Description:

Roosevelt Theodore



Teddy Roosevelt War Dated TLS 1 Month After U.S. Entry into WWI; Just a Few Months before Publishing Foes of Our Own Household

 

1p TLS signed by former 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) as "Theodore Roosevelt" at lower right. Signed in New York City on May 1, 1917. Roosevelt has also made one textual edit, converting a comma into a semicolon in the third sentence. On watermarked cream stationery with "Metropolitan / 432 Fourth Avenue New York / Office of Theodore Roosevelt" letterhead. Docketed by recipient's office at upper right. Minor damage to upper corners where letter was once adhered to another surface, probably a scrapbook. Light expected folds, else near fine. 7.375" x 8.25".

 

Ex-President Roosevelt wrote the following letter to A.W. Thompson, a major American railroad executive, just a month after the United States had finally joined the fray in Europe. He wrote in part:

 

"My dear Mr. Thompson:

 

That's mighty nice of you. Now, I don't want in any way, to interfere with that young man's future. All I wished was that he should receive enough of a rebuke to emphasize the matter; and if you will permit me to make the suggestion, I will be glad to have him reinstated now, on the ground that what has been done to him has warned him, and that therefore the purpose has been accomplished.

 

With very hearty thanks for your courtesy,

 

I am,

 

Sincerely yours,

 

[signed] Theodore Roosevelt."

 

The exact subject of this correspondence is unknown and quite tantalizing. It shows Roosevelt as an agent of incredible power, capable of orchestrating a man's termination from his job, or reinstating it at will. Roosevelt was accustomed to such unilateral decision-making. He was on the verge of contacting President Wilson that spring, with the offer to personally recruit, mobilize, and deploy privately organized military units--much like his celebrated Spanish-American War Rough Riders--overseas.

 

Roosevelt was devastated when President Wilson declined his offer. Just four months after sending this letter, Roosevelt would publish his explosive indictment of peace-loving Democrats. The Foes of Our Own Household was published by the Metropolitan Magazine Company after September 1917.



Roosevelt's correspondent A.W. Thompson was one of the leading railroad executives in the country, at one time serving as Vice President and Chairman of the Board of Managers of Washington Terminal Company. This firm, created during Roosevelt's first administration, was in charge of Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. Over the course of the following year, Thompson would be under increasing scrutiny from President Wilson's Director-General of the Railroads, William McAdoo, for maintaining efficiency standards during wartime.

 



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