Smoot, Reed, 1862-1941

William H. Andrews agrees with William Loeb about Joseph H. Kibbey, Governor of Arizona Territory, and discusses his strategy for getting Kibbey’s support. Andrews addresses Major William H. H. Llewellyn’s reaction to a letter written by Kibbey, noting that Llewellyn has done nothing or said nothing to anyone about it. Andrews expresses a need for financial support from the Congressional Committee and hopes that Loeb can get them to do something. He further discusses getting support for statehood from corporations, which he thinks may provide great assistance to the cause.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-09

Creator(s)

Andrews, William H. (William Henry), 1842-1919

William H. Andrews encloses a letter from Senator Reed Smoot, along with his response. Andrews has also received many letters, some from the Joint Statehood League of Arizona, although he will not send all of those to William Loeb. Andrews writes that the only thing he really needs currently is financial assistance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-02

Creator(s)

Andrews, William H. (William Henry), 1842-1919

William H. Andrews writes to William Loeb from Albuquerque about the campaign for joint statehood of Arizona and New Mexico. He is concerned that the Republican Territorial Committee of Arizona and the Democratic Central Committee will both declare against joint statehood when they meet in August. Andrews discusses his strategy for getting support for joint statehood. He is “quite sure that both the Republican and Democratic Conventions will declare for joint statehood when they meet about the first of September.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-21

Creator(s)

Andrews, William H. (William Henry), 1842-1919

Senator Proctor writes to President Roosevelt that there are many senators and representatives who want the decision on the Smoot case deferred.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-07

Creator(s)

Proctor, Redfield, 1831-1908

Owen Wister thanks President Roosevelt for the kind note and informs Roosevelt that Senator Smoot will be visiting alone on Saturday afternoon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04

Creator(s)

Wister, Owen, 1860-1938

Michael Kent Winder explores the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. Winder focuses on the controversy that arose after the election of Reed Smoot to the United States Senate. Winder writes that Roosevelt decided to support Smoot after receiving assurances that Smoot did not practice polygamy, and he notes that Roosevelt expected Smoot to deliver Utah for him in the 1904 election. Winder highlights Roosevelt’s 1903 visit to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Roosevelt became the first president to speak from the pulpit of the Mormon Tabernacle. Winder traces Roosevelt’s relationship with the Mormons after he left the presidency, noting Roosevelt’s support of Mormons in the face of bigotry and Smoot’s presence at Roosevelt’s funeral.

Five photographs, two illustrations from newspapers, and a political cartoon supplement the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2010

Secretary of the Interior Wilbur speaks at the dedication of Lassen Volcanic National Park, recounting the history of the effort to designate the area as a national park, and the improvements which were necessary to do so. Wilbur acknowledges the help the Department of the Interior and National Park Service have received from the people of northern California, as well as the efforts of a number of legislators and government employees. He reflects on the National Park Service as a whole, and emphasizes that the park belongs not only to California, but to the entire United States. (In his speech Wilbur mistakenly identifies William H. Taft, rather than Theodore Roosevelt, as the president who initially created Lassen and Cinder Cone National Monuments in 1906)

Collection

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Creation Date

1931-07-25

Creator(s)

Wilbur, Ray L. (Ray Lyman), 1875-1949

Following a number of legislative items, including voting on an amendment to a bill and a motion to investigate participation in international expositions, Senator Robert M. La Follette delivers a speech beginning with proposed tariff reciprocity with Canada, but quickly turning to his view that President William H. Taft has abandoned his campaign promises to continue the progressive policies of his predecessor Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette excoriates Taft on his stances on taxes and conservation, among other issues.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-15

Creator(s)

United States. Congress. Senate

Theodore Roosevelt’s letter to I. K. Russell completely refutes the “ludicrous” charge that Roosevelt bargained with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the organization would receive certain considerations in exchange for delivering votes. Roosevelt advises the “Mormon[s]” that any attempt to reintroduce polygamy would mean the Church’s destruction, advice that aligns with Church leaders’ views.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-18

Creator(s)

Unknown

The writer of the article decries The Outlook for repeatedly calling for Senator William Lorimer to be ousted from the Senate following allegations that he purchased his seat. Theodore Roosevelt is accused of striking a deal to secure Utah’s electoral votes in exchange for allowing Senator Reed Smoot to be re-seated. The writer argues that the allegations against Lorimer are not as bad as those against Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-04

Creator(s)

Unknown

I. K. Russell writes to Theodore Roosevelt to ask if he would be willing to write a letter commenting on the charges that, while president, he was part of a “corrupt alliance” with the Mormon church in Utah. Russell hopes to publicize Roosevelt’s response to show once and for all that there was no such alliance, as well as to help improve the public perception of the Mormon church, which has been slandered by a number of sources.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-14

Creator(s)

Russell, I. K. (Isaac K.)

