Theodore Rex

by Edmund Morris

  6 THE JANUARY ISSUE Baker, American Chronicle, 168–69. McClure’s circulation in 1903 was 350,000. This issue achieved record sales.

  7 “The Oil War” This article was the third in what eventually grew to be a nineteen-part series by Ida Tarbell.

  8 “torrential journalism,” Eric F. Goldman, Rendezvous with Destiny: A History of Modern American Reform (New York, 1956), 134–35; Sullivan, Our Times, vol. 3, 133; TR, who knew both Baker and Steffens well, was sufficiently impressed by this issue of McClure’s to invite the two writers to visit him at Sagamore Hill in the summer of 1903. For his previous relations with them, see Baker, American Chronicle, and Steffens, Autobiography, passim. For his later response to the new journalism, see below, chap. 26.

  9 “From now until” TR, Letters, vol. 3, 401. The next Congress was not due until Dec. 1903. Gould, Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, 26–27, points out that by statute, the second and fourth congressional sessions of any presidential four-year term had to end on 4 March. Therefore, only the first and third sessions (when Congress could sit as long as it liked) were convenient to the production of major legislation. Even the third tended to be a cautious session, in view of the upcoming presidential election. Thus, a decision to postpone tariff or reciprocity action in 1902 meant that Congress was not likely to address them again before 1905.

  10 The American economy Thorelli, Federal Antitrust Policy, 238–39. Sixty-three new trusts had been capitalized at more than seven figures in 1902.

  11 He wanted three Claude Barfield, Jr., “Theodore Roosevelt and Congressional Leadership: Trust Legislation in 1903,” Organization of American Historians Convention, 1965 (Kansas City, Mo., 1965).

  12 These requests Philander C. Knox to TR, 30 Mar. 1903 (PCK); 57 Cong., 2 sess., 1903, S. doc 73, serial 4422, 15–21; specifically, Littlefield’s bill gave the ICC, a semi-independent agency, subpoena powers to examine and publish the records of major companies.

  13 some Rooseveltian ideas Thorelli, Federal Antitrust Policy, 239–41; Merrill, Republican Command, 142; Powers, Portraits of Half a Century, 174. TR was privately advised by Knox that the Littlefield bill would be unacceptable to big business and destructive of executive authority. (Philander Knox to TR, 5 Jan. 1903 [PCK]; Arthur M. Johnson, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Bureau of Corporations,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Mar. 1959). On the evening of 5 Jan., TR called in John J. Jenkins, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and practically dictated a bill comprising all his antitrust views. TR also took care to publish a summary of his own program in the newspapers. Whatever legislation was finally adopted would therefore seem to have been inspired by him. Jenkins to Philander Knox, 6 Jan. 1903 (PCK); The Washington Post, 7 Jan. 1903.

  14 Corporations would not Johnson, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Bureau of Corporations”; David B. Sickels to TR, 19 Jan. 1903 (TRP). Beer was the father of Thomas Beer, whose impressionistic biography of Mark Hanna is cited frequently in these notes.

  15 “He was jovial” William C. Beer to George W. Perkins, 15 Jan. 1903 (GWP).

  16 JUSSERAND AND VON Except where otherwise indicated, documentary details in the following paragraphs come from the “Official Report on 1903 Diplomatic Reception,” supplemented with miscellaneous news clips (TAB).

  17 “cosmic cynicism.” Adams, Letters, vol. 5, 319, 350.

  18 One by one Wister, Roosevelt, 110.

  19 Roosevelt’s strategy John Hay to TR, 21 Jan. 1903 (TRP).

  20 The canal treaty Herrán had been expecting an ultimatum from TR for at least a month. On 10 Jan., the Colombian Foreign Ministry granted him what he took to be carte blanche to sign the treaty. DuVal, Cadiz to Cathay, 196, 200; Story of Panama, 270–71; Miner, Fight for the Panama Route, 194.

  21 Downstairs, 1,800 Alice Roosevelt diary, 8 Jan. 1903 (ARL); William E. Curtis to George Cortelyou, 10 Jan. 1903 (GBC); “Official Report” (TAB).

  22 Roosevelt (attended) Seale, President’s House, vol. 2, 699; William E. Curtis to George Cortelyou, 10 Jan. 1903 (GBC); “Official Report” (TAB).

  23 The President, oblivious See Wister, Roosevelt, 113–14, for an account of this supper, and TR’s chortling recitation of “Alone in Cubia” in front of Finley Peter Dunne.

