THEODORE ROOSEVELT

In 1904, candidate Theodore Roosevelt solicited campaign funds from leading businessmen. After he was elected, he was viewed to have "turned" on them since he attempted to curtail monopolistic excess, instituted regulation, and made other business reforms. This is the original remark, but another, more sanitized version appeared in New York Times and other places as: “We bought him and he did not stay bought.”

“Combination” was then a word for a large corporate enterprise, monopoly or trust. Although large corporations are common in the modern economy, at the time there were very few of them and most of them use their power to crush competition and take advantage of helpless consumer. Instead of banning largeness as some wanted to do, President Theodore Roosevelt and others chose regulation, and the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act were passed. Individualism in the form of small businesses have proved amazingly resilient and have developed into a giants like Microsoft and a Google. Over half a of the new jobs created in our economy are done so by small businesses.

Hanna was returning from President William McKinley's funeral in Buffalo, NY. Hanna had been concerned even when Roosevelt was nominated Vice President. See related quotes.

The Roosevelt he was insulting was the newly elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Congressman was a paranoid conspiracy theorist who believed that FDR had been put into office to become dictator of the United States by an imagined cabal of international bankers.

In 1912 TR lost the Republican primary election because of archaic rules that gave party regulars overwhelming power relative to ordinary Republicans with whom he was be far the most popular. So Roosevelt ran for President on the Bull Moose Party and proved his point be outpolling the Republicans. However the right wing was split and Woodrow Wilson became President by a plurality.

The Conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War. The treaty was negotiated and signed in Portsmouth New Hampshire. President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediating efforts. The language was typical of a peace treaty where just before its signature the two nations and their emperors were vilifying and dehumanizing the other.

Addressing Theodore Roosevelt in 1896:

In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt instructed his Attorney General to file one of America’s first and the largest anti-trust case against Northern Securities Company. The President was a Republican and a patrician. Most of his social acquaintances and a few friends were totally surprised that the President could turn against his own class in what they saw as an act of class warfare. They sought explanations for the unthinkable.

The President never did.

In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt took the lead in a legislative attempt to produce railroad rate reform. He took on leaders of his own party who attempted to defeat and then "water down" the bill. In the middle of the fight he changed his position, abandoned his allies and accepted weakening amendments in what became known as "Roosevelt's Surrender." One of the senators who had supported the President on the stronger legislation complained:

Roosevelt, after refusing to run for a third term in 1908, decided to run in 1912:

founder of the Christian Science religion

There have been many power struggles between the Legislative and Executive branches, but one of the more humorous began on August 27, 1906. President Theodore Roosevelt directed the Public Printer to observe a new orthographic convention designed to simplify the spelling of English. A furor broke out as Congress fought against such a radical departure The President was defeated and so was "simplified spelling."

In 1901 newly elected President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House. It was the first time a Black had ever been so invited. There was a public uproar in the South. Shortly thereafter, the President and Washington were both in the audience of a Yale University event. A Supreme Court Justice took the podium. The statement brought thunders of applause.

The President invited Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House:

In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt challenged incumbent President William Howard Taft for the Republican presidential nomination. Roosevelt had the popular support of most Republicans but the Taft regulars had control of the party machinery and the convention being held in Chicago:. The headline appeared on the front page and every other page of the issue.

This was remarkable praise for a man of the opposite party who had himself served two Presidential terms.

In many recent Presidential elections many have thought a Vice Presidential candidate superior to the Presidential candidate. Such was also the case in 1900.

In the 1912 convention the national Republican party was split in a bitter contest between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. Taft won the nomination, but Roosevelt was the popular favorite and the Republican prospects were dismal for the general election:

Disapproving of President Theodore Roosevelt's attempts to simplify American spelling:

Although photography had been common for over 50 years at the time, the new technology of reproducing photographs in newspapers made Roosevelt constantly visible to the public.

The ambassador was spending the day with President Theodore Roosevelt. They played two sets of tennis, jogged around the White House lawn, and then did some gymnastics with the large medicine ball. The President had asked him what he would like to do next:

Teddy Roosevelt dispatched 16 battleships (The Great White Fleet) around the world to impress the Japanese and others with American naval strength:

The President invited Booker T. Washington, a Black, to dine at the White House. It was described as:

Viscount Morley of Blackburn

Theodore Roosevelt failed to win the Republican Presidential nomination in 1912. Munsey urged him to form a new party and run for president:

Referring to Theodore Roosevelt's views presented to the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party convention in 1912:

In 1899, Theodore Roosevelt was a very popular governor of New York and was courted by many party leaders as a vice presidential candidate in 1900. The vice presidency then, as now, had many drawbacks. Roosevelt took the advice and became president upon McKinley's death.

Gibbons was an early promoter of Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation program.

