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Postmaster General Henry C. Payne’s public admission that he declined to name a post office after Mississippi Governor James Kimble Vardaman in view of Vardaman’s statements about President Roosevelt’s mother, may provoke anger from those who support the governor. It is to be hoped that they will let the issue drop.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-03
This article discusses why Postmaster General Payne did not name a post office after Governor Vardaman. Payne says that Vardaman published an editorial which is “highly insulting to the President and his mother.” The article also includes a reply from Vardaman.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-02
This report explains that Postmaster General Payne did not name a post office after James Kimble Vardaman because Vardaman published an article which contained indecent statements about President Roosevelt’s mother. The report includes a statement from Payne, an excerpt of the offending passage, an affidavit affirming that the language in the article is identical with that quoted by the Crits Club, and Vardaman’s reply when questioned about Payne’s assertion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-02
President Roosevelt clarifies William H. Taft’s opinion on the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, and on the appointment of African Americans, for Lawrence F. Abbott. Namely, that Taft shares Roosevelt’s sentiments, as well as those of The Outlook, on Mississippi Governor James Kimble Vardaman and Representative John Sharp Williams. Roosevelt offers a list of the principle African American appointments he has made while in office, and encourages Abbott to contact Booker T. Washington for further statement on the character of the appointees.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-06
Edgar S. Wilson sends editorials from Mississippi newspapers, none of which endorsed Roosevelt. He is hopeful that with the election over, the extreme negativity towards Roosevelt will abate. None of Roosevelt’s appointees in Mississippi have been problematic and Wilson writes that this is winning over some of the President’s opponents. Wilson asks for a meeting. He also reminds Roosevelt of their planned bear hunt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-19
Newspaper article quoting Senator Money on his objection to quarantines. Money also takes issue with President Roosevelt for calling Confederate soldiers anarchists, and for the president’s support of African Americans, concluding that Roosevelt, “hates the South and Southern people.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-09
President Roosevelt, as a southern plantation owner, rides on a donkey, holding an umbrella, a jug of “Corn Lickker” behind him. William Loeb walks behind, holding the donkey’s tail. In the background, perched on a tree, is a bird labeled “Vardaman.” Caption: “Way down South in the land of cotton.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1905-10-18
President Roosevelt tells Sir George Otto Trevelyan of his happiness regarding the recent 1904 presidential election, and remarks that he is glad people decided to support the positive message of the Republican Party, rather than the negativity of the Democratic Party. The president attributes his victory to the clear-cut message in his speeches and addresses as well as those canvassing for him. Roosevelt discusses the differences between the American president and other political leaders and believes the American president is more like the British prime minister than the French president. he additionally reflects on his intention not to run for a third term. Even without the convention of only two terms, the president believes it would be better for Secretary of War William H. Taft or Elihu Root to succeed him; they are similar in policy, but would have fresh thoughts and ways. Roosevelt concludes by discussing his recent reading. He praises a section from one of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches after his reelection and equates certain American political leaders to characters in Charles Dickens’s works.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-24
Theodore Roosevelt assures John Milliken Parker that he holds Mississippi Senator LeRoy Percy in high regard and will not mention him by name or office in any way that could be misconstrued as negative. James Kimble Vardaman is stirring up trouble in The Issue, and Roosevelt feels contempt for him. He asks Parker to assure Percy of his support.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-07
President Roosevelt writes Richard Watson Gilder a lengthy refutation of an article in the Evening Post in which William Garrott Brown misconstrues his actions in the Republican Party. Namely, Brown accuses Roosevelt of neglecting Republicans in the South and of doing a poor job of making nominations to local offices and positions. Roosevelt asserts that where the Republican party is not strong in the South, he has had to appoint Democrats who were quality men, rather than incapable men who are Republicans. Where he believes the party has a chance to compete with Democrats, he does all he can to support it. Roosevelt also writes that he did not use his influence on officers to get William H. Taft the nomination, but rather Taft was nominated because Roosevelt’s policies were popular, and Taft is the man who will continue those policies. Roosevelt believes that Brown is either ignorant or willfully ignorant of a number of facts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-16