  Chronological Note: The Roosevelts entertained three thousand guests in the first week of the new year alone. Between the reopening of the White House in November 1902 and the beginning of Lent in 1903, their record-breaking guest numbers were as follows:

  Houseguests 200

  Breakfasts 50

  Lunches 275

  Teas 6,000

  Musicales 1,800

  Receptions 5,000

  State dinners 270

  Private dinners 720

  Suppers 1,500

  Total 15,815

  TR was by now spending his entire salary on entertaining. He paid the wages of twenty-three servants, the fees of musical performers, and the costs of the White House equipage. Every state dinner, down to the champagne and cigars, cost him eight hundred dollars (about sixteen thousand dollars in modern currency). When Colonel Theodore A. Bingham, Superintendent of Public Buildings and compiler of the above-cited “Official Report,” criticized the Roosevelts’ lavish lifestyle, he was dismissed. Washington Evening Star, 11 Jan. 1903; Boston Herald, 12 Feb. 1903; New York Sun, 15 Feb. 1903; New York World, 17 Feb. 1903; Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 363–65.

  24 AT BREAKFAST THE next The following conversation is taken from Wister, Roosevelt, 116–17.

  25 William D. Crum George Cortelyou memorandum, 31 Jan. 1903 (TRP). It is impossible to read TR’s voluminous correspondence with black leaders in 1902 and early 1903 and believe that he did not realize the consequences of his Crum appointment, long before Wister challenged him. For the complex state of South Carolinian politics at this time, involving both the White House and the United States Senate, see Gatewood, “Theodore Roosevelt and Southern Republicans.”

  26 Thirteen Negro The Washington Post, 29 Mar. 1902. George Cortelyou memorandum, 31 Jan. 1903 (TRP); Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 7, 28. With the exception of Crum, all TR’s current black appointees were to offices already held by blacks. Most of them, indeed, were reappointments. The Washington Post, 26 Apr. 1903.

  27 Moreover, most had Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 2, 328.

  28 Roosevelt’s argument Gatewood, Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy, 91–100; TR, Letters, vol. 3, 383.

  29 Not until 11 Wister, Roosevelt, 118.

  30 WISTER FLATTERED Ibid., 119. Wister’s book, like countless others of its kind, scrupulously lists the occasions when the President of the United States profited from his counsel.

  31 Mrs. Minnie Cox For a congressional record of this affair, see “Resignation of the Postmaster,” 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 9, H. Doc. 42.

  32 “she would get” Congressional Record, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, 853; “Resignation of the Postmaster,” 33. Anselm J. McLaurin of Mississippi is not to be confused with his outgoing senatorial colleague, John L. McLaurin of South Carolina.

  33 Roosevelt’s reaction White House press releases, “1.34” (TRP).

  34 In deference “Resignation of the Postmaster,” 18, 23, 9, 12; Gatewood, Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy, 64. The Indianola post office eventually reopened with a white postmaster, but was downgraded to fourth-class status. Cox, meanwhile, bought a local savings bank and prospered mightily. Ibid., 88–89.

  35 ON 12 JANUARY New York Sun, 13 Jan. 1903; Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 1, 442. The black ADA-designate was William H. Lewis, a Harvard graduate and All-American football player.

  36 The New York Times The New York Times, 29 Jan. 1903; New York Herald, 12 Jan. 1903; J. Henry Essen to TR, ca. 27 Jan. 1903 (TRP); Gatewood, Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy, 85.

  37 “a 14-karat” Nashville Daily News, 15 Jan. 1903.

  38 By now, Roosevelt A Southern Republican commented, in words that were read into the record: “Mr. McKinley
so mellowed up the Southern people that they were ready to go into the Republican party by the thousands. Mr. Roosevelt is bitterly hated today by almost all Southern white men.… His position on the Negro question has solidified the Democrats as no other conceivable policy could have done. He has aroused the bitterest of race feeling, and it is a question of time when murders will result therefrom.” Congressional Record, 57 Cong., 2 sess., 1903, vol. 36, pt. 2, 1188.

  39 He pointed out TR, Letters, vol. 3, 431; Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 7, 28.

  40 “Why the appointment” TR, Letters, vol. 3, 431.

  41 Black leaders Booker T. Washington to TR, 24 Jan. 1903, and unidentified news clip, 15 Jan. 1903, Presidential scrapbook (TRP).

  Historical Note: “No President has had the gratitude and loyal support of a race to the extent that you have it now,” Booker T. Washington wrote, when TR’s determination became known (Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 7, 11). In Rome, Pope Leo XIII (unaware, no doubt, that he had once laid a benedictive hand on the head of eleven-year-old Teedie Roosevelt) praised the President’s determination “to seek equality of treatment of all the races.” Robinson, My Brother, 47; New York World, 15 Feb. 1903.

