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

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Don’t go”: Sullivan, Our Times, Vol. 4, p. 453.

  “in a most depressed . . . benefit to his country”: AB to Clara, Jan. 19, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, pp. 579–81.

  “It was not only a landslide”: AB to Clara, Nov. 9, 1910, in ibid., p. 556.

  “whole drift . . . govern the country”: AB to Clara, Jan. 30, 1910, in ibid., Vol. 1, p. 272.

  “took a whack . . . would have been the same”: AB to Clara, Nov. 9, 1910, in ibid., Vol. 2, p. 555.

  “The warmth of . . . the Philippines!”: AB to Clara, Nov. 11, 1910, in ibid., pp. 556–57.

  “It is always back . . . here in Washington”: AB to Clara, Nov. 24, 1910, in ibid., p. 563.

  While Taft was away, Roosevelt . . . meet with old friends: Washington Times, Nov. 17 & 19, 1910.

  he stopped at the White House: New York Sun, Nov. 20, 1910.

  To accommodate the increased . . . security guards: Evening Independent (Massillon, OH), Oct. 18, 1909.

  “in the center”: William Seale, The President’s House: A History, Vol. 2 (Washington, DC: White House Hist. Assoc. with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society, 1986), pp. 756–58.

  “severe rectangular room”: Evening Independent, Oct. 18, 1909.

  “Oh, yes”: New York Sun, Nov. 20, 1910.

  “it would gratify me”: WHT to TR, Nov. 25, 1910, TRP.

  “You are a trump”: TR to WHT, Nov. 28, 1910, WHTP.

  would be “private citizens”: WHT to TR, Nov. 30, 1910, TRP.

  “I have always felt”: TR to WHT, Dec. 8, 1910, WHTP.

  And Taft wrote yet again: WHT to TR, Dec. 2, 1910, WHTP.

  “I have read your Message”: TR to WHT, Dec. 8, 1910, WHTP.

  “I see signs of the clouds”: AB to Clara, Dec. 26, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 570.

  smooth “the rough edges”: AB to Clara, Jan. 7, 1911, AB Letters.

  On Christmas Day . . . first year as president: AB to Clara, Dec. 26, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 570.

  “kneeled on it to look”: AB to Clara, Jan. 7, 1911, AB Letters.

  “to bestow by exchange”: WHT to EKR, Dec. 31, 1910, in Morris, EKR, p. 338.

  Both Theodore and Edith were touched: TR to WHT, Jan. 7, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 204.

  “brings the two families . . . in a museum”: AB to Clara, Dec. 26, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 570.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: “Like a War Horse”

  “where they compromised . . . out of his head”: WAW to Mark Sullivan, Nov. 22, 1910, White Papers.

  On January 21 . . . the initiative, referendum, and recall: Robert M. La Follette [hereafter RLF] to LS, Jan. 14, 1911, LS Papers.

  “nine U.S. Senators”: Current Literature (March 1911).

  Progressive Federation of Publicists and Editors: Mowry, Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement, p. 173.

  “a roll call” . . . Lincoln Steffens: NYT, Jan. 14, 1911.

  “a sort of pathologist”: Kaplan, Lincoln Steffens, p. 167.

  “I am hungry”: RLF to LS, Nov. 6, 1909, LS Papers.

  “an anti-Taft movement”: National Tribune, Feb. 2, 1911.

  “Nothing . . . could be more reasonable”: Current Literature (March 1911).

  “a much larger . . . popular government”: National Tribune, Feb. 2, 1911.

  “Now, Colonel . . . name and influence?”: RLF to TR, Jan. 9, 1911, TRP.

  La Follette considered Roosevelt an opportunist: RLF, La Follette’s Autobiography, pp. 215–18.

  “an extremist . . . fanaticism”: TR to TR, Jr., Nov. 21, 1910, TRP.

  “That is a mighty nice letter”: TR to RLF, Jan. 24, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 214.

  “merely a means”: TR to RLF, Jan. 3, 1911, in ibid., p. 202.

  “very anxious not to seem”: TR to RLF, Jan. 24, 1911, in ibid., p. 215.

  On March 8, 1911, Theodore Roosevelt embarked: New York Tribune, Mar. 7, 1911.

  “not care a rap”: TR to Lady Delamere, Mar. 7, 1911, TRC.

  “fairly universal . . . my own work”: TR to William Dudley Foulke, Jan. 2, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 196.

  Eight thousand . . . in Atlanta: Times Dispatch (Richmond, Va.), Mar. 9, 1911.

  30,000 . . . in Tacoma, Washington: San Juan Islander (Friday Harbor, WA), April 14, 1911.

  “as uproarious as”: Bemidji Daily Pioneer (St. Paul, MN), April 15, 1911.

