The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

  Through these orders: Brinkley, The Wilderness Warrior, pp. 677–78.

  “Opponents of the Forest Service”: TR, An Autobiography, pp. 404–05.

  “the deep, unbroken friendship”: James Creelman, “The Mystery of Mr. Taft,” Pearson’s (May 1907), p. 530, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “I am well aware”: TR to WAW, July 30, 1907, WHTP.

  “do all in his power”: Evening Independent (Massillon, OH), April 23, 1907.

  “boundless courage . . . beguiling influence”: San Antonio [TX] Gazette, June 25, 1907.

  “he would crawl”: John Callan O’Laughlin, “The Next President,” Outlook, Mar. 30, 1907, p. 749.

  he would disavow any such statement: “TR: Press Agent,” Harper’s Weekly, Sept. 28, 1907, p. 1410.

  IMPARTIAL MR. ROOSEVELT: Kansas City Times, April 16, 1907, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “I wish to say”: Cleveland Leader, Dec. 29, 1906, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “been drawn into . . . irrespective of politics”: O’Laughlin, “The Next President,” Outlook, Mar. 30, 1907, p. 747.

  “was very much averse”: WHT to Edward Colston, Mar. 22, 1907, WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “an almost morbid fear”: O’Laughlin, “The Next President,” Outlook, Mar. 30, 1907, p. 747.

  “Taft is not a politician”: Washington Post, Jan. 27, 1907.

  “the little details”: Washington Post, April 25, 1907.

  The press predicted: The Independent (NY), April 4, 1907, pp. 757–58.

  “may cause trouble”: TR to Kermit Roosevelt, April 11, 1907, in TR et al., eds., Letters to Kermit from Theodore Roosevelt, p. 188.

  “This is a direct contest”: New York Sun, Mar. 31, 1907, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “had nothing to gain . . . possibly to lose”: HHT to WHT, April [n.d., “Easter Sunday”], 1907, WHTP.

  The decision . . . soon proved wise: WHT to Charles P. Taft, May 8, 1907, WHTP.

  Through intermediaries . . . senatorial contest: New York Tribune, May 11, 1907.

  “I don’t care . . . political principle”: WHT to Arthur Vorys, Jan. 20, 1907, WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “with a drawn sword in his hand”: WHT to Gustav J. Karger, May 14, 1907, Taft-Karger MSS, CMC.

  “become somewhat . . . a stand-up fight”: WHT to TR, July 23, 1907, WHTP.

  “While under no circumstances”: TR to WHT, July 26, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, pp. 726–27.

  Steeled for defeat . . . in the Senate race: New York Tribune, July 30, 1907, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “I am hopeful”: WHT to Howard C. Hollister, July 31, 1907, WHTP.

  Foraker’s political career . . . in public office again: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 1, pp. 371–72; Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Sept. 8, 1908.

  Despite his victory . . . a “mauling”: TR to WHT, Aug. 3, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 741.

  “first substantial start”: WHT to Joseph B. Foraker, Aug. 24, 1908, in Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 1, p. 371.

  “born with an instinct”: Creelman, “The Mystery of Mr. Taft,” Pearson’s (May 1907), p. 512, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “the kindest man”: Lyle, “Taft: A Career of Big Tasks,” The World’s Work (November 1907).

  “A place on the Supreme”: Unidentified newspaper clipping, Los Angeles, May [n.d.], 1907, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “Uneasy lies the head”: LTT to WHT, Jan. 21, 1907, WHTP.

  “He wins the hearts . . . devoid of political ambitions”: James Creelman, “The Mystery of Mr. Taft,” Pearson’s (May 1907), pp. 511, 505, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “can scarcely be said”: NYT, Aug. 18, 1907.

  “fitted to say things”: Mansfield [OH] News, May 2, 1907.

  “I am not sure”: WHT to Arthur Vorys, Aug. 6, 1907, WHTP.

  his drafts remained “infernally long”: WHT to TR, Aug. 10, 1907, WHTP.

