Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, 1869-1947

President Roosevelt requests that Ambassador Reid explain to Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes that his African trip is a scientific expedition to collect specimens for the National Museum, not “a game butchering trip.” However, if given the opportunity, Roosevelt may collect some trophies. The invitation from the chancellor of Oxford, George Nathaniel Curzon, to present the Romanes lecture gives Roosevelt a genuine reason to visit England on his return from Africa. He details his travel itinerary, plans for appropriate formal attire, and people to call upon. Roosevelt is interested in what the Japanese minister for foreign affairs Jutarō Komura says and includes his letter to Japanese ambassador Kogoro Takahira and the reply. Reid’s full statement on the incidents of the Olympics pleases Roosevelt, who believes intense international matches inevitably result in misunderstandings.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-20

Ambassador Griscom sends President Roosevelt a memorandum covering his meeting with King Victor Emmanuel III. He tells Roosevelt that he has created a busy schedule for Douglas and Corrine Roosevelt Robinson during their visit to Rome.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-28

Lloyd Carpenter Griscom reports on his first meeting with Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy. The king asked Griscom many rapid questions about his age, career, and health. Victor Emmanuel expressed his disdain for Brazil, based on his experience as an arbitrator between that country and British Guiana during a boundary dispute. He also described his upcoming itinerary in Greece and Sicily.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-17

Lloyd Carpenter Griscom tells President Roosevelt that Professor Archibald Cary Coolidge is doing very good work in Paris, where he is meeting and discussing matters with French intellectuals. The French have felt a lack of “intellectual intimacy” with the United States, and Coolidge is doing “semi-diplomatic work” during his lectureship there.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-05

Late last night, Ambassador Meyer received a letter from Minister Lamzdorf informing him of Emperor Nicholas II’s decision to accept President Roosevelt’s invitation for peace talks with Japan. Meyer has had some frustrating and heated discussions with Lamzdorf and has had to threaten to take matters to the Emperor himself. Lamzdorf is eager to know who the Japanese plan to appoint as plenipotentiaries, so that Russia can choose its best representatives. Meyer hopes that Russia does not appoint Ambassador Nelidov who he considers to be “too old and nervous.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-18

Ambassador Meyer writes President Roosevelt about the Russo-Japanese War. Meyer describes Stanley Washburn’s report of dwindling American sympathies with the Japanese. Washburn does not believe the Japanese army will ever beat the Russian army in Manchuria. Meyer mentions his interactions with Camille Barrère, the French Ambassador, and his indication that French and German banks are beginning to side with Russia. Meyer also relates an interaction he had with the Japanese minister, in which the minister stated he was interested in Roosevelt’s thoughts on Manchuria and Japan’s control of Port Arthur.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-20

Animated cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt’s reception in Europe during his April-June 1910 tour. Sequences of crowned heads of Europe sitting in an open automobile, labeled Europe, located on a pier. Roosevelt, carrying a big stick, is in the bow of a ship that approaches the pier as the crowned heads wave. Caricatured are: Roosevelt; Victor Emanuel III of Italy; Manuel II of Portugal; Franz Joseph I of Austria; Alfonso XIII of Spain; Nicholas II of Russia; Edward VII of Great Britain; Clément Fallières of France; and William II of Germany.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1910

George von Lengerke Meyer, Ambassador to Germany, writes about his success in following President Roosevelt’s agenda. The agenda involved finding out how the German Emperor felt about the United States’ neutrality and the territorial integrity of China with respect to Russia and Japan. The Emperor expressed his firm commitment to the agreement and to supporting the United States. The Emperor also warned the Americans to keep an eye on French Foreign Minister Théophile Delcassé.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-05

In a classroom, the rulers of several countries are the students. Most are identified by country and showing the attributes of their leaders, including, in the back row, “Russia” (Nicholas II), “Germany” (William II), and England (John Bull), and in the front row, “Austria” (Franz Joseph I), “France” (Emile Loubet), Uncle Sam, Japan (Meiji, Emperor of Japan), and Italy (Victor Emmanuel III). On the far left, sitting on a stool, is “Turkey” wearing a “Dunce” cap. The teacher labeled “Diplomacy,” at the front of the room, points to a blackboard on which is written “If the Boer War cost Great Britain $825,000,000 what would a world’s war cost?” While most of the leaders ponder this question, Russia and Japan glare at each other. There are three wastebaskets filled with weapons.

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before.”

Cipriano Castro, President of Venezuela, hides behind a large rock, hoping that the large claw-type animal trap labeled “Monroe Doctrine” he set will prove effective in preventing the British Lion, a cat labeled “Italy” with the face of Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, and a boar labeled “Germany” with the face of William II, Emperor of Germany, from coming ashore to demand payment of international debts.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The immediate context of this cartoon is the blockade of Venezuelan ports announced by the principal creditor nations England, Germany, and Italy. President Cipriano Castro arrogantly ignored debts owed by the Caracas government and Venezuelan banks and companies; in February 1902 those powers declared a blockade as a first step to extract debt payments. An international arbitration court at the Hague was suggested by President Roosevelt as a venue to find a solution, but it decreed that as principal creditors, those three powers had a preferential claim. However other nations, including the United States, were also owed money. As the cartoon shows, the European states might have hesitated because of the Monroe Doctrine, but Roosevelt made that a moot point one year after this cartoon by establishing the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: that in instances like this, the United States would act both as protector against foreign presence in the Western Hemisphere, and a manager to mediate, collect debts, etc., in disputes.

