Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Booker T. Washington because Lyman Abbott will like what he said about The Outlook. Roosevelt also encloses an article from the Richmond News-Leader because a Southern Democrat says nice things about him in it. He also encloses a speech by William Potter, in which he clearly describes the movement that Roosevelt and Abbott have been involved in for seven years. Roosevelt remembers that Abbott quoted something that Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson said about him and asks which speech it is from.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Andrew Jackson Montague

President Roosevelt tells Governor Andrew Jackson Montague, of Virginia, that he agrees with him, and notes that Booker T. Washington does as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Parsons

President Roosevelt strongly objects to the proposal to add a plan to the platform which would reduce Southern representation based on its suppression of the African American vote. Men like Booker T. Washington agree that no good can come of this, and that agitators who are stirred up by the Brownsville affair are doing harm to the cause. He believes that Joseph Benson Foraker’s goal is “simply to scuttle the ship” and damage the Republican party as much as he can.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-10

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Seth Low

President Roosevelt responds to concerns expressed to Seth Low about candidates for a judgeship. Roosevelt is considering three Republicans for the position. Regarding at least one of the candidates, if the man who wrote Low were a Democrat, Roosevelt says he would be “whooping with ecstasy over his manifest virtues.” Roosevelt only consulted Booker T. Washington in Alabama when he was appointing a Democrat to a judgeship.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Milliken Parker

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. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Owen Wister

President Roosevelt had recently finished Owen Wister’s book Lady Baltimore, and sends Wister his thoughts and criticisms of the work. While he enjoyed the story, Roosevelt believes the book is unfairly critical of northerners and uncritical of southerners. Similarly, Roosevelt points out that while the book lauds the past at the expense of the present, there are many examples of violence, brutality, greed, and other vices in the past. Roosevelt also remarks on the status of African-Americans, and while he agrees with Wister in certain regards, believes the work has gone too far in the racist stereotypes. He hopes that Wister will be able to visit him soon. In a postscript, Roosevelt mentions a number of other books he has read or is reading that similarly make readers “feel that there is no use of trying to reform anything because everything is so rotten that the whole social structure should either be let alone or destroyed.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Spencer Bassett

President Roosevelt is amused by the quotation that John Spencer Bassett found, and wonders what the “howlers” about the incident with Booker T. Washington would have said if they knew that something similar happened under Andrew Jackson.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

In response to a letter from William R. Funk about the possibility of a white man, John R. King, succeeding John T. Williams, a black man, as American Consul in Sierra Leone, President Roosevelt tells Secretary of State Root to work with Booker T. Washington to find a “good colored man” for the post.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-30

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Eleroy Curtis

In response to a letter from William Eleroy Curtis about the quality of his appointments in Alabama, President Roosevelt offers the facts. He asks Curtis to ask people whether the new men he has appointed are better than the ones he replaced. He also clarifies that he did not bar appointees from serving on national and state committees, but that he prefers that appointees do not dominate them. In response to Curtis’s demands that he replace postmasters in Dothan, Andalusia, and Marion, Roosevelt says that one was removed, an inspector recommended that a second be kept, and an investigation into the third is ongoing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William P. Frye

President Roosevelt is unsure of what to do about William Frye Tebbetts, recently appointed Customs Collector in Mobile, Alabama. Roosevelt is concerned about how he has behaved toward African Americans based on comments from Booker T. Washington. Roosevelt informs President pro tempore of the Senate Frye he needs to know that Tebbetts will give all people—white or black—a square deal. Otherwise, Tebbetts cannot keep the position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-22

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James Ford Rhodes

President Roosevelt tells James Ford Rhodes he is at his wits’ end about the Southern question. When he became president, Roosevelt met with Booker T. Washington. They agreed to appoint men of the highest character in the Gulf and South Atlantic States, including a few African American men. Every Southerner agrees with this plan, which Roosevelt has executed, but it has been maligned in the press, creating a “bitterness” in the North. Roosevelt encloses an article written by William H. Fleming and a letter to Silas McBee.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry S. Pritchett

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-14

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Silas McBee

President Roosevelt is disappointed by Luke Lea’s letter sent to him by Silas McBee. While the president is pleased about what Lea says regarding Roosevelt’s attitude concerning “social equality,” the president has concerns about several other portions in Lea’s letter. Roosevelt disagrees with almost everything Lea says about politics in Tennessee. First, the president has tried to appoint good leaders, even if they have not been Republicans, something Lea thinks Roosevelt is not doing. Second, Lea believes men should be allowed to hold office no matter what their color, another policy Roosevelt has already been pursuing. Finally, Roosevelt says the campaign buttons in question had the opposite effect Lea mentioned. The president tells Abbott he can show Lea Roosevelt’s letter if he wishes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Bucklin Bishop

President Roosevelt finds amusement in the clipping from The World about the Evening Post, and he thinks it base and hypocritical for the Post to continue to support the candidacy of Alton B. Parker in light of such speeches as that of Henry Gassaway Davis. Roosevelt provides two quotations addressing the “colored issue” for inclusion in his speech and letter of acceptance. Roosevelt aims to make his points clear while at the same time making them in such a way as to cause minimal irritation in the south.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Hay

President Roosevelt calls attention to an article by Booker T. Washington on “Cruelty in the Congo Country” in the Outlook to be considered in connection with recent protests by Edmund Dene Morel. Roosevelt asks if there is anything that would warrant an investigation, and notes that he would like a report about it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-11

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Bucklin Bishop

Theodore Roosevelt is pleased that J. B. Bishop is taking an “effective interest” in the campaign. Roosevelt is concerned that people who attack “Odellism” may vote the Democratic ticket. Congressman Heflin of Alabama also told the Washington Post “that if some Czolgosz had thrown a bomb under the table at which I sat with Booker Washington, no great harm would have been done the country!” Roosevelt clarifies his relationship with Carl Schurz, who has been opposed to him for years.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George B. Cortelyou

Theodore Roosevelt writes to George B. Cortelyou about making a new appointment to the First Assistant Postmaster General position. Roosevelt also lets Cortelyou know that it is possible for him to resign as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, yet still remain in control of the situation. Roosevelt closes by discussing the political situation in West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

President Roosevelt insists that the southerners who have attacked him cannot deny that he has “elevated the public standard” through his appointments, and that he has appointed fewer colored men than his predecessor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-26

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Byrne

Booker T. Washington is doing his best to educate blacks in the South and President Roosevelt believes his efforts are ideal for everyone. There are fanatics who are doing all they can to re-introduce slavery for blacks, which shows “extreme crookedness” of mind and morals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-17

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Jacob H. Gallinger

President Roosevelt argues in favor of the confirmation of William Demos Crum’s appointment.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-09

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919