In many ways President Theodore Roosevelt was very boyish.

This quotation is important for two reasons. First, this is one of the most negative attacks on an opponent in a Presidential election in all of American History—to call the opponent ‘dangerous’ to the nation. Second, it is a classic example of two close political friends and allies, after a falling out. Roosevelt had in effect made Taft President in 1908, but Roosevelt was extremely disappointed as Taft was controllable by the Republican Party bosses, who hated Roosevelt. TR then challenged the then sitting President for the Republican Presidential nomination. At that time there were 12 states that had primary elections and Roosevelt won 9 of them. La Follette won 2 and Taft only 1. The majority of the states did not then have primaries allowing the party bosses to make the decision of which candidate to support. Party leaders generally did not like Roosevelt who was a major reformer, so they voted for Taft at the convention pushing him over the top when he clearly was the less popular of all 3 candidates. Roosevelt, outraged by the party bosses overriding the will of the people, then walked out of the convention and organized his own convention and TR ran as the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party). In the general election Roosevelt got more votes than Taft, but the two of them had split the majority Republican vote and the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson was the winner.

Theodore Roosevelt considered another run at the presidency in 1920:

In 1904 a naturalized American citizen, Ion Perdicaris, was kidnapped and held for ransom by Achmed Ben Mohammed Raisuli, a Moroccan warlord and descendent of the Prophet Mohammad. Raisuli had made a series of economic and political demands on the Sultan of Morocco who was dragging his feet in dealing with the problem. The administration ordered a naval warship to stand off the coast of Morocco and this ultimatum was dispatched to the Sultan of Morocco, and was read aloud from the platform of the Republican National Convention in Chicago which was in the process of renominating Theodore Roosevelt for a second term as president. Two days later Perdicaris was released. Kidnapping to intimidate has been a classic Arab terror political and quasi military technique as well as one for pure economic greed.

In the 1912 Republican nominating convention, Theodore Roosevelt was contesting the renomination of President William Howard Taft whom he had originally picked as the Republican nominee four years earlier. Then Senator Harding gave the nominating speech for Taft. In it he described Roosevelt as:

Describing the bitter situation when Theodore Roosevelt contested William Howard Taft for the Republican 1912 presidential nomination:

Theodore Roosevelt had just been nominated as Vice President and the Republicans were almost certain to win the general election. The Chairman was alsays very distressed by Roosevelt. The New York conservative Republicans leaders had pushed him out of the Governorship by getting him nominated as VP as NY business leaders were fearful of TR’s business reform ideas. Hanna worried that if TR ever reached a position of power, he would alienate business from the national Republican party. When McKinley was assassinated, Hanna’s worst fears were realized. See his reaction {585078}

Obama had been commonly called a socialist by the extreme right even though his positions and statements were against socialism and he opposed major tenets of socialism like government ownership of utilities, banking and heavy industry. Obama scheduled this speech in a location in which TR had spoken in favor of his reforms. And he reminded the audience and the nation that the right wing had tried to tarnish Roosevelt by labeling him a socialist.

Taft contrasted Hughes with Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt was preparing to suggest government regulation of large corporations and trusts. See Theodore Roosevelt {42023}

Incredible as it seems today, no Black person had ever dined in the White House as a guest of the President. African American servants were common. And Abraham Lincoln had received many Black visitors as had Presidents after him. But no president had ever had a Black person to dine as a social equal. The photo, reproduced here, illustrates the parity. But that was the worst thing a President could do so far as Tillman and his fellow racists were concerned. They had, since the end of the Civil war, used violence and terrorism to murder, maim and/or intimidate the Negro population to remain in an economic and socially inferior position. In Tillman’s state over these decades they had more lynchings than legal executions and there were plenty of them. Newspapers over the South riled up the whites and there was a wave of terror to be sure that the President’s importune action would not be taken as an endorsement of the Negro’s right to any equality or even dignity. This dinner essentially wedded all the Blacks to the Republican Party and all the Southern Whites to the Democratic Party. This would remain the political situation for over 60 years until the Democrats passed the LBJ Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Republicans decided to solicit the Southern White racists who accepted the invitation and within a few years, there was a complete reversal of party loyalty of most Blacks and most Southern White Racists.

Here uncle was Theodore Roosevelt and she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Statement made by Root to President Roosevelt regarding a prepared speech about the rights to build the Panama Canal.

TR worked very hard for his press coverage. He literally met with the press every day—often several times. Daily, his barber had to cut and shave with the President talking to the reporters and answering questions. The only time he stopped talking was when the barber was shaving his chin or upper lip.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens

It was a 3-way race where the right wing of the Republican Party had stacked the deck so that Taft would be selected the nominee despite the greater popularity of TR who then decided to run as a 3rd party candidate. He beat the Republican nominee and incumbent President Taft soundly and the two of them together got many more votes than Wilson but Wilson had the most votes with only 42 percent. He got the loyal Democrat votes but lost the independents to Roosevelt who in turn lost the conservative Republicans to Taft. Wilson had the mathematics which made up for his personal weaknesses. What is very interesting about this quotation is that Wilson thought of himself as an intellectual as opposed to TR, but in reality Roosevelt was not only also an intellectual but the only President who was a world class scientists.