John Bull, representing “England,” and a line of European rulers with the attributes of Nicholas II “Russia,” William II “Germany,” Franz Joseph I “Austria,” Emile Loubet “France,” Victor Emmanuel III “Italy,” and Alfonso XIII “Spain,” each with a broom, stand on a beach trying to sweep back the wave of “American Commerce” about to crash on their shores.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon seems to depict old ladies duplicating the futile resolution of legendary King Canute, who attempted to command ocean waves to recede. In fact the women, representing leaders of world trade, with their brooms and mops, were familiar as “Mrs Partingtons” to readers in 1902. Lost in obscurity today, Mrs. Partington was a comic figure in text humor created by Benjamin Penshallow Shillaber of the Boston Post, and in reprint books. Allegedly his character was inspired by an invented character of the British critic Sydney Smith about a self-absorbed busybody who attempted to mop the Atlantic Ocean from her door during a storm. In Shillaber’s hands, Mrs. Partington became known for silly aphorisms, malaprops, and semi-logical pronouncements. When Shillaber died in 1890, his very famous character died with him, but eulogists declared they would live forever in American culture. The necessity of this explanation suggests the contrary. The main point of Pughe’s cartoon is that by 1902 the United States has become the world’s largest trading nation.

Uncle Sam sits at a table with 10 figures, three of which are unidentified, the others showing the attributes of the rulers of Russia (Nicholas II), England (Edward VII), Germany (William II), Japan (Meiji, Emperor of Japan), Italy (Victor Emmanuel III), Austria (Franz Joseph I), and France (Emile Loubet), representing the eight nation alliance. A large tray of fruit labeled “Chinese Indemnity” is on the table. Hanging above the table by a thin string is an enormous sword labeled “Awakening of China.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The world powers who suffered financial, diplomatic, personnel, and moral setbacks at the hands of the Boxer movement in China, withdrew from activism in China around the time of this cartoon. In formal terms, the combined troops of colonial powers defeated Boxer elements, but the truth is represented by the fact that these powers virtually abandoned their positions in the Celestial City and throughout the country. A “face saving” aspect against China was the demand for indemnities for the losses sustained by the allied powers. This cartoon presents a new spin on the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over world politics by the awakening of a sleeping giant, China.

The rulers of “Russia,” “Germany,” “Italy,” “Austria,” “France,” and “England” are chickens trying to hatch a large egg labeled “China.” A chicken labeled “Japan” stands in the background with Uncle Sam, also as a chicken, perched on a fence in the rear.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This is one of dozens of cartoons published during the Boxer Rebellion that depicts the conflict as merely intractable or challenging rather than as an insoluble crisis. The cartoonist also perpetuates the situation as being one where the United States (Uncle Sam) is nothing more than an observer. In truth, U. S. Marines played a major role in defending the besieged legations and defeating the Chinese insurgents.

Theodore Roosevelt asks Italian Consul General Fara to thank King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III for the book and Minister of the Royal House of Italy Luigi Luzzatti for sending it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-11

Theodore Roosevelt is happy to help Augusta Saint-Gaudens. He instructs her to write Ambassador Thomas J. O’Brien along with the letter he encloses. She needs to recite what she wrote Roosevelt that she wants to gift the bas-reliefs to Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy and to sell the La Page production to him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-15

Theodore Roosevelt introduces Ambassador O’Brien to Augusta Saint-Gaudens, widow of the artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He feels strongly about Saint-Gaudens’s work. Augusta wants to gift three bas-reliefs to Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, which he urges the king to accept.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-15

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary writes to Assistant Secretary of State Huntington Wilson to confirm receipt of and express appreciation for the “gold medal and diploma awarded to [Roosevelt] by His Majesty the King of Italy in connection with the earthquake disaster in Calabria and Sicily in 1908.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-19

Theodore Roosevelt expresses his thanks, through Italian Ambassador Cusani-Confalonieri, to King Victor Emmanuel III and the people of Italy. Roosevelt maintains he was merely carrying out the desires of the American people in responding to the calamity.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-19

President Roosevelt provides Italian ambassador Edmondo Mayor des Planches with details related to his upcoming visit to Italy. Roosevelt describes the members of his party, his expected arrival and departure dates, and the luggage required for collecting and shipping back animals and birds. Roosevelt appreciates the Italian government’s offer to help with customs matters. On his way out on safari, he wishes to merely travel as a private citizen, with no official reception. On his return, he hopes it may be possible to call on King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy when he visits Rome.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-24

President Roosevelt informs Ambassador to Italy Griscom that recent events have made the ambassador’s letter to the president obsolete. The publicity surrounding the incident has made it important that nothing further is said on it, and Roosevelt instructs Griscom to say nothing more on the subject. Apparently there is a “conflict of memory” regarding what was actually said in conversation with German Emperor William II. Roosevelt expects to hear from Griscom soon about whether King Victor Emmanuel III has a copy of Outdoor Pastimes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-05