  “heavier and slightly grayer”: Seattle Star, April 7, 1911.

  “without the slightest sign”: San Francisco Call, Mar. 24, 1911.

  “all traffic was . . . cheering admirers”: San Juan Islander (Friday Harbor, WA), April 14, 1911.

  The Commercial Club . . . and cockatoos: Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ), April 4, 1911.

  “If there could be any monument”: Bisbee [AZ] Daily Review, Mar. 19, 1911.

  “abiding popularity . . . the United States created”: Leavenworth [WA] Echo, April 14, 1911.

  “low tariff and downward revision man”: WHT to TR, Jan. 10, 1911, TRP.

  “concurrent legislation”: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 2, p. 587.

  “At one stroke . . . policy of his own”: Current Literature (March 1911).

  “well-considered . . . country behind him”: Ibid., p. 6.

  “sit still and await results”: Washington Times, Jan. 30, 1911.

  “breakfast, lunch and dinner”: AB to Clara, June 27, 1911, AB Letters.

  a “week-end sail”: National Tribune, June 13, 1911.

  “linked together . . . the productive forces”: Current Literature (March 1911), p. 4.

  “What you propose . . . party in the end”: TR to WHT, Jan. 12, 1911, WHTP.

  Roosevelt “vigorously advocated”: Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb. 23, 1911.

  “it should always be”: Extract from a speech delivered by Theodore Roosevelt in New York City on Feb. 13, 1911, WHTP.

  “expected the insurgents”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, July 22, 1911, WHTP.

  “Give us something”: New York Tribune, Jan. 28, 1911.

  “politics makes . . . citadel of protection”: Current Literature (March 1911), p. 2.

  “Washington grows weary . . . as selfish”: Washington Herald, July 6, 1911.

  La Follette . . . announced his candidacy: Washington Times, June 17, 1911.

  “trying to manufacture”: Washington Herald, July 6, 1911.

  “a great epoch”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, July 22, 1911, WHTP.

  “Today will be . . . have been impossible”: Washington Times, July 24, 1911.

  Canadian Parliament had descended into “hysteria”: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 2, p. 597.

  Conservative opponents . . . negotiations to begin: Washington Times, July 24, 1911.

  “Canada is now”: New York Evening World, Feb. 15, 1911.

  “bad faith . . . annexation of Canada”: Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb. 23, 1911.

  “has gained remarkably”: Washington Herald, July 24, 1911.

  Roosevelt, who “strongly urged” him: Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy, On Active Service in Peace and War (New York: Harper Bros., 1948), p. 28.

  “If two years ago”: TR to James R. Garfield, April 28, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 246.

  “as much aloof”: TR to TR, Jr., June 20, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 2, p. 293.

  “would be remembered”: National Tribune, June 22, 1911.

  The mansion and the gardens . . . many other distinguished guests: Washington Times, June 19, 1911.

  “a unique distinction”: Washington Herald, June 19, 1911.

  Nellie invited . . . Theodore Roosevelt: Salt Lake Tribune, June 17, 1911.

  “how truly pretty” . . . shouting for help: AB to Clara, May 14, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, pp. 650–51.

  “similar to the first . . . to find her words”: Helen Taft Manning to Robert Taft, May 15, 1911, in Anthony, Nellie Taft, p. 304.

  “the defect in her speech”: WHT to Horace Taft, May 25, 1911, WHTP.
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  “suffered a serious . . . regret and sympathy”: Emporia [KS] Gazette, May 18, 1911.

  Determined to realize . . . her slender figure: Washington Herald, June 20, 1911.

  “every detail . . . finished on time”: New York Sun, June 19, 1911.

  aides clad in “immaculate white”: Washington Herald, June 20, 1911.

  “A mighty shout . . . everybody smiled”: National Tribune, June 29, 1911.

  The applause continued: Washington Herald, June 20, 1911.

  “the last hand was shaken”: National Tribune, June 29, 1911.

  “skipped lightly . . . happy as a boy”: Washington Herald, June 29, 1911.

  “chatted, laughed . . . Secretary of War”: William Manners, TR and Will: A Friendship That Split the Republican Party (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969), p. 192.

  Roosevelt had promised . . . he declined: William H. Cowles to Henry L. Stimson, June 7, 1911, WHTP.

  “misguided friends” of the president: Chicago Daily Tribune, June 7, 1911.

  “under no circumstance . . . mutual friend”: Atlanta Constitution, June 7, 1911.

  “This is the best political”: Hartford Herald, June 14, 1911.

  “affirm or deny . . . like a repetition”: San Francisco Chronicle, June 8, 1911.

  “an unqualified falsehood”: NYT, June 7, 1911.

