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President Roosevelt tells Representative Williams that he will look into “the army matter” at once. He believes that there are already “a good many” southern men at naval stations. Currently there is a “very unusually fine” class of men in the Navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-11
President Roosevelt praises Lieutenant Commander Sims for the work he has done to advance the Navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-02
President Roosevelt is concerned that the advertisement that James E. Sullivan sent him offers “such large money prizes.” However, Roosevelt reminds Sullivan that enlisted navy men do not share the same physique as amateur collegiate athletes, and he does not want to decide what to do about them. He will ask Admiral Robley D. Evans for his thoughts on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-06
President Roosevelt thanks Commander Winslow for the letter, and asks if he can continue as his aide until the English fleet arrives. At that point Roosevelt plans to put Lieutenant-Commander Albert L. Key in his place, and detail him as an additional aide.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-31
President Roosevelt sends New York Mayor George B. McClellan a self-explanatory letter. He feels that the position taken is proper, and that Congress should not be asked to appropriate money for both the Fulton celebration and the Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition. He wonders if the Fulton celebration could be postponed, or combined with the Jamestown exposition.
The Fulton Celebration was originally planned to take place in 1907 and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton beginning steam navigation on the Hudson River. It would later be postponed to 1909 and combined with a celebration of the 300th anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson.
President Roosevelt tells General Horace Porter that the celebration must be held in the upcoming fall, and asks about scheduling it a week after the anniversary of the naval battle. He would regret breaking up the leave of the midshipmen, but would like them to be present at the festivities.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-02
President Roosevelt congratulates Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte, and opines that “it is worth while having ‘a damn literary’ fellow in the administration.” He gives his opinion on a number of different names for ships.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-15
President Roosevelt hopes Arthur Hamilton Lee can visit this summer and is glad to hear about Prince Louis of Battenberg. If the British fleet is at Annapolis, Maryland, around October 1, Roosevelt will meet it there. Roosevelt tells Lee not to worry about a “possible contest” between England and the United States, as he treats it “as out of the question.” If the fleet is able to come between October 1 and October 18, Roosevelt will be able to receive the officers at the White House.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-06-06
President Roosevelt thanks Commander Sims for writing him about marksmanship, and is pleased with the improvement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-04-14
President Roosevelt thanks Representative Legaré for his work for the Navy, and is happy to tell him one of the battleships will be named the USS South Carolina.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-28
President Roosevelt appreciates what Louisiana Representative Meyer has done for the Navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-21
President Roosevelt has not heard of the bill Agnes Maxwell Kearny Upshur mentions, but he heartily approves any bill doing justice to the navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-23
President Roosevelt tells George Edmund Foss, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, that he hopes that there will not be a delay in the building up of the navy. Roosevelt has heard second-hand that a member of the committee said there would no new battleships this year, which he strongly disagrees with. In Roosevelt’s opinion, heavy cruisers are fine, but heavy battleships are what the navy needs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-10
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Morton to look into the cases of three boys convicted. For one of the boys, Roosevelt believes it is “a grave miscarriage of justice that the boy should be forever barred from being in the United States Navy.” He asks if it would be possible for him to commute the punishment to dropping the boy from the class for a year. If not, Roosevelt believes a new trial with a less excessive punishment is a better option.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-31
President Roosevelt is concerned about what he is reading in the papers about cutting funding for the United States Navy, which he believes is a bad idea. Roosevelt does not believe he is an “alarmist, or an imperialist, or an amateur war lord” when he tells Speaker of the House Cannon he believes cutting funding for the Navy would be worse than any other cut in funding the government could make. Roosevelt wants to build up the Navy, not for the sake of building it up, but for the sake of letting other nations know the United States is able to back up its policy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-27
President Roosevelt asks Cardinal Gibbons for his recommendations of whom to appoint for the chaplain vacancies in the Army and Navy. The president desires men who can associate with officers but understand “their chief duty must be done with the enlisted men.” Roosevelt would like Archbishop John M. Farley’s recommendations as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-30
President Roosevelt asks Archbishop Ireland for his recommendations of whom to appoint for the chaplain vacancies in the Army and Navy. The president desires men who can associate with officers but understand “their chief duty must be done with the enlisted men.” Roosevelt also tells Ireland he wrote a similar letter to Cardinal James Gibbons.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-30
President Roosevelt tells James Ford Rhodes he has just finished reading his fifth volume, which has tied in well with Roosevelt’s other readings of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s History and Abraham Lincoln’s letters and speeches. Although the president agrees with Rhodes that the right is not all on one side and the wrong is not all on the other in quarrels, Roosevelt thinks the American Civil War is the exception, as he believes “the right was exclusively with the Union people.” Roosevelt talks about his plans to build up the Navy to avoid war, believing the Panama Canal will help. Finally, he discusses problems he has been having with the tariff and Southern states. He disagrees with Rhodes that the South is not trying to reinstate slavery, as there is peonage in three states right now. Roosevelt closes by mentioning how his opponents helped him during the election campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-29
President Roosevelt regrets to inform Senator Lodge that Rear Admiral C. H. Davis cannot be put in command of the battleship squadron above Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, which is the conclusion to which Secretary of the Navy Paul Morton, Attorney General William H. Moody, and Admiral George Albert Converse have come. Instead, Davis will be put as second-in-command below Evans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-16
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Morton to direct the naval people on the Isthmus to obey Secretary of War William H. Taft’s orders.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-17