President Roosevelt takes issue with Ray Stannard Baker’s recent article in American Magazine. He states that Senators Benjamin R. Tillman and Jeff Davis, and Mississippi Governor James Kimble Vardaman do not represent championship of the Many over the Few on principle, but rather are motivated by self-interest. Roosevelt states that the conflict of race runs deeper than other divisions. He asserts that he is “a democrat of the democrats” and fights equally against the privileged and the mob.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-03
President Roosevelt tell his son Ted about his recent trip down the Mississippi River, and gives him details about both a bear and a deer he shot. Roosevelt also mentions his reception on the trip down, particularly in Mississippi. Roosevelt is also concerned about his son’s health and wonders if he will be able to play with Harvard’s first string of football.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-22
President Roosevelt responds to a letter from his friend John Milliken Parker. Roosevelt remarks on Parker’s “hysterical tone” suggesting that “increase of rape” and the “relations of the races” has anything to do with Roosevelt’s friendship with Booker T. Washington. Roosevelt does not believe he needs to speak to the press as Parker suggests and gives many examples when he expounded his beliefs on the matter of race relations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-03
President Roosevelt likes William H. Fleming’s response to Judge Alexander L. Miller’s attack on Fleming’s recent speech on race. Roosevelt was surprised that Fleming received criticism from Miller, noting that he would have expected it only from men like Governor James Kimble Vardaman of Mississippi. Roosevelt has received letters from Judges Horace H. Lurton and Thomas Goode Jones, who both strongly support Fleming’s position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-11
President Roosevelt tells William L. Pryor that Governor James Kimble Vardaman and Senator H. D. Money have willfully been misleading in recounting statements he made about lynching. He encloses for Pryor copies of his speeches and letters to prove his actual statements on the matter. Roosevelt says he always makes a point of denouncing the alleged crime that proceeded a lynching in speeches on the subject.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-13
President Roosevelt fundamentally agrees with Henry S. Pritchett and James Ford Rhodes about the Southern question. Although Roosevelt believes it is unwise and impractical to repeal the Fifteenth Amendment now, he does agree it should not have been passed in the first place. The president can also agree with Pritchett and Rhodes that Congress should not press for active enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment; however, it cannot go too far with Mississippi Senator John Sharp Williams having more power than Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon. Roosevelt believes Southern states cannot enforce the laws themselves because they are trying to readopt slavery through peonage. Additionally, Southerners demand the exclusion of African Americans from offices, although Southerners have approved of Roosevelt’s choices for offices in the South on the whole even though the president has appointed some African Americans. Roosevelt insists he has tried Pritchett’s course of action, but it has not worked because the South has not met him even halfway. The president believes cooperation depends on Southerners, and the difficulty will vanish when they “quit lying.” Finally, Roosevelt says he has not observed outside criticism of the South and asks Pritchett how Congress needs to respond since it has not controlled the South. Roosevelt concludes by asking for one specific thing he is doing wrong, as he wants to learn.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-14
President Roosevelt substantially agrees with Judge Allison’s views but cannot stop discussions Allison dislikes in Congress. Roosevelt believes Mississippi Governor James Kimble Vardaman, Mississippi Senator John Sharp Williams, Tennessee Senator Edward Ward Carmack, and newspapers are stirring up a dangerous sentiment in the North, which are due to their utterances, not Roosevelt’s policy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-17
President Roosevelt thanks Dr. Abbott for making clear his point of view. As is often the case when people share a common end while differing over the means, their differences seem to be in terminology more than substance. Roosevelt agrees with Abbott’s policy and is responding to revelations of peonage in Mississippi, working through a district attorney and marshal who are “decent democrats.” Roosevelt has no idea how the election results will turn out, and though he believes he and his principles will triumph, he would not be ungrateful to the American public if he were to lose.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-08
President Roosevelt wishes for Nicholas Murray Butler to visit and concurs that William J. Calhoun is worthy of esteem. Roosevelt comments at length on an article in Collier’s Weekly, one he assumes was written by Norman Hapgood, and desires Butler to “know the exact facts.” On careful reading, Roosevelt believes the article was written with malicious intent due to its numerous falsehoods regarding the construction projects at the Capitol and the White House, the hiring of the architects completing these jobs, appointments of others to government posts, and other matters. In his explanation, Roosevelt makes analogies to many political situations, past and present.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-03
President Roosevelt believes that educating African Americans is only one part of the problem and has not yet looked into the violations of the fourteenth amendment. Roosevelt will not speak publicly on the topic and doubts that scholastic education would help a community that would elect James Vardaman, they would need “lessons of decency and honor” before seeing to the education of the illiterate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-18