Storer, Maria Longworth, 1849-1932

Dr. John Allen Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, offers an address at Richland College giving an overview of the five phases he sees in the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt. Moving from the early hero-worship of Roosevelt in the years after his death, Gable sees historical opinion vary between critical perspectives of Roosevelt and more favorable representations, frequently moving in conjunction with the issues of the era the author is writing in. The most contemporary era, Gable believes, is a revival of Roosevelt’s reputation and scholarship. Further developments in the field of Roosevelt studies, Gable believes, will come from a stronger holistic understanding of the various facets of Roosevelt’s personality. Throughout his address Gable relies on a number of instances from Roosevelt’s life to illustrate his points, including the Venezuela Crisis, the Storer Controversy, and the 1912 Assassination Attempt.

Comments and Context

For more information on some of the episodes in Theodore Roosevelt’s life that Dr. Gable mentions, see the Theodore Roosevelt Center’s encyclopedia articles on the Dear Maria Controversy, the Venezuela Debt Crisis and Roosevelt Corollary, or some of the multiple blog posts and articles about the political campaign of 1912, John Flammang Schrank and his attempt to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt.

Dr. John Allen Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, offers an address at Richland College giving an overview of the five phases he sees in the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt. Moving from the early hero-worship of Roosevelt in the years after his death, Gable sees historical opinion vary between critical perspectives of Roosevelt and more favorable representations, frequently moving in conjunction with the issues of the era the author is writing in. The most contemporary era, Gable believes, is a revival of Roosevelt’s reputation and scholarship. Further developments in the field of Roosevelt studies, Gable believes, will come from a stronger holistic understanding of the various facets of Roosevelt’s personality. Throughout his address Gable relies on a number of instances from Roosevelt’s life to illustrate his points, including the Venezuela Crisis, the Storer Controversy, and the 1912 Assassination Attempt.

Comments and Context

For more information on some of the episodes in Theodore Roosevelt’s life that Dr. Gable mentions, see the Theodore Roosevelt Center’s encyclopedia articles on the Dear Maria Controversy, the Venezuela Debt Crisis and Roosevelt Corollary, or some of the multiple blog posts and articles about the political campaign of 1912, John Flammang Schrank and his attempt to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt.

David B. Ogden insists on the innocence of Francis Augustus MacNutt, his cousin Margaret van Cortlandt Ogden MacNutt’s husband. Ogden notes MacNutt’s neighbors spoke highly of him and that Maria Longworth Storer’s statement was only believed because she stated that President Roosevelt was the authority for it. Ogden does not understand how the president has any personal knowledge of MacNutt’s disloyalty and argues against Roosevelt’s supposed position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-12

Governor Roosevelt wishes he and Anna Roosevelt Cowles could have spent Christmas together. He has already made arrangements to rent a house for the next year’s holidays and wants to make sure the families are together at that time.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-12-27

A group of men make a surprise nighttime visit to Theodore Roosevelt, wearing pajamas, at Oyster Bay. Edward Henry Harriman carries a basket of lemons, James Roscoe Day carries a basket of “More Lemons,” Bellamy Storer carries a cake labeled “From Dear Maria” (his wife Maria Longworth Storer), Benjamin R. Tillman carries a watermelon, Chester I. Long carries a platter of “Welsh Rabbit” (possibly a reference to Herbert Welsh), and Joseph W. Bailey carries a bunch of bananas. Joseph Benson Foraker stands in the background, tipping his hat to Roosevelt.

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Udo J. Keppler is an excellent summary for historians — and prescient commentary at the time — that despite President Roosevelt’s popularity throughout the United States, in 1907 he had a handful of nagging problems, a host of political opponents, and many looming challenges.

That group of unwelcome night visitors are represented fully, and, significantly none of them really represent Congressional opponents of the opposite party, at least concerning pending legislation.

