Theodore Rex

by Edmund Morris

  13 “I ASK NOTHING” Perdicaris, “Morocco”; Samuel Gummeré to Francis B. Loomis, 20 May 1904 (NA).

  14 A few days Thomas H. Etzold, “Protection or Politics? ‘Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead?’ ” The Historian, Feb. 1975.

  15 “I had much” TR, Letters, vol. 4, 821, 807. See the last-cited letter, to George Otto Trevelyan, for an expression of TR’s current frame of mind. For a further sense of TR’s executive maturity at this time, see his long directives on Far Eastern affairs, Panamanian cable concessions, and Philippines administration in TR, Letters, vol. 4, 834–43. The note of command is assured, deft, irresistible; the point of view omniscient.

  16 The odds on Washington Evening Star, 20 May 1904; Bishop, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 1, 322. TR had sensed Parker as his probable Democratic rival for more than a year. The Exeter, N.H., News-Letter, 6 Mar. 1903, in Presidential scrapbook (TRP).

  17 Reticence and its Washington Evening Star, 21 May 1904; New York Sun, 27 May 1904; Newark, N.J., Evening News, 1 June 1904. See also TR, Letters, vol. 4, 804.

  18 A White House “source” Washington Evening Star, 17 May 1904; TR, Letters, vol. 4, 797.

  19 “He wants us” John Hay diary, 22 May 1904 (JH).

  20 Like Taft William H. Taft to Mrs. Taft, 12 Apr. 1904 (WHT).

  21 In any case John Hay diary, 22 May 1904 (JH); TR, Letters, vol. 4, 833.

  22 With less than New York Evening Post, 18 May 1904; The New York Times, 3 May 1904; TR, Letters, vol. 4, 823–24, 833; Philadelphia Press, 4 June 1904; New York Sun, 18 June 1904.

  23 “Mr. President, I” Butler, Across the Busy Years, vol. 1, 321. Another of TR’s favorite Beveridge stories had the young Senator visiting him at night and saying with solemn urgency: “It’s time now, sir, for you to govern by psychic suggestion.” Wister, Roosevelt, 112. In the event, the temporary chairman of the 1904 Republican convention was Henry Clay Payne. Elihu Root gave the keynote speech.

  24 ROOSEVELT DID NOT John Hay diary, 28 May 1904 (JH).

  25 The President seemed Qu. in Peter Larsen, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Moroccan Crisis, 1904–1905” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1984), 52.

  26 AT 5:30 A.M. Samuel Gummeré to Francis B. Loomis, 3 June 1904 (NA).

  27 PRESIDENT WISHES Samuel Gummeré to John Hay, 8 June 1904, and Hay to Gummeré, same date (NA).

  28 Before nightfall Samuel Gummeré to John Hay, 8 June 1904 (received 6:21 P.M., 9 June) (NA).

  29 ON 10 JUNE Philadelphia Public Ledger, 10 June 1904.

  30 Roosevelt accepted Eitler, “Philander Chase Knox,” 206; TR, Letters, vol. 4, 828–29.

  31 “Many great and” TR to Philander Knox, 23 June 1904 (PCK).

  32 Roosevelt had grown TR, Letters, vol. 5, 782; Eitler, “Philander Chase Knox,” 27, 203. Leslie Shaw once overheard Knox politely reprimanding the President that it was almost impossible to state a legal proposition to him. “Before I am halfway through stating it, you have grasped it all, and have rendered your decision before you know what my conclusions are.” Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him, 473–74.

  33 And he was quick Philadelphia Public Record, The Washington Post, and Utica, N.Y., Observer, 19 June 1904; Philadelphia American, 10 June 1904. Thorelli, Federal Antitrust Policy, 407, and Eitler, “Philander Chase Knox,” 207–8, agree with Knox’s sober self-assessment. “Almost without exception,” Eitler remarks, “the record … was one of presidential leadership by Roosevelt and conservative legalistic support by Knox.” As an executive pair, they separately represented the promise and the restraints of the Constitution.

  34 JOHN HAY FORWARDED Foreign Relations 1904, 500; John Hay diary, 14 June 1904 (JH); Hay to TR, 15 June 1904 (TD).

  35 The Secretary’s desire Dennett, John Hay, 402.

  36 “Our position must” TR to John Hay, 15 June 1904 (JH).

  37 Hay unhappily Still, American Sea Power, 167; Jules Jusserand to Théophile Delcassé, Documents diplomatiques, series 2, vol. 25, 234; Larsen, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Moroccan Crisis,” 42–44.

