Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

Harry Johnston tells President Roosevelt about some of his travels around the southern United States, and his observations of both the people and environment there. Johnston plans to spend some time in Louisiana before traveling to Florida, and thence to Cuba. Johnston also would like to travel to Haiti, but worries that potential unrest there will make it difficult for him to visit. He asks Roosevelt if he would consider writing a letter of introduction allowing him to visit, as “it would be rather disappointing to return to England without some glimpse of Haiti.” Harper’s will be publishing an article of Johnston’s describing his impressions of New York that Roosevelt helped review.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-01

Creator(s)

Johnston, Harry, 1858-1927

Harry Johnston has heard President Roosevelt’s wish to visit with him about big game preservation and the question of Liberia. Johnston is not sure of his plans yet, but if he does visit the United States he will certainly visit Washington, D.C. Johnston tells Roosevelt some of his thoughts about Liberia, writing that if Liberia fails, it will be a setback for the progress of African-American rights in the United States. There is plenty of room for African-American colonists in Western Africa, but there are many obstacles as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-28

Creator(s)

Johnston, Harry, 1858-1927

Attorney General Bonaparte writes to President Roosevelt about several matters he did not have time to speak with him about today. First, he has “serious objections” to Senator William Edgar Borah’s suggestion of a temporary judicial appointment. Until Bonaparte knows more about the situation, he will have “grave misgivings” about Judge Frank Sigel Dietrich and Judge Edward Whitson. However, Bonaparte does believe that N. M. Ruick will not cause a scandal as long as he does not know or suspect that he will lose his position. Second, Bonaparte spoke with Alford Warriner Cooley about Roosevelt’s desire to appoint Samuel L. Williams, a black man, as district attorney in Chicago, per Booker T. Washington’s recommendation. Edwin Walter Sims, the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, reported favorably about Williams to Bonaparte, and he recommends the nomination. Finally, Timothy L. Woodruff spoke with Bonaparte about Wyoming Senator Frank W. Mondell’s draft of a bill that would amend the coal-land-laws. Bonaparte entertains “very grave doubts” about giving amnesty to large corporations that break the law.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-27

Creator(s)

Bonaparte, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1851-1921

Alford Warriner Cooley returns several letters to William Loeb, and will talk with him about them tomorrow.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-28

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Assistant Attorney General Cooley has read and returns Booker T. Washington’s letter about the political situation in Alabama. He believes that Charles H. Scott should be kept in line until the Republican National Convention, and is happy to use whatever influence he has with him to get him to change his demands. Both Scott and Joseph O. Thompson are beholden to the Roosevelt Administration for their influence in Alabama, thus it should be possible to achieve the arrangement President Roosevelt wants. Cooley wishes that Scott and others who supported Secretary of War William H. Taft before Roosevelt’s declaration would understand that Assistant Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock is not against them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-06

Creator(s)

Cooley, Alford Warriner, 1873-1913

Representative Parsons does not think Charles William Anderson can be a delegate to the National Convention, as the “colored vote” is not big enough to warrant it. Many people want to go as delegates and it is difficult to find opportunities for everybody, especially providing for men supporting Charles Evans Hughes. Parsons asks William Loeb to ask Booker T. Washington what his source is that tells him that there will be other black delegates at the convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-11

Creator(s)

Parsons, Herbert, 1869-1925

Charles William Anderson advises William Loeb that the Reverend Reverdy C. Ransom has been transferred from Boston to the Bethel A.M.E. Church in New York City. Anderson says the conditions of the transfer seem to be corrupt, possibly made due to a bribe from newspaper editor John E. Milholland, and that Reverdy is “a thoroughly bad man.” Anderson thinks Booker T. Washington shares his view of the situation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-03

Creator(s)

Anderson, Charles William, 1866-1938

Charles William Anderson informs William Loeb that Roscoe Conkling Simmons, Booker T. Washington’s nephew by marriage, has started a newspaper in New York that aligns with the political leanings of Benjamin B. Odell and Lemuel Ely Quigg. Other friends of Washington have also expressed political opinions contrary to Roosevelt, and Anderson intends to tell Washington that he ought to stand by the President.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-12

Creator(s)

Anderson, Charles William, 1866-1938

Charles William Anderson informs William Lobe that the New York Age, a prominent black newspaper, is supporting Benjamin B. Odell and Lemuel Ely Quigg. Anderson also notes that Odell and Quigg aim to challenge Anderson’s membership to the Republican State Committee in New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-31

Creator(s)

Anderson, Charles William, 1866-1938

Serth Low wishes to inform President Roosevelt of Crawford Jackson of Atlanta, Georgia, who is the author of the movement which resulted in a state protectory for children. He also expresses his opinion on the Chinese exclusion policy. In conclusion, Low thanks the President for his service and for his recent trip to the South, which he feels was both timely and wise.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-23

