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Vignettes struggle to find humor in war. A “Metropolitan Opera Star” is greeted with applause by the enemy. A woman frets over the escalating cost of perfume. A young student finds it senseless to study “geography – It’s going to be changed anyhow!” A German man asks a French man “vat vould be a good Cherman name for Paris?” Two men suspect a dachshund of “German spying!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1914-10-17
German Emperor William II is about to place another bundle of rifles, swords, and ammunition labeled “The Last Straw” onto a huge stack of weapons labeled “German Armament” on the back of a camel labeled “German Capacity War Taxation.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-05-07
Draft of a speech with handwritten corrections. Theodore Roosevelt argues for a complete victory over Germany and her allies. Americans must only be fully American. Those who seek to be German and American are traitors. The United States “drifted into war unarmed and helpless” even though all signs indicated that intervention would be necessary. The American military is still not an effective force and all efforts need to be made to speed up the war and introduce a “policy of permanent preparedness.” Roosevelt believes that part of this preparation should be support for small farmers and wage workers.
1918-03-28
Theodore Roosevelt writes his son Kermit to express his joy at the birth of Kermit’s son Joseph. He reports that railroad congestion reached such a point that all factories, theaters and such were shut for five days to save fuel for the trains. He criticizes President Woodrow Wilson and the War Department for their lack of preparation for the war and says he continues to make speeches about following the war through to the end and creating a policy of obligatory military training.
1918-01-20
Theodore Roosevelt writes his son Kermit Roosevelt to report that Archibald “Archie” B. Roosevelt is being made a captain, and General Duncan said Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt was the best battalion commander in the brigade. He says there is a coal famine among the poor, congested transportation, and threatened food supplies for which he blames President Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt encloses a copy of his new year address.
1918-01-01
Theodore Roosevelt writes a New Year’s address telling the American people they must make sacrifices at home in order for the war to be won. He includes a statement his son Ted Roosevelt made to his troops.
1917-12-31
A large group of representatives from several nations, many carrying weapons and making threatening gestures to others, arrive outside the “Palace of Peace” for the peace conference to end the Russo-Japanese War. Andrew Carnegie is posting a notice on the side of the building offering “Best Armor Plate for sale by Andy U.S.A.”
Carl Hassmann’s cartoon cleverly depicts the actual situation behind the surface rhetoric and posturing between world powers. A second World Peace Congress was organized and funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1905, and held in 1907; and the nations of the world flocked to attend at the Hague. But few of them were committed to disarmament or peace, and the Great War (to commence in 1914) was a universal assumption.
The Second Conference was actually called for by United States Secretary of State John Hay, and President Roosevelt believed that a conference could ameliorate international tensions. He had just negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War and would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906; he had even floated the idea of a League to Enforce Peace.
John Bull stands up to his knees in a morass labeled “Boer War £16,000,000 yearly,” and Uncle Sam steps through a similar morass labeled “Philippine War $80,000,000 yearly.”
Cartoonist Dalrymple strangely drew Uncle Sam and Joan Bull with smiles, but in fact these foreign-policy challenges were more than just financial drains. Moral challenges, fatalities, and seemingly hopeless solutions faced the two nations. From 1899 to 1902, when the Boers ultimately surrendered, and the Transvaal and Orange Free State were merged as constituents of the British Empire, the Boers (farmers) waged strong guerrilla campaigns, and the British accelerated their brutal responses. It was Britain’s longest war, lasting between 1815 and 1914, sustaining 22,000 deaths; and almost 50,000 casualties on the South African side, 15,000 of them were black. The United States’ suppression of the Filipino insurrection was nominally ended in 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed an amnesty, but pockets of resistance and sometimes brutal American responses festered almost behind the scenes for years.
In his speech on banking and currency, Andrew Carnegie compares the government bond-backed American banking system to the gold-backed European and Canadian systems and advocates for a switch from bonds to gold in American banks. Bonds are not a stable backing for currency and war could cause values to fluctuate. Carnegie is in favor of slowly, gradually, and cautiously switching to the gold standard.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-14
Rear Admiral Merrell of the Naval War College and Navy General Board has analyzed a recent memorandum from Rear Admiral H. N. Manney in which Manney asked President Roosevelt to reconsider sending the Great White Fleet to the Pacific Ocean, in case of war with Japan. While the General Board agrees with Manney that Japan’s current finances would make war nearly impossible, they believe that should war develop, the Philippines would be a primary target of the Japanese, rather than the Atlantic Coast of the United States, as Manney suggests. Merrell and the Board reiterate their recommendation to send the fleet to the Pacific, and indeed recommend consideration of having permanent fleets in the Atlantic and Pacific.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-02
Admiral Brownson thanks President Roosevelt for his message to the officers and crew of the USS Georgia. Brownson goes on to discuss the construction of new battleships: in order to complete twelve battleships in two years, the costs associated would increase by nearly fifty percent, and require two shifts of men. While there is enough space to construct the ships, there is not enough skilled labor to accomplish the task. Brownson advocates considering purchasing ships from abroad. In terms of war with Japan, Brownson believes financial resources will determine the likelihood of conflict.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-30
German Ambassador Sternburg shares information gathered by a German military attaché in Japan with President Roosevelt. Japan has been improving her army and navy in order to defend recent gains in war against Russia and maintain her possessions on the mainland, rather than in preparation for renewed aggression in the short term. The attaché suggests, however, that Japan expects another war with Russia in the next five to ten years. This informant maintains that Japan could not conduct aggressive actions in the near future without substantial “sacrifice of blood and money.” A war with the United States would mean the loss of important trade. If Japan had wanted to go to war over the treatment of Japanese immigrants in the United States, she would have aroused public sentiment to that end in the press, but has not done so. That said, it would be a mistake to believe the Japanese have not been deeply offended by events in California, and could turn public opinion to war in the coming years. The informant concludes that while Japan is not on an immediate footing for war with the United States, it is a concern for the future.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-29
Retired Rear Admiral Manney outlines the reasons he believes sending the Great White Fleet to the Pacific Ocean is unwise given the tensions between the United States and Japan. Because Japan is not a wealthy nation, Manney believes it will not attack and occupy targets that would be expensive to win and maintain, and that therefore neither the Philippines nor Hawaii are in danger of attack. Rather, Manney describes in detail how the Japanese could gain control of bases from which to attack both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States, how such attacks would affect the U.S., and how long it would take the fleet to return to the Atlantic as a consequence. Because much more damage can be done to the United States on the Atlantic coast rather than the Pacific, it makes more sense to keep the fleet in the Atlantic, in case of war with Japan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-19
Translation of a question from Rear Admiral Coghlan to Secretary of the Navy Moody regarding protection of American interests in Chiriqui Lagoon and Bocas del Toro, Panama. The question is: does Coghlan have permission to prevent the landing of Colombian forces in Chiriqui Lagoon?
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-30