  38 “The President’s will” Jules Jusserand to Théophile Delcassé, 19 June 1904 (JJ). The French government did, however, put considerable diplomatic pressure on Morocco to settle with Raisuli. Since the Sultan was newly indebted to Foreign Minister Delcassé for a fifty-million-franc loan, he could hardly refuse. In “Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead,” American Heritage, Aug. 1959, Barbara Tuchman remarks of the Roosevelt/Hay approach to Jusserand: “By recognizing France’s special status in Morocco, this step, consciously taken, was of international significance in the train of crises that was to lead through Algericas and Agadir to 1914.” It is also possible that TR, a punctilious diplomat, was simply honoring the month-old Anglo-French Entente.

  39 Similar complaints The New York Times, 17 June 1904; Dawes, Journal of the McKinley Years, 374–76; Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 278–80; Howe, George von Lengerke Meyer, 92; TR, Letters, vol. 4, 838–39; Charles G. Dawes to TR, 18 June 1904 (TRP); New York Sun, 18 June 1904.

  40 “Excitement is” Henry Cabot Lodge to TR, 24 June 1904 (TRP).

  41 Old-timers talked The best account of TR’s role in the 1884 convention is Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt, chap. 23.

  42 Now, two decades The New York Times, 20 June 1904; “The Republican National Convention,” Review of Reviews, Aug. 1904.

  43 “From Panama on” Kerr, Bully Father, 156–57. This letter of 20 June 1904 is misdated “June 21” in TR, Letters, vol. 4, 840.

  44 LONG BEFORE PROCEEDINGS The New York Times, 21 and 19 June 1904; Bolles, Tyrant from Illinois, 45; New York Sun, 21 June 1904. “From beginning to end, [the convention] was ruled with an iron hand beneath a soft glove … the master was recognized, and loyalty to the party was simply servility to orders.” Review of Reviews, Aug. 1904.

  45 One thing Roosevelt New York World, 22 June 1904; New York Sun, 21–23 June 1904.

  46 A question buzzed Wheaton, “Genius and Jurist,” 283; New York Sun, 22 June 1904.

  47 At 12:14, another Payne, acting chairman of the convention, died on 4 Oct. 1904. Except where otherwise indicated, the following account (including speech quotations) is based on Official Proceedings of the 13th Republican National Convention in the City of Chicago, June 21, 22, 23, 24, 1904 (Minneapolis, 1904).

  48 Elihu Root rose New York Sun, 22 June 1904.

  49 “Louder!” a voice The New York Times, 22 June 1904.

  50 IN WASHINGTON, it Washington Evening Star, 22 June 1904; Elihu Root to TR, 14 June 1904 (TRP). TR had supplied the list of “achievements” himself. See TR, Letters, vol. 4, 810–13, and Jessup, Elihu Root, vol. 1, 421–23.

  51 IN TANGIER, it The exact time difference between Washington and Tangier was four hours and forty-five minutes. World Almanac, 1904.

  52 Today, 21 June Samuel Gummeré to John Hay, 19 and 20 June 1904 (NA); Hourihan, “Roosevelt and the Sultans,” 113; John Hay diary, 18 June 1904 (JH); Samuel Gummeré to Francis B. Loomis, 23 May 1904 (NA).

  53 Aboard the Brooklyn Doris D. Maguire, ed., French Ensor Chadwick: Selected Letters and Papers (Washington, D.C., 1981), 362; Samuel Gummeré to John Hay, 21 June 1904 (NA). Gummeré’s cable was received by the State Department at 1:40 P.M.—i.e., 6:25 P.M. Tangier time. Overnight, the Admiral changed his mind about sending Marines ashore, thus pre-empting an almost certain bloodbath. French E. Chadwick to John Hay, 24 June 1904 (JH); Hourihan, “Roosevelt and the Sultans,” 115.

  54 BY NOW, Root’s The New York Times, 22 June 1904.

  55 “All except the members” Ibid.

  56 Root did not enunciate Ibid.

  57 HAY PONDERED Larsen, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Moroccan Crisis,” 65–66. 334 Unable to confront Dennett, John Hay, 402.

  58 Hunt came back The last two sentences of this paragraph represent the author’s reading of TR’s attitude. Etzold, “Protection or Politics?” and Larsen, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Moroccan Crisis,” 69–70, feel similarly. Although some historians have doubted that TR authoriz
ed or even knew of Hay’s ultimatum in advance, TR himself was specific on 31 Dec. 1915: “I was able to secure the release of [Perdicaris] only by demanding immediate action, and making them understand that when I said action I meant it.” Qu. in Maguire, French Ensor Chadwick, 619.