Creator(s)

Low, Seth, 1850-1916

Joseph O. Thompson asks that Booker T. Washington be selected by President Roosevelt to represent America at the Hague Convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-11

Creator(s)

Thompson, Joseph O. (Joseph Oswalt), 1869-1933

Secretary of State John Hay follows up with President Theodore Roosevelt about an article President Roosevelt sent him written by Booker T. Washington relating to issues in the Congo.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-13

Creator(s)

Hay, John, 1838-1905

Francis R. Pemberton disagrees with Colonel Singleton about President Roosevelt’s “Negro Policy.” He does not like that Roosevelt receives advice from Booker T. Washington. Pemberton asks Singleton to tell Roosevelt that his policy is wrong.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-11

Creator(s)

Pemberton, Francis R., 1856-1923

John Singleton Mosby discusses Francis R. Pemberton’s views on what Pemberton calls President Roosevelt’s “Negro Policy.” Mosby compares Roosevelt’s actions to those of William McKinley and Grover Cleveland, noting how Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to lunch and Cleveland invited Frederick Douglass to a social event. Mosby believes that the Tammany Democrats in New York will vote for Judge Alton B. Parker because “Cleveland is for Parker and Parker is for the Gold Standard” and not, as Pemberton believes, “because of the President’s Negro Policy.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-02

Creator(s)

Mosby, John Singleton, 1833-1916

Reverend Hall believes that more white men in Alabama “would have voted the Republican national ticket this fall if it were not for the negro question.” Hall has heard people say that any attempt at social equality will “result inevitably in conflict” and implies that Roosevelt may not completely understand the sentiment in the South.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-28

Creator(s)

Hall, Charles P.

Julian Robinson [uncle of Douglas Robinson, brother-in-law of President Roosevelt] thanks the president for an autographed picture. Robinson also praises Roosevelt’s efforts in race relations by his invitation of Booker T. Washington to the White House. Robinson expresses how he wishes he could have attended the wedding of Helen Roosevelt to Theodore Robinson, his great nephew and the president’s nephew.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-04

Creator(s)

Robinson, Julian

John B. Ashbaugh examines Theodore Roosevelt’s complicated views on race and charts his history with various ethnic and racial groups, including Native Americans, African-Americans, and Jews. Ashbaugh highlights the influence of Roosevelt’s southern born and raised mother and her brothers, both of whom served the Confederacy during the Civil War. Ashbaugh stresses that Roosevelt’s views evolved over time, and he demonstrates how Roosevelt believed in and promoted the Progressive views of his time such as the assimilation of Native Americans, but that he also respected many aspects of Native culture and had enduring friendships with individual Native Americans. Ashbaugh presents Roosevelt’s views on Jews and immigration, and he details many aspects of Roosevelt’s feelings toward and relationship with African-Americans, including his condemnation of lynching, his White House dinner with Booker T. Washington, and the Brownsville incident.

Five photographs and two illustrations appear in the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2020

President Roosevelt tells Congressman Littauer that he is saddened by the bitter reaction to the visit of Booker T. Washington to the White House on October 16, 1901. Roosevelt asserts that he would rather lose all of his political friends than shirk from having someone like Washington to dinner. The excerpt is followed by a footnote from The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt which provides more context to the famous dinner meeting with Washington.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1901-10-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Robert Wexelblatt praises Philip McFarland for his even-handed approach in his dual biography Mark Twain and the Colonel: Samuel L. Clemens, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Arrival of a New Century. Wexelblatt notes that the disagreements between the writer and the politician will interest most readers, and he highlights Twain’s anti-imperialism as the foremost of these issues. Wexelblatt commends McFarland for explaining the views of Twain, Roosevelt, and their contemporaries in the context of their time. He notes that McFarland also covers the similarities between “the two most famous and celebrated Americans,” and he credits McFarland for his research and his lively prose. 

Photographs of Twain and Roosevelt, and the front cover illustration of Mark Twain and the Colonel, accompany the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2013

Quintard Taylor provides a history of the African American servicemen, the Buffalo Soldiers, who served in the American West after the Civil War, and he examines the relationship between Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and two regiments of the Buffalo Soldiers, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, that served alongside the Rough Riders in Cuba. Taylor highlights the heroics of individual Buffalo Soldiers, including recipients of the Medal of Honor, and he quotes extensively from Roosevelt’s writings to give Roosevelt’s views on these servicemen. Taylor examines a dispute that arose after the war when Roosevelt questioned the actions of some of the Tenth Cavalry men at the Battle of San Juan Heights. 

A photograph of Taylor, five photographs of various Buffalo Soldiers, and an illustration of Roosevelt with Booker T. Washington appear in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2009-10-24