United States. Navy

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles

President Roosevelt asks his sister, Anna Roosevelt Cowles, to tell her husband, Rear Admiral William Sheffield Cowles, that he will consider appointing John A. Mudd, but is not so favorably inclined towards appointing him because of his tendency to promote himself. Roosevelt likes Chinese Ambassador Liang Cheng, and thinks he will be a good influence on China. He is pleased to hear about Cowles’s son William Sheffield Cowles, and promises to try to teach Kermit Roosevelt, who is Sheffield’s companion, some tennis also.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Albert L. Key

President Roosevelt tells Lieutenant Commander Albert L. Key that it is too late to telegraph Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte, but that Roosevelt has written to him instead. Roosevelt believes the board should be appointed, but remarks that “it is disheartening to have [Senator Eugene] Hale against it from the beginning.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-14

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt thinks the Star is about as intelligently written “as if it were edited by some anti-imperialist high in the councils of Harvard College.” He approves of two of Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte’s recommendations for the personnel board, but is not familiar enough with the others to offer an opinion. Roosevelt inquires about Paymaster General H. T. B. Harris’s views about his successor, and asks for a report by the beginning of August. He is unsure about the turbine matter, and wonders if it is possible to defer the decision for a year until new turbines already provided for can be tested.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-04

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt agrees with Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte regarding the paymaster generalship, and instructs him to make the appointment anytime in August or September that he deems wise, and to report to Roosevelt on the candidate he believes should be appointed. Roosevelt also asks Bonaparte to give current paymaster general Rear Admiral H. T. B. Harris ample notice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Sowden Sims

President Roosevelt tells Lieutenant-Commander Sims that “now and then I feel a little cast down and gloomy about things,” and that receiving letters likes Sims’s does him good. He commends Sims on the progress that has been made in naval accuracy, and says that he does not worry about potential foreign trouble so long as the Navy is well maintained. He was interested in Sims’s comparison of the work the United States Navy is doing with that done by Great Britain, and asks if Sims knows about similar work by Germany or Japan. Roosevelt would like to see an example of the naval target practice at an upcoming review of the fleet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte to “get the best men in the Navy to go over that turbine proposition.” Roosevelt, as an outsider, does not feel that he can evaluate the proposed turbines, but feels that the United States should get the best engines available for their new battleships.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-29

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Gurney Cannon

President Roosevelt calls Speaker of the House Cannon’s attention to an enclosed bill relating to enlisted men in the army and navy which he feels is extremely important. The bill will raise the character of the armed forces, and Roosevelt hopes it will be passed. He congratulates Cannon for the work he did in sending Representative Henry Cullen Adams to discuss the meat inspection bill, and says that he was easily able to come to a satisfactory arrangement with him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte that he hopes to keep Rear Admiral C. H. Davis at sea in his present position until the end of his term of active service and asks that Bonaparte let him know if there is any plan to the contrary.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Andrew Carnegie

President Roosevelt thinks that Andrew Carnegie’s suggestion is excellent and promises to take up Carnegie’s letter with Secretary of State Elihu Root.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-19

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry B. F. Macfarland

President Roosevelt informs Henry B. F. Macfarland that he heard from Secretary of the Navy Truman Handy Newberry that Macfarland had advocated in the past for the advancement of his brother, Horace G. Macfarland, and that Newberry believed that Macfarland’s brother had instigated these requests. Roosevelt explains the difficulty that such letters cause, as positions are supposed to be assigned according to merit, not influence, and Newberry felt that Macfarland’s brother was actually hurting his case through such appeals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Collier Platt

President Roosevelt informs Senator Platt that he has investigated the record of Lieutenant-Commander John Allen Dougherty, and has found a uniformly excellent record. After consulting with Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte, Roosevelt has directed that Dougherty be assigned as Naval Attaché at the United States Embassy at Tokyo.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt hopes that Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte will make a provision for some enlisted men to hear his speech at the occasion of the reinterment of John Paul Jones, as he feels it is important for enlisted men to understand they are “just as much a part of the business as the officers.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-17

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte if Secretary of War William H. Taft has spoken to him about a shoe contractor from Philadelphia. Roosevelt understands that he should not be allowed to bid in any Army or Navy competition because of his “scoundrelly conduct in the past.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-03

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte that Naval Chaplain Father William Henry Reaney has done good work in Brooklyn, and that he would like him to be kept on there if possible. He asks Bonaparte to find out if Reaney would like to go to Portsmouth or to remain where he is. If Reaney stays in New York for the present, Bonaparte can look into the matter at a later date and make the final decision.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-29

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Boies Penrose

President Roosevelt has heard that David G. Watkins was going to be recommended for promotion to Naval Officer of the Port of Philadelphia, and preemptively sends Senator Penrose evidence showing why he does not wish to appoint Watkins to any office.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-29

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Brander Matthews

President Roosevelt congratulates Brander Matthews on his daughter Edith’s engagement to Nelson Macy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles E. Clark

President Roosevelt will appoint Admiral Clark’s brother-in-law’s son if he can, but reminds him that many officers’ sons are candidates for every vacancy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-01

Letter from William Loeb to Joseph A. Goulden

William Loeb wishes he could comply with Representative Goulden’s request, but reports that because of the large number of army and navy officers who will be invited to attend the Army and Navy Reception at the White House, it is impossible to issue further invitations to the event, even to Members of Congress.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-22

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte to suspend the detachment of John R. Proctor from the USS Lawrence until Bonaparte looks at the case, unless there is objection that Roosevelt does not know about.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-27

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt says that there is no need for Secretary of War Taft to go to Santo Domingo, but he would like to meet with him to discuss “the whole canal business.” He also would like Taft and his wife to come to dinner to meet the historian James Ford Rhodes. Roosevelt encloses a letter from Representative John Sharp Williams and asks him to look into “the soldier matter.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-11