  59 Hay, drafting his John Hay diary, 23 June 1904 (JH).

  60 WE WANT PERDICARIS John Hay to Samuel Gummeré, 22 June 1904 (NA).

  61 “Then I will” Memorandum by William D. Hassett in EMH, n.d. See also memos by Gretchen Hood and Dudley Haddock, 16 May 1943, in EMH. All three sources say Hood was the originator, in his conversation with Hay, of the phrase Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead. However, Hay, never a boastful man, called the phrase his own “concise impropriety,” and in his diary for the day speaks simply of “my telegram.” Hood’s version of the phrase was less “concise,” with a superfluous either that Hay (a fastidious stylist) would not have permitted himself. At any rate, the journalist got the scoop.

  62 But by the time Foreign Relations 1904, 503.

  63 HOOD’S DISPATCH Chicago Record-Herald, 23 June 1904.

  64 “We declare our” Merrill, Republican Command, 184–86. See Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 290, for Lodge’s nonauthorship of the GOP platform.

  65 When Lodge finished Chicago Record-Herald, 23 June 1904.

  66 “Bulletin,” the clerk Ibid.

  67 After two days New York Tribune, 23 June 1904, used the phrase “like an electric thrill.”

  68 Cannon quickly adjourned TR’s reputation, Etzold remarks in “Protection or Politics?” has suffered from “unjust smudging” by historians who have sought to show that the Raisuli telegram was timed for political effect in Chicago, rather than diplomatic effect at Tangier. There is no evidence that TR was responsible for its timing. Hay, however, did not hesitate to share his “concise impropriety” with the press. In announcing the Scripps-McRae dispatch, Cannon said that it had been “verified,” presumably in a telephone call to the State Department. Etzold comments: “The fact that Roosevelt had resolved on such a position by 15 June, before the convention even opened … makes it clear that the politics of conventioneering had far less to do with the message than long exasperating delays.” See also Hourihan, “Roosevelt and the Sultans,” 123, and Larsen, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Moroccan Crisis,” 25–27.

  69 “Events are numberless” Official Proceedings, 147.

  70 It was just The New York Times, 24 June 1904.

  71 An elemental din Ibid.

  72 THE REAL ROOSEVELT Alice Roosevelt diary, 23 June 1904 (ARL).

  73 With kisses on The New York Times, 24 June 1904.

  74 “Thank Heaven” See also Ion Perdicaris to Samuel Gummeré, 29 June 1904 (NA). Taxed by an indignant Gummeré about his lapsed citizenship (which was finally confirmed in a State Department cable to Loomis on 28 June), Perdicaris said that he had traded his passport in 1861 in order to prevent the Confederacy from attaching some property he owned in South Carolina. This formality aside, “I … continued to consider myself an American citizen … both my parents being, at the time of my birth, citizens of the United States.… I now realize only too keenly the false position in which I have been placed by this fatal hesitation and neglect.” Qu. in Larsen, “Theodore Roosevelt and the Moroccan Crisis,” 67–68. Larsen cites an important, and neglected, ruling by Secretary of State Root on 27 Oct. 1905 that Perdicaris “never effectively acquired Greek, or divested himself of American citizenship.” See also Etzold, “Protection or Politics?” on Perdicaris’s legal entitlement to United States protection in 1904. Perdicaris was presented with a new United States passport in 1905, and spent the rest of his life in Britain.

  Raisuli, enriched by the Sultan’s ransom, became a figure of legendary status in Morocco. His followers believed him to be immortal. He acquired a fleet of small ships and practiced Berber-style piracy on coastal traffic. In old age, he was captured by a younger rival, after a fierce fight. He died in April 1925, a few months after his ancient hostage.

  CHAPTER 22: THE MOST ABSURD POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF OUR TIME

  1 I think a lot Dunne, Observations by Mr. Dooley, 225.

  2 THE DIFFICULTY OF TR, Letters, vol. 4, 892.

  3 So, by late June The most complete account of this year’s campaign events is Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist.” See also Merrill, Republican Command, chap. 8.

  4 There was no William H. Harbaugh, “Election of 1904,” in Schlesinger and Israel, History of American Presidential Elections, vol. 3, 1973–74; Thompson, Party Leaders, 365–66; Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 315.

  5 Alton Brooks Parker Washington Evening Star, 2 May 1904; Alton Parker scrapbook (ABP); Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 109. See also Fred C. Shoemaker, “Alton B. Parker: The Image of a Gilded Age Statesman in an Era of Progressive Politics” (M.A. thesis, Ohio State University, 1983).

  6 Roosevelt had foreseen John Hay diary, 20 Mar. 1904 (JH); Brooks Adams to TR, 22 Sept. 1902 (TRP); TR, Letters, vol. 4, 806.

  7 Personally, he liked On 15 June 1900, Governor Roosevelt expressed “not merely a strong personal liking but a very high regard and admiration” for Parker, and went out of his way to secure patronage for the judge’s brother, also a Democrat. Parker publicly praised TR on his retirement from Albany. There is a photograph of them sitting convivially at the same table at TR’s farewell dinner. TR, Letters, vol. 2, 1333, and vol. 3, 1; Alton Parker, Autobiography Notes (ABP).