The President was then Theodore Roosevelt who was then the most popular President the nation had ever had since George Washington. Van Cleave was rabidly opposed to any anti-trust government “interference” with business and he was also virulently opposed to labor unions. See {638616}, {638615}, {638614}, and {638612}.

The notion that President Theodore Roosevelt could be terrorized was absurd on its face. He faced down everyone; one of the reasons he was so popular. But Van Cleave and his organization was paranoid about organized labor. It is they who were terrorized. Van Cleave was rabidly opposed to any anti-trust government “interference” with business and he was also virulently opposed to labor unions. See {638612}, {638615}, {638614}, and {638613}.

Even though Roosevelt was the most popular President since George Washington, he had his critics. Taking office in 1900 after the assassination of President McKinley, he was often compared stylistically.

Viscount Morley of Blackburn

Storer was a major Washington socialite who was very influential. Despite his misgivings, the President did appoint Roosevelt.

This was a new political phenomenon where a President was perceived as more important, more powerful, and preferable to his party. Note that the base of the scale is labeled “Public Opinion”.

Even before the Russian Revolution there was a Red Scare in America based on the writings of Marks and Engels. Labor Unions were automatically viewed by ultra-conservatives as Communistic and revolutionary. Ironically, the greatest offence that the President committed in many eyes was to have labor leaders to the White House for lunch or dinner or, as he did with the coal strike crisis, have labor negotiators in the White House for mediation. The symbolism of accepting these “radicals” as worthy citizens, in some conservative views, elevated the labor movement to a much higher status than they deserved and to treat them with the same dignity and respect as corporate executives was very offensive. Roosevelt had been made an honorary member of the Locomotive Engineers Union, and this enabled the Sun and other critics to say that Roosevelt joined labor organizations.

President Theodore Roosevelt took and extended trip to the West and left William Howard Taft, then the Secretary of War, as the acting President and NOT the Secretary of State who many people erroneously think is the senior member of the cabinet, nor the Vice President. Roosevelt just put in charge the man he was most comfortable with. Interestingly, neither the Vice President or the Secretary of State objected or were disappointed. It was generally acknowledged that Taft was the best and strongest leader in the cabinet and that he was as close to the president as possible. See {639910}

Theodore Roosevelt had pledged to serve only two terms and everyone was looking to see whom he supported to succeed him in 1908. He had absolutely decided it should be William Howard Taft, his Secretary of War, and old colleague. But he didn’t want to offend the party leaders by precluding their ability to appear to have a say in the choice of nominee. So he made no public statement. But most journalists in Washington realized what the reality was and the Kansas City Times simply published this little ditty.

This quotation is classic as it was the first of a series of attacks that have been made on presidents and other politicians by the economic ultra-rightists when the conservatives had disliked the politician’s economic policies. To criticize the ultra-rich and their corporations was promoting class warfare. And that criticism being made public certainly upset the confidence of the rich in the President. When the president pointed out how the average person feels about the rich, to them it was he who was responsible for the mistrust and hatred by talking about them—not them by what they were doing. This same attack has been made against every Democratic President that came thereafter, but it was first used against Republican Theodore Roosevelt. For many Liberals, the way they know that they are starting to succeed with economic reform is when they get attacked for fomenting class warfare.

Although Roosevelt was the most popular American president since George Washington, the right wing of his own party hated him. He had pledged not to run for a 3rd term and his 2nd was close to ending.

In a large, diverse nation like the United States even then, there was a wide spectrum of opinion and political ideology. It is true that almost all of Roosevelt’s initiatives were not original with him, but he was incredibly effective at bringing those ideas to the large bulk of people who had had no serious view on the subject before. He also was able to change many contrary opinions. What was most remarkable about Roosevelt was that the issues that he did advocate were very unpopular and even anathema to the establishment—the “ruling class” of the day even though most were in his own political party.

Withdrawal meant not allowing certain public land to be sold or allotted to homesteading, commercial development, mining, industrial, ranching, or agricultural use. It was reserved as wilderness areas and/or national parks or forests.

Despite frequent attribution, there is no evidence TR actually made this statement.

To many, this quotation is shocking. TR was a presidential pioneer in race relations being the first President to ever invite a Black to dine at the White House. See {588996} for his views on Blacks. Although modern and liberal with respect to most minorities, TR had a major blind spot regarding Native Americans and was among the worst racists.