Your TR Source
Micah John Jenkins sends President Roosevelt an article from the Saturday Evening Post by Alfred Henry Lewis, which Jenkins believes is so timely that he does not want Roosevelt to miss it. Like Lewis, Jenkins loves his country as a whole more than any one section of it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-19
Henry Cabot Lodge writes about his vacation during the congressional recess. He also discusses the larceny trial of his former private secretary Robert G. Proctor. Lodge wonders whether District Attorney John B. Moran is trying to get James Burton Reynolds (ex-secretary of the Republican state committee for Massachusetts) and Colonel Thomas Talbot (chairman of the state committee) indicted for perjury. Moran is angling to run for governor and has already been nominated by the prohibitionists. Finally, Lodge talks of books he is reading and sends his love to Edith and the children.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-09
Henry S. Drinker, President of Lehigh University, thanks President Roosevelt for the letter, and hopes that his time at Oyster Bay, New York, has provided Roosevelt with some relief from the pressures of Washington, D.C.. Drinker feels that there is a need to protest against “the very superficial and very ill-judged advice that is being given to some of our educators and clergymen.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-07
Richard Watson Gilder believes that Wyndygoul would be a pleasant place for President Roosevelt to take a summer vacation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-01
Lyman Abbott writes to congratulate Theodore Roosevelt on his success with the Allison amendment. Abbott encourages Roosevelt to take a break and relax.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-08
Jacob A. Riis wishes William Loeb a good trip.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-19
Stewart Edward White is sorry that Theodore Roosevelt Jr. will not be able to join in a hunt that he is planning soon. He has not received any of Ted’s letters. He hopes the Roosevelt boys might be able to come on a hunt next year. White describes a recent forest fire he helped to control, and he discusses the “Cranshaw matter.” He also believes President Roosevelt is right, that Cranshaw is a crook.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-21
Silas McBee sends an enclosure to William Loeb to be handed to President Roosevelt. He hopes Loeb has had “a touch of the great sport” the President has been enjoying. He sails for Naples tomorrow with his wife for his first vacation in nine years.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-04-28
Senator Lodge writes to President Roosevelt while on vacation in Naples, Italy. The calm voyage has restored him as he did not realize how tired he was, and he particularly enjoyed seeing steep ravines made by lava from a crater high above the sea. Lodge finds some of what he has seen and done beautiful and thinks that Roosevelt would have enjoyed himself as well. As for parts of the cities, even the new quarters are dirty, and he thinks that there is “nothing so squalid as a shabby newness.” Lodge asks what Roosevelt wants him to say to the King when he is in London, and he is sorry for the affair involving Assistant Secretary of State Loomis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-08
Secretary of War Taft writes to President Roosevelt about the speech Taft gave in Portland and about the request of two army soldiers to transfer to the cavalry. The Tafts will not return to Washington in time to accept Roosevelt’s invitation to dine with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Taft complains about Henry Loomis Nelson’s column about his speech in the Boston Herald.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-02
Oscar S. Straus offers suggestions to improve President Roosevelt’s rough draft about the passport question. Straus mentions that he is on a trip in the woods “for a good fish and much needed rest.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-09
Secretary of War Taft is troubled by the cost of the Philippines exhibit at the fair. He informs President Roosevelt when he will arrive in Washington and discusses other matters, such as the meat strike and Alton B. Parker. Taft notes the contrast between Republican National Committee Chairman Cortelyou and any Democrat that is likely to be selected, which he believes the public will notice. He also mentions his vacation and diet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-23
Postmaster General Payne informs President Roosevelt that he has made arrangements to leave for Virginia Hot Springs this evening. He will be absent for a week.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-15
President Roosevelt talks on the phone as he sweats profusely. A boy puts a telegram on his desk that reads, “Telegram: Pres. Roosevelt: ‘Bears on the run in Druid Hill Park: Killed one Monday.’ Police Sergt. Smith. Baltimore.” Secretary of War Elihu Root is followed by “department clerks,” bearing “important business” papers. In another section of the trees are “Hoi polloi with cameras and curiosity.” Finally, a group of “office seekers with recommendations and hopes” walk toward Roosevelt. Caption: The president is enjoying a much needed rest.
Walter Bradford drew this cartoon in his best emulation of a John T. McCutcheon theme and various figures. It would seem to suggest a major point, perhaps about office-seekers, or the particular demands of Secretary of War Elihu Root, or frustrations borne of news about a the shooting of a bear (an occasional pastime of President Theodore Roosevelt) not long after the incident that gave birth to the Teddy Bear legend.
In fact it was a garden-variety, summer-vacation cartoon, merely illustrating Roosevelt’s possible distractions at a time when presidents, and most of official Washington, tried to enjoy leisure. The cable about the bear has no more interest than a local reference to an incident in Druid Hill Park, in Baltimore, home to Bradford’s newspaper.
Admiral George Dewey and his wife Mildred Dewey recently visited Herkimer, New York, and were entertained by John W. Vrooman and his wife, Ann Vrooman. Both Deweys expressed pleasure at the greeting they received in town and the surrounding scenery. This article additionally contains a brief biography of Dewey, and recounts his actions in the Spanish-American War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-17
The Post Office scandal continues to grow and several prominent Republicans will be implicated. There are several other matters President Roosevelt would like to discuss with Senator Lodge privately. The Roosevelts had a lovely summer and Ted has now physically passed President Roosevelt.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1903-09-15
Louisa Lee Schuyler has settled in Redlands, California, with her sister for the winter and describes the land around the house. She has enjoyed following President Roosevelt’s career and is proud of him. In a postscript, Schuyler reminds Roosevelt of her suggestion to install “tablets” in the White House to commemorate historical events. Original and typewritten copy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-20
Color postcard of the Ansley Wilcox house, the location where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office after William McKinley’s death. Spencer A. Snook visited the Cave of the Winds and found Niagara Falls to be wonderful.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1911
Kermit Roosevelt describes his travels in Europe and his acquaintances, including Francois Millet, son of painter Jean Francois Millet, and Rudyard Kipling. He is having a grand summer.
1911-09-19
Kermit Roosevelt had a great time and thanks John Campbell Greenway for hosting him. He has found the plains to be very hot and dry. Roosevelt hopes the Greenways have received rain and looks forward to seeing them in New York soon.
1908-09-17