  8 The judge was James Creelman, “Alton Brooks Parker: A Character Sketch,” Washington Evening Star, 24 May 1904; M. G. Cuniff, “Alton Brooks Parker,” World’s Work, June 1904. The best assessment of Parker is Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” chap. 3.

  9 Eighteen years of Review of Reviews, Aug. 1904; Harold F. Gosnell, Boss Platt and His New York Machine (Chicago, 1924), 42; Dictionary of American Biography; Washington Evening Star, 9 May 1904.

  10 And so did most Harbaugh, “Election of 1904,” 1977; Washington Evening Star, 6 July 1904.

  11 ON FRIDAY, a little The New York Times, 9 July 1904. Parker’s house, called Rosemount in 1904, is now Lamont Landing in Esopus, N.Y. Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley, The History of West Park and Esopus (Hannacroix, N.Y., 1978).

  12 Around sunset The following account is taken from The New York Times and New York Herald, 10 July 1904.

  13 the achievement of his life Nobody browsing Parker’s papers in LC can doubt that his remaining twenty-two years were anticlimactic to this moment. In old age, the judge began to dictate a memoir of Saharan dryness, but words failed him when he reached 1904. Apart from a few notes, the autobiography lay unfinished.

  14 They were full Alton Parker scrapbook (ABP); The New York Times, 9 July 1904.

  15 The telegram was Washington Evening Star, 12 July 1904; The New York Times, 10 July 1904. See also Harbaugh, “Election of 1904,” 1983.

  16 I REGARD THE Qu. in Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 343–45.

  17 An eighty-year-old For obvious reasons, Democratic campaign literature played down the fact that the G. in Davis’s name stood for Gassaway.

  18 ROOSEVELT WAS FULL TR, Letters, vol. 4, 852, 858; Lodge, Selections, vol. 2, 89.

  19 Professionals in both Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 351–52. See, e.g., New York Evening Post, 11 July 1904. “For the first time, they [the Republicans] are afraid, and their fear is real.” Des Portes to Théophile Delcassé, 13 July 1904 (JJ).

  20 Time would tell Some strategists were even talking of a delay until October. See, e.g., Albert J. Beveridge to TR, 9 Aug. 1904 (AJB).

  21 Roosevelt had scheduled Washington Evening Star, 2 July 1904; The Washington Post, 3 July 1904.

  22 ON 27 JULY Except where otherwise indicated, the following account of TR’s notification ceremony is based mainly on reports in The New York Times, New York Sun, New York World, and New York Herald, 28 July 1904.

  23 “That’s perfectly true” Cannon had just praised the Roosevelt Administration’s actions in Panama. />
  24 used the word power John Hay diary, 13 July 1904 (JH). “Mr. Knox [also] thought it was touched with demagogy in its original form,” TR cheerfully informed George Cortelyou. “Root agreed with Knox” (8 June 1904 [GBC]). His edited speech appears in Presidential Addresses and State Papers, vol. 3, 36–47.

  25 She laughed with The New York Times and New York World, 28 July 1904. The adjective phosphorescent is Marguerite Cassini’s in Never a Dull Moment, 166.

  26 Something flickered The New York Times, 28 July 1904.

  27 Roosevelt paid no New York World, 28 July 1904; Alice Roosevelt diary, 21 June, 17 and 27 May (“I pray God to grant unto me a fortune”), and 9 and 13 June, 1903; 27 July 1904 (ARL). Alice called her snake “Emily Spinach.” For TR’s views on this pet, see below, pp. 692–93.

  28 “When I come down” Ibid., 15 June 1903 (ARL).

  29 ROOSEVELT’S THOUGHTFUL Group portrait of the GOP Notification Committee, Leslie’s Weekly, 11 Aug. 1904.

  30 Odell had proved Richard L. McCormick, From Realignment to Reform: Political Change in New York State, 1893–1910 (Ithaca, 1981), 166–89.

  31 This brazen mixing Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” 475; Gould, Reform and Regulation, 47; see also McCormick, From Realignment to Reform, 220–22.

  32 It was vital McCormick, From Realignment to Reform, 175; Jessup, Elihu Root, vol. 1, 423.

  33 “The Republicans of” TR, Letters, vol. 4, 677.

  34 Root politely declined Jessup, Elihu Root, vol. 1, 425–27.

  35 ON THE DAY The Washington Post and Washington Times, 29 July 1904; John Hay to Henry White, 2 July 1904 (TD).

  36 Washington sweltered Washington Evening Star, 10 Aug. and passim 1904; Hay, Letters, vol. 3, 305; John Hay to Henry White, 2 July 1904 (TD); contemporary photographs in LC.