Your TR Source
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt writes to Avery De Lano Andrews thanking him for the report and inviting Andrews to lunch with Roosevelt and Jacob A. Riis. Andrews is free to invite Frank Moss and Lincoln Steffens.
1897-07-07
Commissioner Roosevelt writes to Avery De Lano Andrews about an article in the Sun newspaper about Roosevelt’s interview with Parker. Roosevelt is unhappy about the article and would like to meet with Lincoln Steffens.
1896-12-30
A large group of politicians and journalists appear as knights on a crusade against graft and corruption. Many carry large pens like a lance. Periodicals mentioned are “Colliers, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Puck, [and] McClure’s” Magazine. Caption: Marching embattled ‘gainst the Saracens of Graft.
This cartoon by Carl Hassmann, which resembles a poster, could indeed be a historian’s guide to the leading crusading Muckrakers of the day (circa 1906, the high-water mark of reform before the Progressive Era and certainly in journalism and books). The double-page cartoon is a panegyric to the movement, a paean to the personalities.
Theodore Roosevelt discusses a recent article written by Lincoln Steffens. Roosevelt strongly disagrees with the article’s content. Roosevelt would like Medill McCormick at the publicity bureau in Washington to advise Roosevelt on the matter.
1912-02-12
President Roosevelt has an ongoing dispute with Dr. Albert Shaw of the Review of Reviews over whether or not Roosevelt said that Missouri gubernatorial candidate Cyrus Packard Walbridge is a better man than opposing candidate Joseph Wingate Folk. Roosevelt insists he said no such thing, and Shaw insists he did. Roosevelt sends a copy of a letter he received from Shaw to Collier. Roosevelt wishes not to discuss any of this in public, especially concerned about the misrepresentation of his political views.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-27
Theodore Roosevelt is delighted with the clear information in Charles Dwight Willard’s letter and wishes he could reply at length. He wants to quote Willard in an article about women’s rights and duties. Roosevelt congratulates Willard on his overwhelming victory in the municipal contest. Recalling his article on James B. McNamara’s trial, Roosevelt wishes that leaders would remember, as Willard does, that true progressives stand against brutal wrongdoing done by labor as much as that done by capital.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-11
President Roosevelt outlines and refutes the falsehoods in Alfred Holt Stone’s Studies in the American Race Problem. He tells John Graham Brooks that he judges a work’s reliability by seeing what it says about a subject he is familiar with, and then deciding if he can trust it on things that he does not know as much about. He explains that Stone is spreading falsehoods about the so-called “referee” system in the Southern states, especially Mississippi. Roosevelt points out that the practice was common with presidents before him, and that it is necessary in areas where the Republican party does not have a strong enough presence to provide good appointees to positions. He also discusses his handling of the case of African American postmistress Minnie M. Geddings Cox, who was forced by an angry mob to resign her position and leave town.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-13
President Roosevelt sends John St. Loe Strachey the two last volumes of his speeches and messages, and has added some notations for where to find speeches relating to matters of socialism and class consciousness that Strachey has been talking about. Roosevelt additionally includes a copy of a letter he wrote to Lincoln Steffens. The Republican National Convention will be starting soon, and Roosevelt is sure that Secretary of War William H. Taft will be nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-11
President Roosevelt acknowledges Lyman Abbott’s note and says that letters he wrote to Lincoln Steffens and Ray Stannard Baker “express good Outlook sentiments.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-05
President Roosevelt enjoyed the clippings sent by Robert J. Collier. Roosevelt likes the article by Lincoln Steffens, although he notes that impressionist paintings, while they may give a good general view, are useless for analyzing specific geography. Steffens once told Roosevelt that he finds what Roosevelt would call “gossip” quite useful, and Roosevelt thinks that expresses the difference between him and Steffens perfectly. Roosevelt adds that Moody is a fine person undeserving of attack.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-04
President Roosevelt refutes the points made in an article published in Collier’s Weekly accusing Supreme Court Justice William H. Moody of misconduct while overseeing the Oregon land fraud scandal as Attorney General. The article alleged that Moody’s personal grudge against the chief prosecutor of the trial, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Francis J. Heney, led to him nearly undermining the case by allowing a U.S. Marshal implicated in the scandal to remain in his position, suggesting a potentially compromised judge to sit the case, and refusing to appoint the Heney-recommended William C. Bristol as District Attorney.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-26
President Roosevelt refutes the points made in an article published in Collier’s Weekly accusing Supreme Court Justice William H. Moody of misconduct while overseeing the Oregon land fraud scandal as Attorney General. The article alleged that Moody’s personal grudge against the chief prosecutor of the trial, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Francis J. Heney, led to him nearly undermining the case by allowing a U.S. Marshal implicated in the scandal to remain in his position, suggesting a potentially compromised judge to sit the case, and refusing to appoint the Heney-recommended William C. Bristol as District Attorney. The piece has several handwritten additions and notes which Roosevelt includes in the final draft of his piece.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-26
President Roosevelt does not know if he is more proud of what Secretary of State Elihu Root did in New York or what Secretary of War Taft did in Idaho. He describes some of the Democratic competition in New York. He proposes that the Democratic Party should dissolve because it has been shamed in New York and Idaho. Roosevelt sometimes wishes “I was not in the White House and could be on the stage and speak frankly!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-08
President Roosevelt found Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp’s letter about former Idaho Governor William John McConnell “satisfactory.” He wishes people who make corruption charges based on insufficient evidence would read it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-06
Although President Roosevelt agrees with S. S. McClure’s articles focusing on political corruption and the wrongs done by the rich, he warns him not to only focus on that, but also to write about the crimes committed by the poor, citing the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed as an example.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-04
President Roosevelt sends Robert J. Collier copies of two letters that he received from the correspondent of the Kansas City Star from Missouri. Roosevelt’s letters to Collier are being used by Samuel Hopkins Adams to try to harm Roosevelt during the final moments of the campaign. Roosevelt states that he is in favor of the Republican ticket in Missouri, as he is in every state, but never made a comparison between the Republican candidate Joseph Wingate Folk and his opponent Cyrus Packard Walbridge. He asks that Collier keep the matter to himself, as someone, whether Adams or someone else, apparently hopes to influence the election in Missouri, as well as the presidential election itself.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-29
President Roosevelt says he has received a letter from Dr. Albert Shaw explaining that he never said Roosevelt believes Cyrus Packard Walbridge to be a better candidate for Governor of Missouri than Joseph Wingate Folk. Roosevelt reproduces a part of Shaw’s letter for Robert J. Collier, which explains the situation. Roosevelt emphasizes that while Collier may show this correspondence to Norman Hapgood and Lincoln Steffens, he does not want the matter discussed in public and cannot understand how anyone could have misunderstood him in the first place.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-27
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Interior Bliss to send reports, maps, and books on Alaska and the Yukon gold fields to Lincoln Steffens of the New York Evening Post. If there is any cost for the requested materials, Roosevelt asks that the bill be sent to Steffens.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-08-04
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-04
Wheeler, Wilmot H. (Wilmot Henry), 1859-1929
Steffens, Lincoln, 1866-1936; Mitchell, John S., 1834-1914; Burnham, W. H.; Frank, H. W.