Robert M. Stevenson, President of Westminster College, Utah, quotes an article from Pearson’s Magazine on Theodore Roosevelt’s alleged “bargain with the Mormon Church” to deliver electoral votes in exchange for policies favoring the Church’s practices and representatives. Stevenson comments on whether the Democratic party will show a “greater regard for national welfare than for party advancement” and if the country will finally recognize the importance of a Federal marriage law.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-22

Creator(s)

Stevenson, Robert M. (Robert Montgomery), 1848-1939

President Roosevelt reads a newspaper with the headline: “Testimony in Smoot Case.” The newspaper text reads, “President Smith admits being the father of 42 children! 38 children in the Merrill family! “I have over 100 nephews and nieces,” said Young Merrill.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-10

Creator(s)

Lovey, A. L. (Alan Lister), 1877-1907

Theodore Roosevelt tells George von Lengerke Meyer he is not sure there is anything to be done to make things better in politics. Roosevelt believes Republican leaders “stole the nomination” in Chicago, Illinois, and that such action “creates a train of evil consequences so extensive that it is almost impossible by any single act afterwards to undo the evil.” It was extraordinary to see men such as Bishop William Lawrence and President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University “explicitly or implicitly, endorse the lowest forms of political immorality.” Roosevelt compares the Progressive platform to that of Abraham Lincoln and the early Republicans, and accuses the men who object to these principles of being the “spiritual heirs of the Cotton Whigs.” He believes that what happened in Chicago makes it likely that Woodrow Wilson and the Democratic Party will win the fall presidential election. When Roosevelt returns, he would like for Meyer and Frank B. Kellogg to visit him.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1913-10-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

E. Kissler Sweet complains that the American home is a farce and suggests the adoption of more laws governing marriage.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-15

Creator(s)

Sweet, E. Kissler

A wave labeled “Republican Voters’ Revolt” crashes into the dining room of a ship where “Cannon, Payne, Taft, Knox, Sherman, Root, Aldrich, Woodruff, Dalzell, Crane, Wickersham, Lodge, Parsons, Hitchcock, Depew, Hale, Elkins, Ballinger, Smoot, Penrose, [and] Cox” are dining, and upsets a dish of “Party Plums,” as well as a bottle of “Stalwart Grog.” Caption: “We were crowded in the cabin, / Not a soul would dare to sleep; / It was midnight o’er the waters, / And a storm was on the deep.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-04-20

Creator(s)

Levering, Albert, 1869-1929

President Taft, as a hen, sits on eggs labeled “Reform Measures” on a nest that is infested by rats labeled “Cannon, Aldrich, Gallinger, [and] Smoot.” Caption: If the trustful hen doesn’t wake up, there’ll be nothing left but the shells.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-30

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

President Taft struggles to conduct an orchestra composed of two groups of musicians. On the left, playing the “Eastern Conservatism” on stringed instruments, are “Root, Crane, Smoot, Depew, Aldrich, [and] Gallinger.” On the right, playing the “Western Conservatism” on horns and percussion instruments, are “Knute Nelson, Dolliver, Cummins, Clapp, Bristow, [and] La Follette.” Caption: Pity the poor leader of the Washington Symphony Orchestra.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-12-22

Secretary of State Hay encloses correspondence regarding the expulsion of American Mormons from Prussia and diplomatic efforts on their behalf.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-04-25

Creator(s)

Hay, John, 1838-1905

Charles M. Harvey believes that President Roosevelt will win the 1904 Republican nomination but questions Roosevelt’s southern policy regarding African Americans. Harvey thinks that the tendency for African Americans to identify with one party is a mistake and damages their political clout. Harvey also defends Reed Smoot against charges of polygamy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-08

Creator(s)

Harvey, Charles M. (Charles Mitchell), 1848-