United States. Department of State

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt explains to Mrs. W. H. Schieffelin that before his appointment to his current position, he wrote to and met with Secretary of the Interior Cornelius Newton Bliss about reappointing W. N. Hailmann as Superintendent of the Indian School Service. However, now that he is Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt cannot do as Schieffelin requests as it is improper for officials in one department to interfere with another.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-09-30

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt, along with the Department of State and President McKinley, are unsure what Singer’s chances are, but Roosevelt believes a push on behalf of Singer’s friends would secure him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-05-28

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt informs German Buelle that he is unable to interfere in the affairs of the Department of State as a subordinate of the Department of the Navy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-05-22

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt reports to Woodrow Wilson the disappointing outcome of E. I. Renick’s case. Secretary of the Navy Long refused Roosevelt’s proposed positions for Renick. Roosevelt suggests that Wilson write to Long expressing regret that the custom of giving a turned-out chief clerk a new position has not been followed and that civil service reformers and gold democrats would appreciate Long acting on Renick’s behalf.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-04-29

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt asks Judge Francis C. Lowell if outgoing Assistant Secretary of State William Woodville Rockhill can be awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University. Roosevelt considers Rockhill the best assistant secretary of state and recalls that Rockhill explored Tibet, China, for which he received a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-04-30

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt received Cyrus Edwin Lothrop’s letter from H. C. Taylor. He has been considering the matter and brought it to the attention of Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long. Roosevelt believes he can get the USS Yantic for the Naval Militia of the Lakes if the Department of State agrees it does not violate the treaty. He strongly believes in the naval militia. Roosevelt asked the Office of Naval Intelligence for information on the Canadian fish cruisers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-05-04

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt calls Secretary of the Navy Long’s attention to E. I. Renick’s case. Renick was a former chief clerk of the Department of State who rose through his career under the civil service regulations. In the past, chief clerks who were turned out at no fault of their character were given another position. Roosevelt suggests that Renick be transferred to a clerkship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-04-22

James Brown Scott acquired a copy of Ordeal by Battle by Frederick Scott Oliver at the recommendation of Theodore Roosevelt. He lays out the case for intervention on the part of the United States in World War I, citing international law established at the Hague Peace Conferences, Germany’s violation of Belgian neutrality, and the history of similar cases such as the 1861 Trent Affair.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-07-27

L. R. Weber asks Theodore Roosevelt for advice about applying to the consular service, especially as he does not have a college education.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-04

Augusta Saint-Gaudens has been requested to sell pieces of her husband, Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s work, to King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III, including a portrait of Jacob H. Schiff’s children. She and Schiff decided they would prefer to gift them. However, she does not know the etiquette of writing such a letter and asks Theodore Roosevelt for help. She hopes Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is recovered from her accident.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-12

Oscar S. Straus received a letter from Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary with a letter about a translation of an editorial from the Jewish Morning Journal and a letter from Edwin M. Bliss. He explained Roosevelt’s arbitration proposal of the Russian passport issue to the editor of the Jewish Morning Journal. Bliss’ letter was one the same issue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-27

Herman Bernstein thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his note regarding Sergei Vitte’s message. He also hopes that Roosevelt will address the “passport question” which involves the State Department and the Jewish Committee. Bernstein also includes “horrible and strange” articles on Russia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-29

Henry W. Fischer has leased the publication rights to his book with the provision that he shall not interfere with its publication, and therefore cannot make the change Theodore Roosevelt requested. He explains that while Roosevelt was president the State Department purchased for a copy of his book, and that that is likely what caused the confusion in the message that Roosevelt objected to.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-08

Secretary of State Knox assures Governor Johnson that the interests of California do not diverge from the nation at large. The State Department has never raised questions as to California’s dealings under Johnson’s administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

U. S. Minister Knowles sincerely thanks W. G. Glick for his telegram, the first of many after the “terrible affliction” he and his wife, Edith Ella Wallace Knowles, experienced. He discusses the circumstances surrounding the accident and death of Malcolm G. Knowles, his seven-year-old son. Knowles recalls Malcom’s talents and his joyous and kind nature. Due to the circumstances, Edith cannot remain in Bolivia. Therefore, Knowles asks Glick if he can be transferred to another post as he does not want to finish his assignment without his wife.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-17

David Healy suggests to Theodore Roosevelt that the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization should be transferred from the Department of Commerce and Labor to the State Department, as he believes it will be better able to advise prospective immigrants regarding their eligibility before they arrive in the United States, and that it will be able to do so “without duplication of authority, and without friction with foreign governments.” Many immigrants return to their countries of origin after several years in the United States, serving as sorts of missionaries for the country. The State Department will be able to better cultivate friendly relations with these countries to support immigration, which is essential to the United States’ further economic development.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-27

Creator(s)

Healy, David, 1851-1916

Secretary of State Knox encloses a letter the Department of State thinks would be proper for Theodore Roosevelt to send to the President of the Municipal Chamber regarding naming the park in Ponta Delgada, Azores, after him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-12-14

Theodore Roosevelt received a letter from Francisco Athayde Machado de Faria e Maia through the Department of State informing Consul E. A. Creevey that the Municipal Chamber of Ponta Delgada, Azores, resolved to name a park after him. He expresses his gratitude for this honor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-11-16

Senator Lodge discusses a number of topics regarding the late Secretary of State John Hay. Lodge bemoans the editing of a publication of Hay’s letters, claiming that Hay was “one of the best if not the best letter writer of his time,” but the publication does not do him justice. He reminisces on the many men of letters he has known in his life, and believes that Hay was the most “brilliant, humorous, sympathetic, [and] witty” among them. Lodge holds more criticism for Hay in his role as a secretary of state, discussing how Hay bungled multiple treaties, took credit for accomplishments that were not his own, and formed poor relations with the Senate. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-14

President-Elect Taft tells President Roosevelt that he is correct in his understanding that Taft has no objections to John Callan O’Laughlin being appointed Assistant Secretary of State, with the understanding that his term would end on March 4, 1909. Taft will likely need to appoint someone to the position of Assistant Secretary of State who would be able to handle the social side of the office. Taft assuages Roosevelt’s worry about rumors that he is considering appointing John W. Weeks to a position, and mentions the “necessity of listening with bended ear to many suggestions without the slightest intention of complying with them.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-16