government can do in the cases of the Armenians or the Congo Free State, but believes there is “a real power” in international public opinion. Abbott believes that giving the Japanese suffrage now would put the control of Hawaii in their hands and doubts the wisdom of it for the same reason he doubts the wisdom of giving political control of the Philippines to the Filipinos. Abbott also gives his opinion that Reed Smoot’s religious beliefs as a Mormon should not exclude him from the Senate, unless his allegiance to the Church is “above” his allegiance to the Constitution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-08

Creator(s)

Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922

An old man labeled “Mormon Hierarchy”, wearing a coat of stitched together fragments of cloth labeled “Polygamy, Mormon Rebellion, Resistance to Federal Authority, Blood Atonement, Murder of Apostates, [and] Mountain Meadow Massacre,” stands outside the door to the “U.S. Senate” and places a puppet labeled “R. Smoot” inside the Senate chamber.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-04-27

Theodore Roosevelt discusses the Mormon Church with Isaac Russell. Roosevelt responds to charges that he had negotiated secret deals with the Mormon leadership while President.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-17

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt responds to a letter to The New York Times in which Robert M. Stevenson, president of Westminster College, quotes a passage from Pearson’s Magazine alleging that as President, Roosevelt made a bargain with the Mormon Church in exchange for electoral votes. The votes were allegedly given in exchange for an end to Republican agitation for an amendment allowing Congress to legislate regarding polygamy, the retention of Senator Reed Smoot, and patronage positions in accordance to the wish of the Mormon hierarchy. Roosevelt vehemently denies these allegations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-04

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

A list of individuals sent invitations on January 20, 1909, to the White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-20

Creator(s)

Unknown

President Roosevelt cannot discuss the matter in Le Roy Armstrong’s letter in writing, but Senator Reed Smoot can explain his attitude.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt praises Senator Flint for taking a stand in the battleship fight. He asks Flint to give his regards to Senators Smoot and Sutherland as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Sutherland and Senator Reed Smoot on their work on the battleship bill. He also encloses a letter from C. Hart Merriam and asks if he can help getting the bill he suggests through.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Hopkins on his speech during the expulsion case of Senator Reed Smoot. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Knox for his speech about Senator Reed Smoot which “needed a brave man to deliver it.” 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Gifford Pinchot writes to Republican Committee Chairman Will H. Hays about the importance of farmers to the Republican Party. He believes it is the farmers of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Illinois that will be most vital to the next presidential election, not those of New York and Pennsylvania. Pinchot feels the danger that the Democratic Party may end up becoming the progressive party in the United States, particularly if it draws in the returning veterans of World War I. For the Republicans to attract them, the party must offer more than policies that the veterans will accept; Pinchot says that it must “label those policies with the names of men whom they will follow.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1918-09-04

Creator(s)

Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946

John Callan O’Laughlin informs Theodore Roosevelt that John M. Harlan, a previously outspoken critic of Roosevelt, would support him if he were to run for re-election. Many other Republicans have also inquired about whether Roosevelt will seek re-election. O’Laughlin requests that Roosevelt publicly reject Secretary of State Robert Lansing’s treaty with Latin America that would include territorial integrity and prohibitions on shipments of munitions. O’Laughlin fears that this would keep the United States from acquiring any more territory in the future and would have a detrimental effect on relationship between the United States and South American countries.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-01-24

Creator(s)

O'Laughlin, John Callan, 1873-1949

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-10

Creator(s)

O'Laughlin, John Callan, 1873-1949

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Language

English

J. M. Cole recently read an article in Everybody’s magazine arraigning Theodore Roosevelt for his attitude towards Mormons and polygamy, particularly during the investigation of Senator Reed Smoot. If the Editors of The Outlook allow such articles to go unanswered, Cole says, he and others will stop reading Roosevelt’s reform articles in The Outlook. Cole is suspicious of Roosevelt’s links to Mormons, and wonders why he does not speak out against them more.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-06

Creator(s)

Cole, J. M.

Henry C. Lawrence writes to Theodore Roosevelt and asks if he has been made aware of a series of articles by Alfred Henry Lewis on Mormonism. Lawrence asks whether there has been any federal action to stop the growth of Mormonism.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

Creator(s)

Lawrence, Henry C. (Henry Comey), 1877-

I. K. Russell follows up on an earlier letter he sent discussing charges regarding Theodore Roosevelt’s attitude with Senator Reed Smoot retaining his seat after he was charged with polygamy. Further charges have been made regarding this and Russell would like a statement from Roosevelt about it. Russell provides information about his journalism background and strong support of Roosevelt’s policies.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-08

Creator(s)

Russell, I. K. (Isaac K.)

I. K. Russell sends Theodore Roosevelt various clippings alleging his involvement in a suspected corrupt bargain involving Senator Reed Smoot. Russell believes that anti-Mormon sentiments are behind stories in Pearson’s, McClure’s, and Everybody’s about Utah politics. He points out that much of the reporting in the pieces is incorrect. While Russell knows that Roosevelt cannot address various reporting mistakes, he asks about the charges that Roosevelt was involved.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-02

Creator(s)

Russell, I. K. (Isaac K.)

Secretary of War Taft informs President Roosevelt of the political situation in Idaho where he was sent to campaign for the reelection of Governor Gooding. Gooding is confident that he will win the gubernatorial race, but he faces significant opposition in response to the arrest of Charles Moyer and William Dudley Haywood and the efforts of the Western Federation of Miners to defeat him. Senator Dubois has been trying to make Mormonism another central issue in the campaign and to portray Taft in a negative light by associating him with the religious group. Taft concludes by stating his admiration for Secretary of State Root’s speech on William Randolph Hearst.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-04

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930