President Roosevelt addresses journalist Ernest Harvier’s editorial in The Sunday Democrat involving his handling of an incident related to Maria Longworth Storer.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1906-04-18

President Roosevelt informs David B. Ogden the only first-hand knowledge he has about the Francis Augustus MacNutt case is that before the Department of State and says he cannot express an opinion about it. The president encloses copies of two letters regarding the situation but tells Ogden they are not to be published.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-13

President Roosevelt informs Representative Longworth that he has given Longworth’s letter to Secretary of War William H. Taft. He warns Longworth to consider the consequences before deciding to get in the fight over the collectorship. Roosevelt directs Longworth to tell his daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, that he never received the letter. He asks if Aunt Ia (Maria Longworth Storer) has published a fresh collection of correspondence. In a post-script, Roosevelt relays that Taft thinks that changing the collectorship “would cause more harm than good.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-14

President Roosevelt hopes that Arthur Hamilton Lee is not worrying about the incident between Governor of Jamaica James Alexander Swettenham and Rear Admiral C. H. Davis in the aftermath of the Kingston Earthquake. Roosevelt assures Lee that he has dealt with worse characters than Swettenham, including several former American diplomats.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-12

President Roosevelt confides to Sir George Otto Trevelyan the contents of several letters and reports regarding the diplomatic aftermath of the earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica. Trouble has arisen after Governor of Jamaica James Alexander Swettenham asked Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis to remove the marines he had ordered to assist with the relief effort. Roosevelt compares Swettenham to American diplomates Herbert Wolcott Bowen, B. Storer, and Maria Longworth Storer who had caused him trouble in the past.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-04

President Roosevelt thanks Maurice Francis Egan for his letter, and hopes that Archbishop John Ireland understands that Roosevelt does not wish to meet or provoke Maria Longworth Storer, although he considers her harmless.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-04

President Roosevelt likes the letter from James Jeffrey Roche and his comments on the Storer incident. He appreciates having a “literary man” in consular service. Roosevelt is pleased that Roche liked his article on the Sagas and suggests that old Irish tales could benefit from the work of an expert translator, such as Edward FitzGerald, as they can be difficult to read.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-14

President Roosevelt thinks that it would be better for James Creelman to quote the letter he sent to Maria Longworth Storer, rather than to write a new quote about the situation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-06

President Roosevelt tells William Dudley Foulke that when Maria Longworth Storer wrote to him saying that Francis Augustus MacNutt must be received at the White House in order to be reinstated in the Papal Service, Roosevelt “strongly objected to being used in such a manner,” and refused to do so. He does not see why this conversation should require him to investigate MacNutt’s removal, which happened more than twelve years ago. Besides which, he now distrusts any information that came from Mrs. Storer. Roosevelt has also been reading Life of Morton, and is impressed. He compares the work of various authors of history.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-04

President Roosevelt explains to William Dudley Foulke that he cannot “be drawn into any discussion” into the situation of Francis Augustus MacNutt. He did not give Ambassador B. Storer or Maria Longworth Storer any information “which was not generally known.” He encloses Mrs. Storer’s letter, which asks for information that would exclude MacNutt from Papal service.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-26

President Roosevelt praises Ambassador Francis’s “diplomatic statement” and Thanksgiving reception. He expresses disapproval of Francis’s predecessor, Ambassador Bellamy Storer, and his wife Maria Longworth Storer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-24

President Roosevelt tells Catholic newspaper publisher Michael Walsh that his main point of contention in the recent incident regarding B. Storer and Maria Longworth Storer was the damage done to Archbishop John Ireland. Roosevelt notes that he does not regret anything he stated in the private letters that were recently published. The letter is marked “Private” and Roosevelt scrawls “Not for publication” at the top.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-19

President Roosevelt sends David Decamp Thompson an autographed copy of his recent message, noting that it was partly plagiarized from a letter between the two men. Roosevelt notes his high opinion of Chicago-based social reformer Mary McDowell, and that he is hoping help her with the bill currently before Congress. The president says he was initially “hot with indignation” that the Storers published his private letters, but later recognized that he “put the proper position of our Government in reference to various religious denominations about as clearly as I well could” and is no longer embarrassed about the matter. Roosevelt asks Thompson and Dr. W. P. Thirkield to come to lunch soon so they can discuss “the Negro question.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-15

President Roosevelt tells Senator Foraker that General Ward will be put into the list of next year’s visitors. Roosevelt encourages Foraker to not tell anyone he has granted this request, as he does not want “forty others” asking similar favors of him. He closes by making a joke about the recent scandal involving Maria Longworth Storer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-15

President Roosevelt tells Christine Griffin Kean Roosevelt (wife of his cousin Emlen) that he hopes she approves of the way he used the Nobel Prize cash award. Roosevelt notes that after he got past his anger over the Maria Longworth Storer incident, that he found the situation amusing. He reports that he is taking up James Alexander Scrymser’s application with “the Departments,” and that he has had a difficult time getting businessmen and bankers to agree upon currency legislation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-14