  “It was outrageous”: TR to Edward A. Van Valkenburg, June 14, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 286.

  “threw a bombshell . . . considerable chagrin”: Chicago Daily Tribune, June 7, 1911.

  forged an agreement . . . “subject to arbitration”: Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 5, 1911.

  “the great jewel . . . the greatest act”: AB to Clara, April 30, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 635.

  “The ideal to which”: San Francisco Call, Sept. 8, 1911.

  “the interests of”: New York Tribune, Oct. 18, 1911.

  “minimize . . . be traced to it”: Daily Kennebec Journal (Augusta, ME), May 31, 1911.

  “She meant so much”: AB to Clara, Aug. 4, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, pp. 730–31.

  “No self-respecting nation”: TR, “The Arbitration Treaty with Great Britain,” Outlook, May 20, 1911, p. 97.

  “greatly disappointed . . . old chief”: AB to Clara, May 18, 1911, AB Letters.

  “mushy . . . for adequate cause”: TR to James A. Drain, June 19, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 287.

  “It is one of our prime duties”: TR, “The Peace of Righteousness,” Outlook, Sept. 9, 1911, pp. 66, 69, 70.

  “I am afraid the old fellow”: AB to Clara, Sept. 8, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 753.

  On September 15 . . . through the West: Los Angeles Herald, Nov. 12, 1911.

  “The White House is once more”: New York Tribune, Sept. 17, 1911.

  “every comfort . . . real beds”: Washington Times, Sept. 13, 1911.

  “taking medicine”: WHT to Otto Bannard, Sept. 10, 1911, WHTP.

  he had worked hard . . . and reciprocity: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 16, 1911, WHTP.

  “bright skies”: Marion [OH] Daily Mirror, Sept. 16, 1911.

  “thought to be . . . a square deal”: Gustav J. Karger, “Report from Taft’s Western Trip,” Sept. 1911, Taft-Karger MSS, CMC.

  “reported in full . . . before the people”: WHT to J. C. Hemphill, Nov. 16, 1911, WHTP.

  “The bets seem to be”: Horace Taft to WHT, Sept. 21, 1911, WHTP.

  “ablaze with red fire”: Washington Herald, Sept. 20, 1911.

  “Laurier government”: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 2, p. 598.

  “an overwhelming . . . to reciprocity”: National Tribune, Sept. 28, 1911.

  “an Imperishable Canada”: Times Dispatch, Sept. 23, 1911.

  “dead as a ducat”: National Tribune, Sept. 28, 1911.

  “We were hit squarely”: WHT to Horace Taft, Sept. 26, 1911, WHTP.

  “for naught . . . little worse off”: National Tribune, Sept. 28, 1911.

  “a terrible blow . . . needed it most”: Cited in the Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 29, 1911.

  Taft remained disconsolate . . . four hundred speeches: AB to Clara, Nov. 20, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 765.

  “by all odds” . . . most successful: AB to Clara, Sept. 8, 1911, in ibid., p. 762.

  “dry and full . . . could almost cry”: AB to Clara, Oct. 5, 1911, in ibid., p. 757.

  “to see him . . . no sign”: “The President’s Journey,” Outlook, Nov. 11, 1911, p. 606.

  “The Taft trip has proved”: NYT, Oct. 29, 1911.

  he weighed 332 pounds: Manners, TR and Will, p. 210.

  Butt worried constantly . . . markedly increased: AB to Clara, Nov. 20, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 765.

  “I had not suspected”: AB to Clara, Nov. 27, 1911, in ibid., pp. 769–70.

  “too heavy . . . three hundred pounds”: WHT to Delia Torrey, Nov. 29, 1911, WHTP.

  “I absolutely agree . . . the Democratic Party”: TR to Hiram Warren Johnson, Oct. 27, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, pp. 419–20.

  Banner headlines . . . Henry Frick: “The Government and the Steel Corporation,” Outlook, Nov. 4, 1911, p. 547.

  “a gigantic monopoly”: Manchester Guardian (UK), Oct. 27, 1911.

  “the dissolution . . . subsidiaries”: The Independent, Nov. 2, 1911.

  “that a desire to stop”: St. Louis [MO] Post-Dispatch, Oct. 28, 1911.

  “Roosevelt Was Deceived”: Manners, TR and Will, p. 200.

  “Roosevelt Fooled”: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 2, p. 670.

  “Ignorance as a Defense”: St. Louis [MO] Post-Dispatch, Oct. 28, 1911.

  “been named as a”: New York Herald, Nov. 18, 1911.

  “This is an official statement”: Philadelphia Record, cited in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 28, 1911.

  “What I did”: TR to Everett P. Wheeler, Oct. 30, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 430.

