Venezuela

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt agrees with Secretary of War Taft and has removed the reference to receivership from his speech. The “Philippine question” is the only point on which he remains uneasy. He details his thoughts and concerns about the United States’ continued relationship with the islands, including their strategic importance in the event of a conflict with Japan and the issue of granting autonomy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt sends Secretary of State Root an article from the London Times, and wonders if the United States should intervene in Venezuela if it does not pay its debts, as decided by the International Peace Conference at the Hague. Roosevelt says he supposes they should decline to meet with the Korean mission if they come to the United States. In a postscript, Roosevelt encloses a copy of the Tokyo Puck, lamenting its sensationalism. Secretary of War William H. Taft is planning a trip to the Philippines, and Roosevelt asks Root’s thoughts on Taft stopping in Siberia or Japan on the way.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James Roosevelt Roosevelt

President Roosevelt thanks James Roosevelt Roosevelt for an editorial about American relations with Venezuela. The president fears that someday the United States will have to “spank” Venezuela, but he is more concerned about relations with Japan, and hopes the diplomatic mission from Korea does not visit the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Telegram from William Brown McKinley to William Crawford Gorgas

William Brown McKinley asks that the quarantine for the SS Blücher be lifted because Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and his party are on board, expecting to reach Colón by the 22nd.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-13

Creator(s)

McKinley, William Brown, 1856-1926

Letter from Francis B. Loomis to William Loeb

Assistant Secretary of State Loomis writes that Mr. Russell’s commission has not been signed yet. Loomis thinks President Roosevelt’s idea to send a special commissioner to Venezuela is a good idea. He thinks it should be a man who can work with Russell and who knows the people and the country.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-23

Creator(s)

Loomis, Francis B. (Francis Butler), 1861-1948

Letter from Whitelaw Reid to John Hay

Ambassador Reid writes Secretary of State Hay regarding arrangements with the British and Venezuelan diplomatic debt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-23

Creator(s)

Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912

Letter from Charlemagne Tower to John Hay

Charlemagne Tower tells Secretary of State Hay he relayed Hay’s question about the Venezuelan bonds to the German minister.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-21

Creator(s)

Tower, Charlemagne, 1848-1923

Letter from George C. Holt to Theodore Roosevelt

Judge Holt provides a letter of support to President Roosevelt for his brother-in-law, Ambassador Herbert Wolcott Bowen who has been recalled from Venezuela. Holt explains that Bowen is so contemptuous of corruption that it led him to commit an “indiscretion.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-15

Creator(s)

Holt, George C. (George Chandler), 1843-1931

Testimony of Harry Unwin

Secretary of War Taft and Herbert Wolcott Bowen question Harry Unwin on his work as an auditor for the asphalt trust. Taft and Bowen focus on a bank draft for $5,000 or $10,000 which Unwin was instructed to send to Henry W. Bean in Venezuela.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-10

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Caspar Whitney to Theodore Roosevelt

Caspar Whitney thanks President Roosevelt for the information on the conflict between Herbert Wolcott Bowen and Assistant Secretary of State Loomis. Whitney discusses the details of the accusations against and investigation of Loomis and the impact it will have on relations with Venezuela.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-09

Creator(s)

Whitney, Caspar, 1862-1929

Interview between the Secretary of War, Francis B. Loomis, Herbert W. Bowen and W. W. Russell

This transcript presents a governmental interview of William Worthington Russell regarding the Mercado affair, wherein government officials were accused of profiting off of economic transactions and the sale of Venezuelan salt bonds. Russell is interviewed by Secretary of War William H. Taft, Assistant Secretary of State Francis B. Loomis, and Herbert Wolcott Bowen regarding his position as Secretary of Legation in Venezuela, and regarding Loomis’s conduct when he was the Minister to Venezuela. Russell testifies that in the Mercado claim he acted in a friendly, unofficial capacity, and did not personally profit off of anything.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-09