  A simultaneous pair of resolutions, by black and white groups, emphasized the paradox of the President’s political situation. In Washington, the National Afro-American Council praised his commitment to “human rights,” and found him “an inspiration to a people struggling heroically beneath the burden of hate” (Associated Press release, 27 Jan. 1903, Presidential scrapbook [TRP]). But in Alabama, white Republicans announced that Roosevelt had “failed absolutely” to carry out the policies of William McKinley. They demanded an extraordinary state convention “solely for the purpose of retracting the resolution endorsing him for President in 1904.” The party chairman said that 95 percent of the delegates would support a presidential bid by “the greatest American statesman,” Senator Mark Hanna (The New York Times and New York Herald, 27 Jan. 1903).

  This was an ominous development. Alabama, as Roosevelt well knew, was the first state on the national roll call. If it cast its vote for Hanna, Arkansas would be tempted to follow. But he could not, in conscience, back down. Resentfully, he told some Southern visitors that he did not understand why “so much fuss” should attend his few black appointments. Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, and McKinley had all made more than he—so far (The New York Times, 27 Jan. 1903; Baltimore Sun, 8 Feb. 1903). TR wrote privately to Booker T. Washington on 9 Feb. 1903, asking that all future black endorsements be kept “very mild,” to avoid hindering him politically. Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 7, 62.

  42 ROOSEVELT WORKED TR, Letters, vol. 3, 406, 408, 412; Adams, Letters, vol. 5, 327; James R. Garfield diary, 17 Jan. 1903 (JRG).

  43 “Il est plus” “He is more English than an Englishman, and more American than an American.” Qu. in Pierre de Margérie to Théophile Delcassé, 12 Jan. 1903, Documents diplomatiques, series 2, vol. 3, 26.

  44 “I see you” Gwynn, Letters and Friendships, vol. 1, 359; Pierre de Margérie to Théophile Delcassé, 18 Jan. 1903, Documents diplomatiques, series 2, vol. 3, 43–45, tr. Sharon Harris. The Kaiser confirmed, via the American diplomat Lloyd Griscom in March 1908, that he had “tried to send you a man you would like.” Draft, 18 Mar. 1908, in LG.

  45 This confidence Dennis, Adventures in American Diplomacy, 294. Italy, as a lesser creditor, was also a party to the talks.

  46 “Mr. Bowen is” Pierre de Margérie to Théophile Delcassé, 18 Jan. 1903, Documents diplomatiques, series 2, vol. 3, 43–45.

  47 “The debts will” Ibid. For British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour’s early approval of the Corollary, see Tilchin, Theodore Roosevelt, 35.

  48 “That is precisely” Tilchin, Theodore Roosevelt, 35. When TR voiced such patronizing sentiments publicly, as he sometimes did in reference to the Monroe Doctrine, he deeply offended Latin Americans. “If we live in disorder,” Colombia’s El Porvenir remarked, “we live in our own house, and nobody has a right to meddle with it.” Qu. in Miner, Fight for the Panama Route, 265.

  49 ON 22 JANUARY The Washington Post, 23 Jan. 1903.

  50 Under the Spooner Story of Panama, 271; DuVal, Cadiz to Cathay, 196. Cullom was for appropriating Panama outright, on grounds of “universal public utility.”

  51 “I am commanded” Story of Panama, 322.

  52 “everything might be lost” DuVal, Cadiz to Cathay, 203.

  53 Late in the Story of Panama, 272.

  54 Four or five New York Sun, 24 Jan. 1903.

  55 “ ’Pears lak us” Georgia Social Sentry, 13 Feb. 1903, Presidential scrapbook (TRP).

  56 White reactionaries “This is about the limit,” the Richmond News raged. Literary Digest, 14 Feb. 1903; Vardaman editorial in Greenwood, Miss., Commonwealth, 10 Jan. 1903, copy in TRP; Gatewood, Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy, 37.

  57 This was not Senator Tillman duly appeared at the hearings, and patronized Crum so effectively (“If he were a white man he’d be all right”) that a majority of the Committee voted to disapprove the nomination. Roosevelt refused to withdraw it. The New York Times, 23 Jan. 1903.

  58 He was lucky Gatewood, Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy, 80; The New York Times, 25 Jan. 1903; Congressional Record, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 1, 1180–81.