  “Never mind if”: HHT to WHT, Aug. 18, 1907, WHTP.

  “revision must wait”: New York Sun, Aug. 20, 1907.

  “ferocious denunciation . . . and sincere sympathy”: NYT, Aug. 20, 1907.

  “there is not”: New York Sun, Aug. 20, 1907.

  “I am much amused”: WHT to Horace Taft, Sept. 10, 1907, WHTP.

  “Is it possible . . . adherence to those views”: WHT to Charles H. Heald, Dec. 25, 1907, WHTP.

  “the feeling of . . . are compelled to”: Charles Nagel to WHT, May 6, 1907, WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “well defined movement”: Cedar Rapids [IA] Evening Gazette, Nov. 8, 1907.

  “an almost unanimous sentiment”: Chicago Record-Herald, Mar. 5, 1907, in WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “It’s hard to write . . . Roosevelt sentiment”: C. S. Watts to N. Wright, in Charles P. Taft to WHT, May 21, 1907, WHTP.

  “almost grotesque . . . an illustrious Necessity?”: New York Sun, Mar. 31, 1907.

  “How they hate him”: HHT to WHT, Mar. 31, 1907, WHTP.

  “could get the nomination”: Gustav J. Karger to Joseph Garretson, Oct. 30, 1907, Taft-Karger MSS, CMC.

  “would feel very much . . . they had formed”: TR to Kermit Roosevelt, May 15, 1907, in TR, et al., eds., Letters to Kermit from Theodore Roosevelt, p. 195.

  “personal sacrifice . . . this administration”: Gustav J. Karger to Joseph Garretson, Oct. 30, 1907, Taft-Karger MSS, CMC.

  In case Taft’s canvass . . . backing Governor Hughes: TR to WHT, Sept. 3, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, pp. 780–82.

  “for the moment . . . the wisest course”: TR to WHT, Sept. 3, 1907, in ibid., p. 781.

  by late August . . . had grown “shorter”: Galveston [TX] Daily News, Aug. 31, 1907.

  “Political affairs . . . in the third place”: TR to WHT, Sept. 3, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, pp. 780–82.

  “So far as I am able”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 11, 1907, WHTP.

  “It was as great”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Aug. 21, 1907, WHTP.

  “a fine audience of 4000 people”: WHT to TR, Aug. 30, 1907, WHTP.

  “was filled to suffocation”: WHT to LTT, Aug. 30, 1907, WHT Diaries, WHTP.

  “every politician”: WHT to TR, Aug. 30, 1907, WHTP.

  “Personal contact”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 11, 1907, WHTP.

  “feel glad”: NYT, Aug. 18, 1907.

  “Nellie was out . . . to you than to me”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 11, 1907, WHTP.

  “I fully understand . . . my boom at all possible”: WHT to TR, Sept. 11, 1907, WHTP.

  “right to initiate . . . by the Commission”: “Address by Wm. H. Taft, Secretary of War, at the Inauguration of the Philippine Assembly, October 16, 1907,” in United States and WHT, Special Report of Wm. H. Taft, Secretary of War, to the President, on the Philippines (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1908), p. 98.

  “the first parliament”: Karnow, In Our Image, p. 238.

  “a chill . . . wealthier classes”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Oct. 23, 1907, WHTP.

  He began his address . . . “about to undertake”: See WHT, Special Report . . . on the Philippines, pp. 86, 89, 102.

  “thousand and one events”: HHT, Recollections of Full Years, p. 315.

  “Everybody”: Anthony, Nellie Taft, p. 205.

  stock market losses approached $1 billion: Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 573.

  “crusades against business” . . . paralyzed the economy: Chicago Record-Herald, Feb. 2, 1907, cited in Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography, p. 434.

  “By slow and insidious”: New York Sun, Dec. 6, 1907.

  “deep-seated, undiscriminating”: Current Literature (October 1907), p. 352.

  By “going up and down”: Current Literature (December 1907), p. 596.