Creator(s)

United States. War Department

Letter from Henry White to Theodore Roosevelt

Ambassador to Italy Henry White tells President Theodore Roosevelt that he will extend hospitality to Frances M. Wolcott at the request of the President and First Lady. White also discusses Roosevelt’s recent meeting with British diplomat Cecil Spring Rice and Roosevelt’s policy towards Latin America, especially the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. White is confident Roosevelt’s actions (part of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine) will lead to America’s “supremacy in our own hemisphere.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-24

Creator(s)

White, Henry, 1850-1927

Trying to trap the hunter

President Roosevelt leaves the White House with a gun and a “Senatorial game bag.” He encounters a number of animal traps: “railway rate trap,” “Panama trap,” “federal ins. trap,” “Santo Domingo trap,” “Venezuela trap,” “German tariff trap,” “state interference trap,” and “campaign expenses trap.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-03

Creator(s)

Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, 1869-1949

The president’s vacation at Oyster Bay

In the first vignette, a man calls to President Roosevelt, who is about to play tennis. Caption: “O, Mr. President, you’re wanted on the long distance ‘phone. Emperor William wants to discuss that Morocco matter with you.” In the second vignette, a woman calls to Roosevelt, who is about to get on a horse. Caption: “O, Mr. President, they want you on the ‘phone. President Castro wants to talk over that Venezuela matter with you.” In the third, Roosevelt is about to get on a boat. Caption: “O, Mr. President, you’re wanted on the ‘phone. The czar wants to ask you something about the peace conference.” In the fourth, Roosevelt stands in a canoe. Caption: “O, Mr. President, can you come in immediately? The mikado wants to talk with you.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-18

Creator(s)

McCutcheon, John T. (John Tinney), 1870-1949

The call of the wild

President Roosevelt wears several weapons and walks toward a number of wild animals. He leaves behind the “big stick” and several scrolls: “protocol,” “Santo Domingo treaty,” “report beef trust,” “Panama,” and “Venezu[ela] dispute.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04-02

Creator(s)

Rogers, W. A. (William Allen), 1854-1931

At work

President Roosevelt wears an “international cop” badge as he lies prone near the “White House.” He uses “the big stick” to smack “Venezuela.” A sign reads, “Monroe Roosevelt Doctrine—Behave yourselves or you will get pulled in.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-22

Creator(s)

Bush, Charles Green, 1842-1909

Memorandum of a conversation with Count Quadt

The memorandum summarizes a conversation with Count Quadt about why Germany fired on a Venezuelan fort.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-01-25

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from John Hay to Theodore Roosevelt

Ambassador Herbert Wolcott Bowen is working with Hermann Speck von Sternburg to limit Germany’s monetary demands against Venezuela. Ambassador Bowen, who is ill with influenza, has requested a meeting with Secretary of State Hay.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-28

Creator(s)

Hay, John, 1838-1905

Address by Curtis Guild Jr. on Grant Day in Des Moines, Iowa

Lieutenant Governor Guild of Massachusetts delivers a speech at an event commemorating President Ulysses S. Grant in Des Moines, Iowa. Guild reminds Iowans of their special connection to Grant, as Iowa regiments were key in his first great victory of the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Donelson. Guild points out how Grant’s administration saw the beginnings of a lot of contemporary issues, like the fight between the gold and silver standard, the corruption of machine politics, and the ills of the spoils system. Guild does, however, defend Grant against his harshest critics, stating that Grant did punish many of the instigators of scandals like Credit Mobilier and the Whiskey ring, and that Grant’s idea to annex the Dominican Republic seems less extreme in light of recent South American upheavals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04-27

Creator(s)

Guild, Curtis, 1860-1915

Advertisement for the New York World

This advertisement for a subscription package for both the New York World and the Citizen announces the impartiality of the World in covering the upcoming elections.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-27

Creator(s)

Unknown