Theodore Rex (156 page)
Authors: Edmund Morris
102
the elite company
See, e.g., James Garfield diary, 13 Feb. 1903 (JRG).
103
Cortelyou, despite
To TR, Garfield was “Jim,” while Cortelyou was always “Mr. Cortelyou.”
104
ON 18 FEBRUARY
TR,
Letters to Kermit
, 30. This ride is misdated as 13 Feb. in Beale,
Theodore Roosevelt
, 426.
“Wie gut ist es doch”
the Kaiser commented, “that His Majesty’s German representative goes riding
mit dem Präsidenten!” Die Grosse Politik
, vol. 17, 292.
105
Now that Germany’s
Rippy,
Caribbean Danger Zone
, 198; Hill,
Roosevelt and the Caribbean
, 145.
106
The President’s words
Marks,
Velvet on Iron
, 52–54.
107
When Admiral Dewey
Dewey qu. in New York
Herald
, 27 Mar. 1903; Mrs. Dewey diary, 31 Mar. 1903 (GD); Frederick Palmer,
With My Own Eyes
(Indianapolis, 1932), 128–29; Bishop,
Theodore Roosevelt
, vol. 1, 239; Spector,
Admiral of the New Empire
, 145–46. According to Mrs. Dewey, TR received the Admiral privately, took his hand in both of his, and said, “My best beloved” (a habitual endearment) then, sotto voce, “Damn the Dutch!” According to Palmer, TR tapped Dewey on the wrist and said, grinning, “Admiral, consider yourself reprimanded.”
108
THE FIFTY-SEVENTH
Walter Wellman in Chicago
Record-Herald
, 28 Feb.–3 Mar. 1903; Stephenson,
Nelson W. Aldrich
, 210–11; Simkins,
Pitchfork Ben Tillman
, 364–65.
109
Roosevelt’s “tyrannical”
Senoia, Georgia,
Enterprise-Gazette
, 26 Feb. 1903, Presidential scrapbook (TRP); Fleming,
Around the Capitol
, 49; Sullivan,
Our Times
, vol. 3, 231–32. Dr. Crum assumed his appointment on 30 Mar. 1903.
110
“To the Secretary”
TR to Elihu Root, 21 Feb. 1903 (ER).
111
Treaties were
TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 433; Walter Wellman in Chicago
Record-Herald
, 3 Mar. 1903; proclamation, 2 Mar. 1903, Presidential scrapbook (TRP).
112
He had hardly
Chicago
Record-Herald
, 3–4 Mar. 1903;
Literary Digest
, 7 Mar. 1903.
113
A House-Senate
The phrase
ugly with anger
is Walter Wellman’s in the Chicago
Record-Herald
, 4 Mar. 1903. See also Washington
Evening Star
, same date.
114
At 2:00
A.M.
The adjective
dilatory
is Quay’s own.
Congressional Record
, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 3, 3005–6;
The Washington Post
, 4 Mar. 1903.
115
Outside, the moon
Washington
Evening Star
, 4 Mar. 1903; Bolles,
Tyrant from Illinois
, 8–9;
Congressional Record
, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 3, 3058.
116
Joseph Gurney Cannon
Thompson,
Party Leaders
, 181;
Public Opinion
, 13 Feb. 1903.
117
Yet in this
Cannon began to speak at 3:30
A.M.
He had been confirmed as Henderson’s successor in January. Washington
Evening Star
, 4 and 5 Mar. 1903; Merrill,
Republican Command
, 137.
118
Long years of
Bolles,
Tyrant from Illinois
, 8–9; Stephenson,
Nelson W. Aldrich
, 213–14.
119
“I am in earnest”
Congressional Record
, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 3, 3058.
120
When Cannon
Busbey,
Uncle Joe Cannon
, xvi; James E. Watson,
As I Knew
Them: Memoirs
(Indianapolis, 1936), 92, 99–100; Thompson,
Party Leaders
, 177–79.
121
“I am getting”
Congressional Record
, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 3, 3058.
122
Applause roared
Washington
Evening Star
, 3–4 Mar. 1903;
Congressional Record
, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 3, 3008.
123
THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S
Washington
Evening Star
, 4 Mar. 1903. The author is grateful to Brad Smith for enabling him to sit in the President’s Room and revisit this moment.