  “take Bryan or Hearst”: Creelman, “Theodore the Meddler,” Pearson’s (January 1907), p. 4.

  “certain malefactors”: The News (Frederick, MD), Aug. 21, 1907.

  “welcome hard times”: TR to William E. Dodd, Jan. 30, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 575.

  “They are as blind”
: TR to William H. Moody, Sept. 21, 1907, in ibid., p. 802.

  “responsible for turning on”: Current Literature (December 1907), p. 597.

  “a temporary period of weakness”: TR to Henry L. Higginson, Aug. 12, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 746.

  Their sensational failure . . . investment bank in New York: Current Literature (December 1907), p. 585.

  Spooked by rumors . . . shutter its offices: Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, p. 577.

  Evidence that the respected firm: Current Literature (December 1907), p. 594.

  In the days that followed: Ibid., pp. 586–87, 590.

  “hardly a bank”: Ibid., p. 590.

  “a one-man Federal Reserve”: Frederick Lewis Allen, The Great Pierpont Morgan (New York: Harper & Row, 1949), p. 265.

  “Panic Headquarters”: Ida May Tarbell, The Life of Elbert H. Gary: The Story of Steel (New York: D. Appleton, 1925), p. 199.

  Within two days the bankers: Jean Strouse, “The Brilliant Bailout,” The New Yorker, Nov. 23, 1998, p. 69.

  “It was an extraordinary”: Chernow, The House of Morgan, p. 124.

  The next day . . . Morgan’s headquarters: Racine [WI] Daily Journal, Oct. 23, 1907; Galveston Daily News, Oct. 24, 1907.

  On Thursday . . . to keep the exchange open: Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, p. 580.

  “the Man of the Hour”: Literary Digest, Nov. 9, 1907, p. 676.

  “was still the chief”: Ibid.

  “would bring down”: IMT, Life of Elbert H. Gary, p. 196.

  “Can you go at once?”: Ibid., p. 200.

  “under ordinary circumstances”: TR to Charles J. Bonaparte, Nov. 4, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 831.

  “somewhat in excess”: Mowry, The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 218.

  “to the interest . . . no public duty”: TR to Charles J. Bonaparte, Nov. 4, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 831.

  But when the terms: Chernow, The House of Morgan, p. 128.

  “the best bargain . . . less than $1 billion”: Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography, p. 444.

  “swallow up a lively”: Allen, The Great Pierpont Morgan, p. 261.

  “The Nation trembled . . . crisis arose”: TR, An Autobiography, p. 438.

  “I would have showed”: Ibid., p. 442.

  a general malaise began . . . their livelihood: TR to Cecil Spring Rice, Dec. 21, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 6, p. 870.

  “Whether I am”: TR to Alexander Lambert, Nov. 1, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 826.

  “The big moneyed men”: TR to Kermit Roosevelt, Dec. 8, 1907, in ibid., p. 226.

  “because when the average”: TR to Alexander Lambert, Nov. 1, 1907, in ibid., p. 826.

  “From all sides”: IMT, Life of Elbert H. Gary, p. 192.

  “destroyer of . . . of property”: Literary Digest (December 1907), p. 594.

  “I feel personally”: WAW to TR, Nov. 22, 1907, White Papers.

  “I care a great deal more”: TR to WAW, Nov. 26, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, pp. 855–56.

  “to destroy his . . . blood to running!”: RSB to J. Stannard Baker, Nov. 17, 1907, RSB Papers.

  “A man may sometimes”: RSB, Notebook, Nov. 16, 1907, and RSB to J. Stannard Baker, Nov. 16, 1907, RSB Papers.

  “I hate for personal reasons”: TR to Frederic Harrison, Dec. 18, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 6, p. 866.

  “the fight before . . . of the people”: TR to Arthur Hamilton Lee, Dec. 26, 1907, in ibid., pp. 874–75.

  “On the night after . . . gossip ever since”: National Tribune (Washington, DC), Dec. 19, 1907.