  “It was not a question”: TR, “The Steel Corporation and the Panic of 1907,” Outlook, Aug. 19, 1911, p. 866.

  “was misled . . . the truth”: TR, “The Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal,” Outlook, Nov. 18, 1911, pp. 650–51.

  “Taft was a member”: TR to James R. Garfield, Oct. 31, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, pp. 430–31.

  “should have been . . . his subordinates take”: TR to Everett P. Wheeler, Oct. 30, 1911, in ibid., p. 430.

  “never forgive . . . of the case”: AB to Clara, Jan. 15, 1912, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 813.

  Never content to remain . . . anti-trust policy: TR, “The Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal,” Outlook, Nov. 18, 1911, p. 649.

  “felt the heavy hand”: TR, “The Government and the Steel Corporations,” Outlook, Nov. 4, 1911, p. 574.

  “embarked upon . . . rolling over the trusts”: National Tribune, Oct. 19, 1911.

  “probably one hundred”: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 2, pp. 668–69.

  “The times have . . . old-fashioned”: National Tribune, Oct. 19, 1911.

  “dead letters” . . . harm to “the innocent”: TR, “The Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal,” Outlook, Nov. 18, 1911, pp. 651–52, 653, 656.

  “Taft Wrong, Says Roosevelt”: New York Sun, Nov. 17, 1911.

  “Colonel Finds”: Boston Herald, Nov. 17, 1911.

  “Roosevelt Takes Issue”: Chicago Record-Herald, Nov. 17, 1911.

  “tens of thousands”: TR to Charles D. Willard, Dec. 11, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 454.

  “Roosevelt’s broadside”: Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 18, 1911.

  More conservative Republicans . . . position on trusts: Mowry, Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement, pp. 192–93.

  “a striking revival”: NYT, Dec. 22, 1911.

  “a thousand questions”: National Tribune, Dec. 21, 1911.

  “bringing [him] forward . . . to the surface”: TR to William Bailey Howland, Dec. 23, 1911, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 466.

  “in an almost astonishing fashion”: James R
. Garfield to Gifford Pinchot, Nov. 28, 1911, Garfield Papers.

  A poll taken . . . Taft and La Follette: New Castle [PA] News, Dec. 8, 1911.

  Nebraska Republicans . . . primary ballot: NYT, Dec. 22, 1911.

  “Events in all parts”: New Castle [PA] News, Dec. 8, 1911.

  “a flat-footed denial . . . anxious days”: National Tribune, Dec. 21, 1911.

  “The Autobiography of an Insurgent”: RSB, Notebook, September [n.d.], 1911, RSB Papers.

  “almost unanimous” endorsement: James R. Garfield, Diary, Oct. 16, 1911, Garfield Papers.

  “the logical . . . and prolonged applause”: NYT, Nov. 28, 1911.

  La Follette found it challenging: Pinchot, History of the Progressive Party, pp. 42–43.

  “Will Roosevelt be . . . slip in”: RSB, Notebook, Nov. 26, 1911, RSB Papers.

  “encouraging La Follette . . . Liberal Movement”: JSP to WAW, Jan. 5, 1912, White Papers.

  “like a war horse . . . again in January”: RSB, Notebook, Dec. 8, 1911, RSB Papers.

  “absolutely plain . . . into the game”: RSB to RLF, Dec. 8, 1911, La Follette Papers.

  “Now, Butt . . . but do it soon”: AB to Clara, Dec. 4, 1911, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 776.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: “My Hat Is in the Ring”

  “The Colonel is . . . of ultimate results”: LS to Allen H. Suggett, Jan. 24, 1912, in LS et al., eds., Letters of Lincoln Steffens, Vol. 1, p. 287.

  “seek the nomination”: TR to Frank Andrew Munsey, Jan. 16, 1912, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 479.

  “a genuine popular . . . do the job”: TR to Herbert Spencer Hadley, Jan. 23, 1912, in ibid., p. 489.

  he would “of course” accept: TR to Henry Beach Needham, Jan. 9, 1912, in ibid., p. 475.

  “Events have been moving”: TR to Chase Salmon Osborn, Jan. 18, 1912, in ibid., p. 484.

  If the governors . . . announcement of his candidacy: Ibid., p. 485.

  “not for his sake”: Harold Howland, Theodore Roosevelt and His Times: A Chronicle of the Progressive Movement (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921), p. 210.

  “the living embodiment . . . a single candidate”: NYT, Jan. 2, 1912.

  La Follette was furious: Nancy C. Unger, Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), p. 201.

  “Carnegie Hall . . . never lost it”: Cited in Belle Case La Follette and Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette, June 14, 1855–June 18, 1925 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953), Vol. 1, pp. 388–90.