124
The naval-construction
TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 438;
Booker T. Washington Papers
, vol. 7, 106; Gatewood,
Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy
, 112, 115. TR kept Crum in office as a recess appointee until the Senate finally confirmed him in Jan. 1905.
125
As the hands
Congressional Record
, 57 Cong., sess. 2, 1903, vol. 36, pt. 3, 3070; New York
Sun
, 5 Mar. 1903.
126
Far away, at
Washington
Evening Star
, 4 Mar. 1903; Thompson,
Party Leaders
, 174–76; photographs in LC. For an analysis of the political forces Cannon harnessed in his leap to power, see Stephenson,
Nelson W. Aldrich
, 213–14.
: T
HE
B
LACK
C
RYSTAL
1
We’re a gr-reat
Finley Peter Dunne,
Mr. Dooley in Peace and War
(Boston, 1905), 5.
2
“Will you take”
Pittsburgh
Gazette
, 2 Apr. 1903.
3
The fireman stared
Pittsburgh
Gazette
and New York
Sun
, 2 Apr. 1903.
Note:
The principal source for this chapter is TR’s own scrapbook, “Comment on West Coast Trip, 1903,” 3 vols. (TRP). Because the scrapbook proceeds chronologically, with an abundance of overlapping information, it will be cited as a single source. The author has also relied in particular on the eyewitness daily reports of Lindsay Denison in the New York
Sun
, and TR’s own narrative in
Letters
, vol. 3, 547–63. This classic, often very funny document, written at the request of John Hay, has been published separately in Elting E. Morison, ed.,
Cowboys and Kings: Three Great Letters by Theodore Roosevelt
(Cambridge, Mass., 1954), 1–23. See p. 241.
4
Free at last
Chronological Note:
TR’s official itinerary gives an idea of the rigors of presidential touring in the age before air travel and the loudspeaker. (“Whistle-stops” omitted.)
APRIL 1
: Leave Washington, D.C. 2: Chicago, Evanston, Ill. 3: Madison, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Wisc. 4: La Crosse, Wisc.; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. 5: Sioux Falls, S.D. 6: Yankton, Mitchell, Aberdeen, S.D.; Edgeley, Fargo, N.D. 7: Jamestown, Bismarck, Mandan, Medora, N.D. 8: Livingston, Cinnabar, Mont. (Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., through 24 Apr.) 25: Billings, Mont., Alliance, Nebr. 26: Grand Island, Nebr. 27: Hastings, Lincoln, Fremont, Omaha, Nebr. 28: Shenandoah, Clarinda, Van Wert, Osceola, Des Moines, Ottumwa, Iowa. 29: Keokuk, Iowa; Quincy, Ill.; Hannibal, Clarksville, St. Louis, Mo. 30: St. Louis.
MAY
1: Kansas City, Mo.; Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka, Kans. 2: Manhattan, Junction City, Abilene, Salina, Ellsworth, Russell, Hays, Wakeeny, Sharon Springs, Kans. 3: Sharon Springs. 4: Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, Colo. 5: Santa Fe, Albuquerque, N.M. Terr. 6: Grand Canyon, Ariz. Terr. 7: Barstow, Redlands, San Bernardino, Riverside, Calif. 8: Claremont,
Pasadena, Los Angeles, Calif. 9: Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Calif. 10: Monterey, Calif. 11: Pajaro, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Calif. 12: Palo Alto, Burlingame, San Francisco, Calif. 13–14: San Francisco. 15: Raymond, Calif. (Yosemite National Park through 18 May). 19: Carson City, Reno, Nev.; Sacramento, Calif. 20: Redding, Sisson, Calif.; Ashland, Ore. 21: Salem, Portland, Ore. 22: Chehalis, Centralia, Olympia, Tacoma, Wash. 23: Bremerton, Everett, Seattle, Wash. (by boat). 24: Seattle. 25: Ellensburg, North Yakima, Pasco, Wallula, Walla Walla, Wash. 26: Wallace, Harrison, Idaho; Tekoa, Spokane, Wash. 27: Helena, Butte, Mont. 28: Pocatello, Shoshone, Mountain Home, Nampa, Boise, Idaho. 29: Salt Lake City, Ogden, Utah; Evanston, Wyo. 30: Laramie, Cheyenne, Wyo. (on horseback). 31: Cheyenne.