  “I suppose he has come”: NYT, Dec. 12, 1907.

  “do his utmost”: Ibid.

  “definitely and positively”: New York Sun, Dec. 13, 1907.

  “to come out squarely”: Sandusky [OH] Star-Journal, Dec. 13, 1907.

  Frank Flint . . . “all along”: New York Tribune, Dec. 13, 1907.

  “the only one worth considering”: NYT, Dec. 12, 1907.

  “strength, constitution and courage”: Horace Taft to WHT, Aug. 20, 1907, WHTP.

  “on the road to recovery”: Charles P. Taft to Delia Torrey, Nov. 21, 1907, WHTP.

  “her cheeks were”: Anne Taft to WHT, Dec. 20, 1907, WHTP.

  “slowly but steadily”: WHT to Mrs. Samuel Carr, Dec. 24, 1907, WHTP.

  “Still have hope”: Charles P. Taft to WHT, Dec. 6, 1907, WHTP.

  Taft’s ship . . . his mother was dead: WHT Diaries, Dec. 7, 1907, WHTP.

  “I hope you will say . . . public statement”: TR to WHT, Dec. 12, 1907, in LTR, Vol. 5, p. 864.

  “I was very much . . . a great change”: WHT to Mrs. Samuel Carr, Dec. 24, 1907, WHTP.

  “for something else . . . reckoned with”: WHT to Therese McCagg, Dec. 26, 1907, WHTP.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Kingmaker and King

  “caught its second wind”: The North American (Philadelphia), June 21, 1908.

  “as its first . . . with a whoop”: William Nelson to WHT, Jan. 22, 1908, WHTP.

  endorsed Taft unanimously: D. C. Bailey to WHT, Feb. 12, 1908, WHTP.

  a poll . . . two to one margin: Van Wert [OH] Daily Bulletin, Feb. 4, 1908.

  “If you could bring”: WHT to William Dawson, Jan. 16, 1908, WHTP.

  He solicited activists: WHT to Thomas Latta, Feb. 11, 1908, WHTP.

  “friendly tone . . . brighter”: WHT to Tams Bixby, Mar. 26, 1908, WHTP.

  “rapid-fire . . . witty sallies”: Washington Post, Feb. 12, 1908.

  “a blacklisted laborer”: Dunn, William Howard Taft, American, p. 175.

  “to determine” . . . of that committee: WHT, “Cooper Union Speech of January 10, 1908,” WHTP.

  “God knows”: Washington Post, Jan. 11, 1908.

  “it was the general verdict”: Outlook, Jan. 18, 1908, p. 108.

  By late January . . . chances in the fall: WHT to Herbert Parsons, Jan. 23, 1908.

  so “blistering . . . sensational”: Davis, Released for Publication, p. 71.

  “sane and sound” address: Henry C. Ide to WHT, Feb. 2, 1908, WHTP.

  “a matter of humiliation . . . a stop to the wrongdoing”: United States, Special Message of the President of the United States, Communicated to the Two Houses of Congress on January 31, 1908 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1908), pp. 2, 26–27.

  “prostituting his high office”: Davis, Released for Publication, p. 71.

  “It hurls defiance” . . . caught everyone’s attention: Cited in Chicago Tribune, Feb. 2, 1908.

  “It has maddened”: TR to Kermit Roosevelt, Feb. 10, 1908, in TR et al., eds., Letters to Kermit from Theodore Roosevelt, p. 231.

  “It records something”: WHT to Frank T. Cobb, Feb. 3, 1908, WHTP.

  “the Hughes boom . . . settled”: TR to Kermit Roosevelt, April 11, 1908, in TR et al., eds., Letters to Kermit from Theodore Roosevelt, p. 238.

  “distinctly against any”: New York Sun, Mar. 9, 1908, WHTP.

  Taft immediately repudiated . . . to disturb him: WHT to TR, Mar. 9, 1908, WHTP.

