Theodore Rex (153 page)
Authors: Edmund Morris
53
On 19 December
Herbert W. Bowen,
Recollections Diplomatic and Undiplomatic
(New York, 1926), 261; Gooch and Temperley,
British Documents
, vol. 2, 163; Washington
Evening Star
, 20 Dec. 1902; TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 396–98.
54
“I suppose,”
TR,
Letters
, vol. 5, 319.
55
Overflowing with
Washington
Evening Star
, 17 Dec. 1902;
Baltimore Sun
, 13 Feb. 1903. TR also wrote a generous letter to Grover Cleveland on 26 Dec. congratulating
him on “the rounding out of your Venezuela policy.” TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 398.
56
Be yours—we
John Hay to TR, 24 Dec. 1902 (TD).
57
Snow fell
James Garfield diary, 24 Dec. 1902 (JRG). Perhaps the brightest glow beneath TR’s tree was shed by a small copper scuttle that Archie and Quentin found on the White House doorstep. It was addressed “To the President of the United States,” and contained a measure of anthracite coal. Ethel Roosevelt Derby interview, 1962 (TRB). The scuttle is now in TR’s library at Sagamore Hill.
Historiographical Note:
Few episodes in TR’s career have aroused as much controversy as the first Venezuela crisis of 1902. His secrecy about it as President, the apparent collusion of three governments in obliterating the record, and some inconsistencies in his later accounts have caused historians, beginning with Howard C. Hill in 1927, to accuse TR of faulty memory at best and boastful lies at worst. Alfred Vagts and the American diplomatic historian Dexter Perkins, apologists respectively for Nazi Germany and the New Deal, were particularly virulent in the 1930s, and contributed much to the decline in TR’s reputation. They never succeeded, however, in challenging his basic honesty. Even Henry Pringle, the most iconoclastic of Roosevelt biographers, felt compelled to believe him, after an interview with William Loeb in which the former secretary testified that he was present at the two meetings with von Holleben. Loeb also described them to Hermann Hagedorn. Seward W. Livermore in 1946 and Howard K. Beale in 1956 were the first modern scholars to uncover fresh facts in support of TR’s story. Since then, the historical pendulum has continued to swing his way. Edward Parsons wrote a telling essay in 1971, and Frederick W. Marks III in 1979 almost succeeded in proving an international conspiracy to deny that anything happened—when plainly, something very considerable did. The account given in this chapter is based on the author’s article “ ‘A Few Pregnant Days.’ ” See also Parsons, “German-American Crisis,” and, for an important conflicting view that TR’s ultimatum was delivered in late January/early February 1903, see Serge Ricard, “The Anglo-German Intervention in Venezuela and Theodore Roosevelt’s Ultimatum to the Kaiser: Taking a Fresh Look at an Old Enigma,” in Serge Ricard and Hélène Christol, eds.,
Anglo-Saxonism in U.S. Foreign Policy: The Diplomacy of Imperialism, 1899–1919
(Aixen-Provence, 1991), 66–77. While allowing for continuing scholarly disagreement about dates, William N. Tilchin writes, “By any reasonable standard, this controversy should now be considered resolved [in TR’s favor].” Tilchin,
Theodore Roosevelt
, 32.
: A C
ONDITION
, N
OT A
T
HEORY
1
We insist that
“Mr. Dooley” in
The Washington Post
, 1 Mar. 1903.
2
“THE EQUILIBRIUM”
Georges Picot qu. in Jean Jules Jusserand,
What Me Befell: The Reminiscences of J. J. Jusserand
(Boston, 1933), 219; see, e.g., Jean Jules Jusserand,
The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare
(1890),
Piers Plowman
(London, 1894); and
A Literary History of the English People
(London, 1895).
3
Equally clearly
Jusserand,
What Me Befell
, 219; whenever TR’s name was mentioned, Cambon would tap his head significantly. Storer,
In Memoriam
, 38–39.
4
French foreign-policy
Paris correspondent of the
Chicago Tribune
, 19 Oct. 1902. For an overview of the scant French literature on TR, see Serge Ricard, “The French Historiography of Theodore Roosevelt,”
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
, summer 1984.
5
“the proper policing”
Hay had cabled TR’s refusal to arbitrate to Herbert Bowen, the American Minister in Caracas, on 27 Dec. 1902. Although tempted, TR had declined on Hay’s advice, partly out of a desire to help out the court, which was atrophying through lack of business. Livermore, “Theodore Roosevelt”; Beale,
Theodore Roosevelt
.
“A great number of Frenchmen and Europeans are happy to join with me in expressing to you their gratitude for the generous, unyielding firmness you have displayed in support of international justice,” a Hague delegate wrote. “The initiative of the United States, compared with the paralysis of Europe, is a sign of the times” (Baron d’Estournelles de Constant to TR, 27 Dec. 1902 [TRP]). Estournelles de Constant, like TR, was destined to win the Nobel Peace Prize. For international praise of TR, see
Literary Digest
, 3 Jan. 1903.
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, 11
8.
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.