  59 “It is as idle” Congressional Record, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 2, 1178. The complete text of Spooner’s remarks is printed in ibid., 1174–90. Even the violent Tillman praised him afterward for his “calm and dispassionate and very earnest and eloquent speech.” Ibid., 2571. N.b.: Spooner used the word duress in the sense of coercion or compulsion.

  60 He cabled home DuVal, Cadiz to Cathay, 206. Later in the year, the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs reportedly confirmed that Herrán’s signature on the treaty was as good as his own. William Nelson Cromwell to Tomas Herrán, 5 July 1903 (TH).

  61 “Gladly shall I” DuVal, Cadiz to Cathay, 206–7.

  62 IN THE LAST DAYS The New York Times, 25 Jan. 1903.

  Chronological Note: On 18 Jan., Germany’s half-forgotten gunboats suddenly bombarded Fort San Carlos, Venezuela. Twenty-five people were killed. There was no apparent provocation, although the Reich claimed Venezuela fired first. John Hay memorandum, 21 Jan. 1903 (JH). Livermore, “Theodore Roosevelt”; Jeffrey M. Dorwart, The Office of Naval Intelligence: The Birth of America’s First Intelligence Agency, 1865–1918 (Annapolis, 1979), 76.

  From Caracas came news that the allied blockade, while starving Venezuelans of bread and salt, was permitting the importation of arms by antigovernment guerrillas; it appeared that the Kaiser was deliberately fomenting unrest as an excuse to land German marines. Dennis, Adventures in American Diplomacy, 294.

  63 had secretly directed The New York Times, 25 Jan. 1903; Parsons, “German-American Crisis.” An even more secret memorandum, from the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, noted that Germany might well be protracting the Venezuela crisis deliberately. With Dewey’s ships tied down in the Caribbean, “no other objective point in the United States is now so inviting for attack as the city of Washington.” Kennedy, War Plans, 55–56.

  64 The arbitration Jules Jusserand to Théophile Delcassé, 7 Feb. 1903 (JJ); J. Fred Rippy, The Caribbean Danger Zone (New York, 1940), 189; Dennis, Adventures in American Diplomacy, 294.

  65 That sounded There were additional rumors in early 1903 that the Kaiser wanted to establish a permanent Caribbean naval squadron, and bid for Panama Canal rights, should Colombia fail to ratify the Hay-Herrán Treaty.

  66 “Are people in” Vagts, Deutschland, vol. 2, 1595. Public concern was also rising again in Britain. George Smalley in The Times (London), 24 Jan. 1903; Gelber, Rise of Anglo-American Friendship, 120–21. Perhaps significantly, TR’s luncheon guests on 29 Jan. included the Admiral of the Navy, the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of War. White House diary (TRP).

  67 He did
not Beale, Theodore Roosevelt, 425. “The friend of peace cannot do anything but pray for you, Mr. President.… Cablegrams which I have received yesterday and today convince me that the excitement in Germany has gone to an absolutely unreasonable degree” (Hugo Münsterberg to TR, 24 Jan. 1903 [TRP]). Münsterberg, a professor at Harvard, was a member of TR’s secret du roi. He had useful private contacts on the Wilhelmstrasse.

  68 BARON VON STERNBURG Blake, “Ambassadors at the Court.” Technically, von Sternburg was not yet credentialed to the United States. He was obliged to play the face-saving fiction that he was deputizing for the “sick” von Holleben. His proper accreditation did not arrive until the spring. Beale, Theodore Roosevelt, 429–30.

  69 After his first Gooch and Temperley, British Documents, vol. 2, 168; Gelber, Rise of Anglo-American Friendship, 123; Herwig, Politics of Frustration, 81.

  70 Von Sternburg sent Parsons, “German-American Crisis,” 445. See also John Hay to Sir Michael Herbert, draft, 5 Feb. 1903 (JH). This was a much milder version of an earlier Hay-Roosevelt draft expressing “profound regret” at the slowness of the negotiations, and warning that “a state of unrest and anxiety exists throughout the Western Hemisphere, which if suffered to increase might bring about results which would universally be deplored” (JH).

  Historical Note: On 5 Feb. 1903, TR requested a comparative analysis of United States and German naval strength in the North and South Atlantic “and the seas contiguous thereto.” The answer, supplied by the Office of Naval Intelligence on 11 Feb., showed that his current temporary advantage in the Caribbean would not last long in a full war. In table form, the all-out opposition would be as follows:

  United States Germany

  Ships

  Battleships, 1st class 7 10

  Battleships, 2d class 1 2

  Monitors/gunboats 4 13

  Guns

  Very big 32 0