Description:

Theodore Roosevelt
[Washington, D.C.], September 26, 1901
Theodore Roosevelt TLS On "Executive Mansion" Mourning Stationery Dated The Day McKinley's Assassin Was Sentenced! TR Introduced "White House" Stationery Less Than 1 Month Later
TLS
A 1p typed letter signed by 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) as "Theodore Roosevelt" at center. September 26, 1901. [Washington, D.C.] On laid watermarked bifold mourning stationery, embossed "Executive Mansion, Washington" at the letterhead. Expected wear including flattened folds, one touching the "Th" of Roosevelt's signature. Isolated ghost ink impressions affecting the first page. A former collector's pencil inscription can be found on the last leaf. The inner pages are blank. Else very good to near fine. 4.875" x 7.75." Accompanied by its original mourning "Executive Mansion" envelope, bearing two cancelled stamps and postmarked on September 27, 1901 in Washington, D.C. Neatly letter-opened verso, with expected weathering. The lot also comes with a vintage portrait postcard of Roosevelt, a "Rotograph" Series No. A1 after the Pach Bros., 1904. Blank verso, toned else very good. 3.25" x 5.375."

Roosevelt wrote this thank-you letter to a lawyer and Republican well-wisher from Nashville, Tennessee named John Allison (1845-1920), in part: "I appreciate your letter and I shall call upon you unhesitatingly…"

On September 23, 1901 from Nashville, Allison had offered Roosevelt his services in any capacity, citing his intimacy with both U.S. Senators from Tennessee, the state's Republican leadership, and the Republican rank and file. Allison's letter to Roosevelt has been digitized and can be viewed by consulting the online records of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University. (See scans of Allison's September 23rd letter to Roosevelt included just for reference.) More than 20 letters of Roosevelt and Allison's correspondence exchanged between 1901-1911 can be found in the Theodore Roosevelt Center archives.

Roosevelt's reply to Allison is dated September 26, 1901, the day that Leon Czolgosz, the Polish-American anarchist who had shot William McKinley, was sentenced to death in New York. McKinley was shot at point-blank range in Buffalo on September 6, 1901, and died of blood poisoning on September 14th. Tried on September 23rd-24th, Czolgosz was sentenced on September 26th, and executed by electric chair at the Auburn State Prison on October 29, 1901.

Roosevelt's letter is also an example of the highly desirable "Executive Mansion" stationery that he used for only about one month, between September 15th and October 17, 1901. On that latter date, President Roosevelt directed that all official papers should carry the heading "White House" instead of the previously employed "Executive Mansion" or "President's House."

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.875" x 7.75"
  • Medium: TLS

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October 30, 2024 10:00 AM EDT
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University Archives

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