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Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles Frederick Weller

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles Frederick Weller

President Roosevelt believes that as the national capital, Washington, D.C., should be a model city in providing solutions for the social problems present in large cities. He thinks Charles Frederick Weller’s study will aid in identifying issues and suggesting solutions. The Homes Commission has been appointed to begin the same work in Washington, D.C. as it conducted in New York. Roosevelt appreciates Weller’s effective use of specific stories in his book instead of the usual, dull statistics. He feels Weller’s book provides a sympathetic understanding of these social problems.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Warren F. Hickernell

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Warren F. Hickernell

Theodore Roosevelt appreciates Warren F. Hickernell letter and is glad to hear of the publishing of the translation of Ferdinand Lassalle’s “Essay on the Nature of a Political Constitution” but he cannot write a sketch as Hickernell desires. If Roosevelt were to write such a sketch he would have to do so for every other case he receives.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-23

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Owen Wister

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Owen Wister

President Roosevelt had recently finished Owen Wister’s book Lady Baltimore, and sends Wister his thoughts and criticisms of the work. While he enjoyed the story, Roosevelt believes the book is unfairly critical of northerners and uncritical of southerners. Similarly, Roosevelt points out that while the book lauds the past at the expense of the present, there are many examples of violence, brutality, greed, and other vices in the past. Roosevelt also remarks on the status of African-Americans, and while he agrees with Wister in certain regards, believes the work has gone too far in the racist stereotypes. He hopes that Wister will be able to visit him soon. In a postscript, Roosevelt mentions a number of other books he has read or is reading that similarly make readers “feel that there is no use of trying to reform anything because everything is so rotten that the whole social structure should either be let alone or destroyed.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Upton Sinclair

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Upton Sinclair

President Roosevelt disagrees with the contents of a letter that a preacher sent to Upton Sinclair in which he compared him to Leo Tolstoy, Émile Zola, and Maksim Gorky. Roosevelt believes that if the type of socialism advocated in Sinclair’s book were implemented, one of the first efforts made would be to eliminate starvation. He sites a work by Walter A. Wyckoff in which Wyckoff traveled the country doing physical labor and found that in many cases, it is possible to quickly gain a position with steady work that allowed him to save. He agrees with Sinclair that radical action must be taken to end the “arrogant and selfish greed” of capitalists. However, he thinks that it is more important to develop the hearts and minds of the working class.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Bucklin Bishop

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Bucklin Bishop

President Roosevelt finds amusement in the clipping from The World about the Evening Post, and he thinks it base and hypocritical for the Post to continue to support the candidacy of Alton B. Parker in light of such speeches as that of Henry Gassaway Davis. Roosevelt provides two quotations addressing the “colored issue” for inclusion in his speech and letter of acceptance. Roosevelt aims to make his points clear while at the same time making them in such a way as to cause minimal irritation in the south.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Warren F. Hickernell to Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Warren F. Hickernell to Theodore Roosevelt

Warren F. Hickernell would like to publish a translation of Ferdinand Lassalle’s “Essay on the Nature of a Political Constitution” and asks Theodore Roosevelt if he would like to advise him on the project. Hickernell is drawn to Lassalle’s work founding the Social Democratic Party of Germany while applying science to social reform. Hickernell believes Lassalle’s work can be applied directly to American history to support Lassalle’s theory.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-19

Creator(s)

Hickernell, Warren F. (Warren Fayette)

Letter from Charles H. Battey to Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Charles H. Battey to Theodore Roosevelt

Charles H. Battey compliments Theodore Roosevelt’s recent piece in The Outlook on Wisconsin, and expounds on his perspective of the modern United States. In particular, he derides “the boasting fever without the practices that goes with promise” that has been prevalent in the last quarter-century, the “certain contemptuous attitude of the present to what is not ‘up to date”, and the “nonchalance toward the higher realms of literature, art and music, as well as the science of self-balance.” He closes with a remark that the United States has much to learn from abroad, and that “until we humble ourselves in the sackcloth of actual conditions,” advancement is unlikely.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-31

Creator(s)

Battey, Charles H. (Charles Heaton), 1868-1941