Your TR Source
President Roosevelt talks of missing Kermit, but writes how proud he is of how Kermit has handled himself at school. Roosevelt wishes Kermit could spend some time on William Holland Wilmer’s farm. Roosevelt says he enjoyed a ride in the rain with Senator Lodge the previous day.
1903-03-09
President Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit to say that Ted is doing well and discuss his views on some authors. He says Archie and Quentin love playing in the sandbox and relates a story about Archie helping an injured schoolmate get to Doctor Wilmer.
1906-03-11
President Roosevelt tells his son Kermit about a trip to Pine Knot and visiting with the Wilmers. Roosevelt also discusses negotiations with Russia and Japan regarding an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt closes by saying he cannot wait to see Kermit at Bishop Lawrence’s.
1905-06-11
President Roosevelt informs Harvard Dean Edgar Huidekoper Wells that his son, Theodore Roosevelt, will be delayed returning to Harvard because of a recent eye surgery. Ted had wished to return, but both William Holland Wilmer, the ophthalmologist who performed the operation, and Alexander Lambert, the Roosevelt family doctor, protested. Roosevelt encloses notes from both doctors attesting to this, as Ted does not want Wells to “consider him a malingerer” for missing several days of classes classes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-23
Henry St. George Tucker sends Theodore Roosevelt a paper that he recently published and asks Roosevelt to visit him in Lexington, Virginia.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-12
Milton Bruce Shields and Louis Victor Priebe examine the topic of Theodore Roosevelt’s vision and how his myopia, or nearsightedness, affected his life from his inability to see clearly as a youth to his stockpiling eyeglasses before his service in Cuba and his safari in Africa. Shields and Priebe also discuss the injury to Roosevelt’s left eye suffered during a boxing match with an Army officer, and they speculate on whether the injury resulted from a detached retina or a cataract. Shields and Priebe also consider how Roosevelt’s vision may have determined other aspects of his life and personality from his heightened sense of hearing to his love of books and reading.
Four photographs supplement the text, including two of 1904 campaign buttons in the shape of pince-nez glasses.
Robert C. Kimberly provides a detailed examination of the various afflictions and ailments that marked the life of Theodore Roosevelt from his childhood to his death in January 1919. He describes Roosevelt’s struggles with asthma and poor eyesight as a youth, his battle to control his weight, and details many of the injuries he suffered while living out the strenuous life. Kimberly delves into the serious leg injury Roosevelt suffered in a carriage accident in 1902, his decades long struggle with malaria, his near death experience on the River of Doubt expedition, and the treatment he received after the October 1912 assassination attempt. He notes the many doctors who treated Roosevelt as well as the implications his health problems had for his wife Edith.
A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association is found on page three of the article and an advertisement for the Roosevelt Savings Bank is found at its conclusion.