United States. Department of State

Telegram from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Parsons

Representative Parsons is “completely in error” about his facts in the Jan Janov Pouren case. Secretary of State Elihu Root does not have the complete authority that Parsons believes, and the Commissioner is not simply an arm of the State Department. President Roosevelt believes that Parsons should have directly applied to Commissioner Samuel M. Hitchcock.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-28

Telegram from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Bonaparte to communicate with the Department of State and the War Department in order to coordinate action regarding the infringement of neutrality laws on the border of Texas and Mexico. He directs Bonaparte to contact the district attorneys and marshals of Texas in order to capture the guilty parties.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-29

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Earl Cranston

President Roosevelt returns an enclosure that Bishop Cranston had sent him, and says that unfortunately he cannot grant Cranston’s request. If he makes exceptions for some people, he will end up having to do so for everyone.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of State Root to provide the American Quarterly of International Law to all embassies, legations, and whatever consular representatives are deemed necessary.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-15

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George B. Cortelyou

The State Department will give Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou a copy of President Roosevelt’s memorandum to the Justice Department regarding whiskey importation. Roosevelt instructs Cortelyou to govern himself accordingly regarding the whiskey.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lucius B. Swift

Regarding Lucius B. Swift’s letter, President Roosevelt says that the matter has had the “best consideration” that the State Department can give, but the information they have is “more than any private citizen can have” and more than Roosevelt is at liberty to tell Swift.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William B. Allison

President Roosevelt advises Senator Allison against passing the provision in the sundry civil bill as the House prepared it. An increase of wages in the United States would cause good men in Panama to leave. Another provision would hamper the Justice Department’s work, especially regarding the prosecution of land thieves in the West.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-29

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of State Root to investigate the State Department and ensure that no work is being done on Sundays, unless it is unavoidable.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Augustus Peabody Gardner

President Roosevelt sends Representative Gardner, Chairman of the House Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions, a memorandum from the Department of State containing suggestions and a draft bill related to the upcoming 1912 Exposition at Tokyo. Roosevelt believes that there are many good reasons to take part in the exposition, including promoting peace and trade between the United States and Japan, and hopes that Congress will provide the resources to produce an exhibit worthy of the country. Roosevelt also suggests that after the main exposition, portions of the industrial exhibit could be shown at major seaports across the region.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George B. Cortelyou

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou that he would like Public Printer John S. Leech to keep reports from Charles A. Stillings about the Government Printing Office and compare them with reports from George C. Havenner and William Sidney Rossiter. Roosevelt highlights some areas that he considers of particular importance in this matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Colonel George W. Goethals for Secretary of State Root. As Roosevelt understands the situation, the State Department has assumed the position that Panama has no authority over the entryways into the canal or the canal itself, which is entirely under United States control.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-24

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to David B. Ogden

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

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank H. Jones

President Roosevelt assures Frank H. Jones, son-in-law of former President Ulysses S. Grant, the matter is in the hands of Secretary of State Elihu Root, who will “do no conscious injustice to” Captain Algernon Edward Sartoris given Root’s connection to the Grant family.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-11

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ellen Grant Sartoris Jones

President Roosevelt apologizes to Ellen Grant Sartoris that he has withdrawn a previously offered position within the Department of State given to her son, Algernon Edward Sartoris. Secretary of State Elihu Root, who had not been involved in the initial decision to offer Sartoris the position, strongly protested the move, and Roosevelt has deferred to Root’s authority over the department.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-22

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of State Root to have Japanese Ambassador O’Brien tell Japanese officials that complaints about Japanese immigration to Hawaii come not only to the American government, but also to the general population in the mainland.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Robert Bacon

President Roosevelt appoints Assistant Secretary of State Bacon as the representative of the State Department on the Central Committee of the American National Red Cross.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Germaine Cecile Nouflard Sartoris

President Roosevelt apologizes to Germaine Cecile Nouflard Sartoris that he must rescind a previously offered position with the Department of State given to her husband Algernon Edward Sartoris. Secretary of State Elihu Root, who had previously worked with Sartoris while Secretary of War, did not believe Sartoris was right for the position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-19

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Algernon Edward Sartoris

President Roosevelt regrets to inform Algernon Edward Sartoris that he is unable to appoint Sartoris as he had discussed. Secretary of State Elihu Root has made complaints against the appointment, stemming from Root’s investigation into Sartoris’s resignation from the army and his personal conduct. Roosevelt is not willing to disregard Root’s protests in this matter, since Sartoris would serve under Root.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-24

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John P. Jones

President Roosevelt tells John P. Jones that while he cannot write to Mexican President Porfirio Díaz on behalf of his old comrade Duncan B. Harrison, he can have the State Department give him a letter of introduction to Ambassador David E. Thompson.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Harding Davis

President Roosevelt always reads Richard Harding Davis’s writing. Roosevelt finds Davis’s article to be appalling, so he has forwarded it to Secretary of State Elihu Root to obtain further information from the United States consul.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-27