  “Good heavens . . . myself responsible!”: TR to WHT, Mar. 9, 1908, WHTP.

  “painful experience . . . execration”: WHT to Nahum Brascher, Jan. 19, 1908, WHTP.

  From his abolitionist father: WHT to Robert Barnes, April 26, 1908, WHTP.

  “to oppose the color caste”: “Professor DuBois’s Advice,” The Independent, April 2, 1908, p. 768.

  “a menace”: Washington Bee, Dec. 29, 1906.

  “never, never” support him: “The Negroes and Secretary Taft,” The Independent, Feb. 13, 1908, p. 374.

  “entire responsibility”: NYT, Aug. 8, 1906.

  “We are satisfied”: Ibid.

  predilection “for strong drink”: W. E. Chandler to WHT, June 5, 1908, WHTP.

  “wonderful resolution”: WHT to W. E. Chandler, June 6, 1908, WHTP.

  “painted as perfect”: Current Literature (July 1908), p. 10.

  “I trust you will”: Frank H. Challis to WHT, June 2, 1908, WHTP.

  “the mighty dead
. . . heartless”: Los Angeles Herald, June 2, 1908.

  “at mock attention . . . destinies of the nation”: AB to his mother, June 8, 1908, in Abbott, ed., Letters of Archie Butt, p. 23.

  “All opposition to Taft”: TR to Whitelaw Reid, May 25, 1908, in LTR, Vol. 6, p. 1036.

  “an astonishing achievement”: Chicago Evening Post, April 13, 1908.

  “Congress is ending”: TR to Whitelaw Reid, May 25, 1908, in LTR, Vol. 6, p. 1036.

  “practical unanimity . . . do nothing Congress”: Syracuse [NY] Herald, June 1, 1908.

  “crystallized” a nascent sentiment: Semonche, Ray Stannard Baker, p. 151.

  “The noon of the muckraker’s day”: Waterloo [IA] Semi Weekly Courier, Nov. 27, 1908.

  “Look upon these . . . now in favor”: NYT, July 23, 1908.

  “Don’t hold the knife”: Johnson, William Allen White’s America, p. 165.

  White needed . . . to Washington: WAW to WHT, Jan. 22, 1908, White Papers.

  In lengthy letters . . . his success: WAW to WHT, Feb. 26, 1908, White Papers.

  “The meanest man”: WHT to Miller Outcault, Mar. 23, 1908, WHTP.

  an “amiable giant . . . clean off the desk”: WAW, “Taft: A Hewer of Wood,” The American Magazine (April 1908), pp. 19, 23, 31, 32.

  “It would be impossible”: TR to WAW, June 26, 1908, White Papers.

  “I wabble terribly . . . seems so amazing”: IMT to RSB, May 3, 1911, RSB Papers.

  “for the sake of . . . but for the people”: IMT, “Roosevelt vs. Rockefeller,” The American Magazine (February 1908), p. 434.

  “less amazing” figure: IMT to RSB, May 3, 1911, RSB Papers.

  “the St. George”: IMT, All in the Day’s Work, p. 271.

  “I certainly am socialistic”: Palermo, Lincoln Steffens, p. 69.

  Although he praised . . . the system itself: LS, “Roosevelt—Taft—La Follette: On What the Matter Is in America, and What to Do About It,” Everybody’s Magazine (June 1908), pp. 725, 732, 736.

  “You contend . . . mighty little good”: TR to LS, June 5, 1908, in LTR, Vol. 6, pp. 1051, 1053.

  “mutual understanding . . . genuine affection”: LS to TR, June 9, 1908, TRP.

  “the most interesting . . . valiantly and fearlessly”: RSB, “The Powers of a Strenuous President,” The American Magazine (April 1908), pp. 555–56, 559.

  a “European system”: Semonche, Ray Stannard Baker, p. 213.

  “I think you lay . . . man as a man”: TR to RSB, June 3, 1908, in LTR, Vol. 6, pp. 1047–49.