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Secretary of State Hay sends President Roosevelt a copy of the Treaty of Arbitration among American States that was created by the International Conference of American States in 1902 and recently ratified by the United States Senate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-08
Secretary of War Taft responds to a letter from Senator Lodge regarding treaties that President Roosevelt has given to the Senate. Taft breaks down Lodge’s questions about articles in the treaties regarding legal and constitutional aspects, and evaluates amendments that the Senate proposes to add. Taft points out that the treaties currently under discussion refer to previous conventions which established a Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, and discusses how the powers of this court interact with the powers of the United States government, specifically with reference to the making and execution of treaties. Taft also encloses a memo by Judge Charles E. Magoon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-07
Senator Beveridge advises President Roosevelt to speak with Senators Perkins and Scott before noon on February 7, 1905.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-07
Representative Williams of Mississippi requests that President Roosevelt support his bill moving the date Congress first convenes to the first Monday after March 4 every year. Williams, a Democrat, hopes Roosevelt might cross party lines for this. Williams appeals to Roosevelt by explaining the current situation with the Townsend-Esch Bill that expands the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which Roosevelt is in favor of, and which Williams believes will pass the House but not the Senate before the current session ends. Williams outlines the benefits of his legislation, including starting sessions of Congress closer to elections and eliminating uneven sessions, lame duck sessions, and the need for dramatic rule changes and special sessions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-06
Senator Beveridge informs President Roosevelt that Senators Clark and Scott were in town.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-04
Senator Beveridge advised that no appointment be made for the Governor of Arizona until after the vote for the statehood bill.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-02
The bill is in conference and under Senate rules, Chairman Philander C. Knox could not propose an amendment for the appropriation to provide for target practice. The only way to have the appropriation restored is through the conferees.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-02
Thomas K. Niedringhaus received the Missouri Republican caucus nomination for Senate. The caucus nomination reached stalemate after supporters of the opponent Richard C. Kerens questioned Niedringhaus’s integrity. Thomas J. Atkins supports Niedringhaus and sees him as an ally of President Roosevelt’s administration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-19
President Roosevelt peeks out of the “President’s Office / Army Affairs” at an old woman labeled the “meddlesome Senate.” She holds a bag: “Brownsville.”
This cartoon by J. H. “Hal” Donahey carried a direct observation about the current political situation, but also spoke to a larger subtext that contemporary readers would understand, but posterity would not, immediately.
President Roosevelt holds a “bill providing for two battleships” as the “Senate” says, “Only two!” Roosevelt replies, “Two every year, tho!”
Budget priorities were a continual point of friction between President Roosevelt and the United States Senate. The disagreements were about more than financial allocations for some issues like conservation — the establishment of national parks, game reserves, bird sanctuaries, and monuments. The very concept of protecting natural resources and wildlife sparked conflict.
President Roosevelt holds a “Congressional Record speech” in his left hand and a string tied to a “special message” cannon. The “Senate” and “House,” which are depicted as two men in the distance, appear worried.
It was a full five days before President Roosevelt would transmit a Special Message to Congress, but cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Berryman spoke for the Washington, D.C.’s political establishment in picturing the nervous apprehension about its contents.
President Roosevelt standing beside a teddy bear watches two men (the “Senate” and the “House”) wrestle for a football: “legislation.”
President Roosevelt was at this time renewing his crusade for safer college football that would promulgate sets of rules, field parameters, and better protective gear, all in his continuing effort to save the sport. He was successful; under his urging, the National Collegiate Athletic Association was established in 1906.
President Roosevelt carrying a big stick stands beside a man labeled “Senate” casting a vote into the “Dominican Ballot.” To their left stands a woman blindfolded, holding scales in her right hand and an enormous sword “justice” in her left.
The Dominican Republic was a longtime irritant in hemispheric and world politics and commerce, as successive corrupt governments defaulted on international loans and payments, leading to numerous threats from European powers to forcibly collect reparations. President Roosevelt’s desire for regional harmony and justice, coupled with his opposition to European military activity in the Caribbean, directly led to his promulgation of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
President Roosevelt ploughs through a variety of drifts: “tariff revision drift,” “swollen fortune drift,” “railroad drift,” “Standard Oil drift,” “Senate drift,” “Jap. drift,” and “canal drift.” In the background the Republican elephant cries, “Help!” stuck underneath a drift.
“Drift” was a word that made its way into President Roosevelt’s speeches and articles, reflecting his concern that events might slip out of control in areas of public life where he had influence. Whether it was reform to forestall revolution, or urgent conservation measures to prevent the spoil of natural beauty and resources, or similar palliatives, Roosevelt always seemed concerned with anticipating possible over-reactions to challenges and problems in society.
This cartoon depicts four different options for President Roosevelt after he leaves office: “President of Harvard,” “In charge of the Panama Canal,” “A member of the Peace Congress at The Hague,” or “U.S. Senator from New York.” Caption: A composite horoscope by the Hon. Champ Clark.
Only a year into President Roosevelt’s second term, editorialists, politicians, and cartoonists continually speculated on his future — as a young ex-president (he would be 50) with a range of professional opportunities; or, if he were to break his word not to seek a successive term, how American politics would be affected.
Pictures of the twelve men that will represent the United States Senate at the funeral of Senator R. A. Alger.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-26
An elephant labeled “G.O.P.” looks on as a man labeled “Senate” and President Roosevelt shake hands. In the corner stand a teddy bear and a dove.
Long before the United States Senate issued its formal, bound Report on the Brownsville Incident — and, by implication, to what extent President Roosevelt acted properly in the summary dismissal of a regiment of black soldiers after a murderous nighttime disturbance — cartoonist Clifford Berryman depicted exoneration and amity between the Senate and the White House.
President Roosevelt grins as he stands in a boat labeled “Lock Canal System” while a generic figure labeled “Senate” sits in a large bucket filling with water labeled “Senatorial Kicks.”
History remembers, and credits, Theodore Roosevelt with the building of the Panama Canal. He famously said that he “took” Panama himself, and let Congress debate him, instead of the canal, as construction proceeded. This was a paradigm that he applied to other initiatives throughout his presidency. This sentiment implies what was the case — that work on the canal in all its particulars was controversial, and it remains the case more than a century later.
President Roosevelt holds a “Roosevelt rail-road rate ideas” bag and a “rail-road rate bill U.S. Senate” gold brick. Uncle Sam puts his hand on Roosevelt’s shoulder and points to the brick. The United States Capitol building is in the background.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-02
President Roosevelt walks through a forest and is about to step on a “rate bill” animal trap. “The Senate” watches from behind the trees. Caption: Senator Rayner—”But I do say, and I say it again with the greatest respect and reverence for the President, and that the President is so constituted that he cannot look at a trap without fooling with the spring!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-15