JUNE 1
: North Platte, Nebr. 2: Denison, Fort Dodge, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Dubuque, Iowa. 3: Freeport, Rockford, Rochelle, Aurora, Joliet, Dwight, Pontiac, Lexington, Bloomington, Ill. 4: Lincoln, Springfield, Decatur, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind. 5: Return Washington, D.C. “Tour of the President to the Pacific Coast,” booklet in GBC.
5
the emotional drain
EKR was taken seriously ill at a reception on 12 Feb. 1903, and miscarried. Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 265.
6
and the stress
See above, chap. 14; TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 422;
Washington Times
, 20 Feb. 1903. Although TR’s chronic respiratory problem was more or less cured by his mid-twenties, he did have occasional later attacks, usually associated with extreme fatigue or fibrous inhalation. He admitted to “asthma—occasional attacks—not severe” when applying for life insurance early in his Presidency. McCullough,
Mornings on Horseback; Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 164; TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles (TRB); New York Life policy statement, 14 Nov. 1901, New York Life Archives, New York.
7
At Seward, he
Pittsburgh
Gazette
and New York
Sun
, 2 Apr. 1903.
8
First, a baggage
The Washington Post
, 3 Apr. 1903; “Comment” scrapbook. There were no women aboard the Pacific Coast Special.
9
Last came
Ibid.
10
AT 8:50
The following account is based on
Chicago Tribune
, 3 May 1903, and “Comment” scrapbook.
11
“There is a homely”
TR,
Presidential Addresses and State Papers
, vol. 1,265–66.
12
Actually, Roosevelt
Marks,
Velvet on Iron
, 58–59. As a recent case in point, TR had instructed Senator George Turner to keep a cool negotiating head at the Alaska Border Tribunal, but to be confident that, in the event of “specious and captious objections on the part of the English, I [will] send a brigade of American regulars up to Skagway and take possession of the disputed territory and hold it by the power and force of the United States.” Wood,
Roosevelt As We Knew Him
, 115.
13
He reiterated his
TR,
Works
, vol. 13, 465, 467–68.
14
Roosevelt continued
Dawes,
Journal of the McKinley Years
, 343–44.
15
“His hearty greetings”
Ibid.
16
The
Chicago Tribune’s
“Comment” scrapbook.
17
In Milwaukee’s
New York
Sun
, 21 and 25 Apr. 1903; TR,
Presidential Addresses and State Papers
, vol. 1, 272–78.
18
Further roars
Burroughs,
Camping and Tramping
, 10; Milwaukee
Journal
and Milwaukee
Sentinel
, 4, 3 Apr. 1903; “Comment” scrapbook.
19
TARIFF POLICY IN
TR,
Presidential Addresses and State Papers
, vol. 1, 294–320;
Leslie’s Weekly
, 30 Apr. 1903; New York
Sun
, 8 Apr. 1903;
The Washington Post
, 8 Apr. 1903.
20
He ate a
TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 550; Bismarck
Tribune
, 8 Apr. 1903.
21
For the next
Burroughs,
Camping and Tramping
, 12–13; TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 551.
22
When the train
Burroughs,
Camping and Tramping
, 15–16; Morris,
Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
, 201, 337; TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 551–52.
23
Joe Ferris was
New York
Sun
, 8 Apr. 1903; TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 552.
24
Shortly after noon
For TR’s own account of his visit to Yellowstone, see TR,
Works
, vol. 3, chap. 9.
25
“Oom John”
Oom
(Dutch diminutive for “old man”) was TR’s affectionate name for Burroughs. See also TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 429–30.
26
They were greeted
Cutright,
Theodore Roosevelt
, 105; Paul Schullery, “A Partnership in Conservation: Theodore Roosevelt and Yellowstone,”
Montana
28.3 (1978); New York
Sun
, 9 Apr. 1903; Burroughs,
Camping and Tramping
, 24–25.
27
“By the way”
TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 552–53.
28
Hell-Roaring Bill
Herman Hagedorn,
Roosevelt in the Bad Lands
(Boston, 1921), 113–17. 219
“I will try”
TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 553.
29
A FEW HOURS
New York
Sun
and
Baltimore American, 11
Apr. 1903; Thorelli,
Federal Antitrust Policy
, 561; Martin,
James J. Hill
, 517; Lamoreaux,
Great Merger Movement
, 166–67.