Theodore Roosevelt Abroad (31 page)

1. Butt,
Taft and Roosevelt
, 1: 25–26.
2. Taft to TR, March 21, 1909, Series 1, Reel 88, TRP.
3. TR to Taft, March 23, 1910, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 3–4.
4. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, April 13, 1909, bmsAm 1834, Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University, hereafter TRC. Also in Anna Roosevelt Cowles,
Letters from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles 1870–1918
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1924), 277–78.
5. TR to Heller, October 24, 1908, Series 2, Reel 352, TRP.
6. Mearns to Mrs. Mearns, April 1, 1909, RU 7083, Box 1, Mearns Papers, Smithsonian Archive.
7. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, April 13, 1909, bmsAm 1834, TRC.
8. Robinson,
My Brother Theodore Roosevelt
, 255.
9. Francis Warrington Dawson,
Opportunity and Theodore Roosevelt
(New York: Honest Truth Publishing Company, 1923), 52–53.
10. For Dawson’s recollections, see Dawson,
Opportunity and Theodore Roosevelt
.
11. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, April 13, 1909, bmsAm 1834, TRC. 12. Ethel Roosevelt to Kermit Roosevelt, nd, Box 4, Kermit Roosevelt Papers, Library of Congress; Patricia O’Toole,
When Trumpet’s Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), 40.
13. TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, April 14, 1909, bmsAm1540, TRC.
14. Mearns to Mrs. Mearns, April 21, 1909, RU 7083, Box 1, Mearns Papers, Smithsonian Archive.
15. Theodore Roosevelt,
African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 15.
16. For a list of the donors, see Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 20–21. For this weapon and the others he took to Africa, see Wilson,
Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman
.
17. TR to Robert Ferguson, January 17, 1909, Series 2, Reel 353, TRP. 18. TR to Buxton, January 27, 1909, Series 2, Reel 353, TRP. 19. Buxton to TR, February 10, 1910, Series 1, Reel 88.
20. Francis Warrington Dawson, “Hunting with Roosevelt in East Africa,”
Hampton’s Magazine
23, 5 (November 1909), 595.
21. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 86. In his review of
African Game Trails
, Sir Harry Johnston corrected TR’s Swahili. According to Johnston, Kermit’s nickname should have been spelled Malidadi, meaning a smart young man rather than simply a dandy. TR’s Makumba meant tombs and should have been Mkubwa. “The Roosevelts in Africa,”
The Outlook
, December 17, 1910, 864.
22. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 23, 45.
23. Ibid., 23–26.
24. Roosevelt’s 1909 Diary is in the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard.
25. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 27.
26. O’Toole,
When Trumpet’s Call
, 50–51.
27. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 27–29.
28. Ibid., 62.
29. Ibid., 78, 80.
30. Alex Johnston,
The Life and Letters of Sir Harry Johnston
(New York: Jonathan Cape, 1929), 266.
31. Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, “Foreword,” in Edward H. Cotton,
The Ideals of Theodore Roosevelt
(New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1923), xi–xii.
32. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 91–92, 104–5.
33. Mearns to Mrs. Mearns, May 21, 1909, RU 7083, Box 1, Mearns Papers, Smithsonian Archive.
34. TR to Lodge, May 15, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 10.
35. Lodge to TR, nd, in Henry Cabot Lodge,
Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925), 2: 330.
36. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 93–95.
37. Ibid., 100–102.
38. TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, June 21, 1909, bmsAm1540, TRC.
39. TR to Foran, May 21, 1909, Series 4A, Reel 416, TRP.
40. Heller to Miller, June 3, 1909, RU 208, Box 52, Division of Mammals Records, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Archive.
41. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 123.
42. Ibid., 8.
43. For Churchill at the Colonial Off ice and his and the Liberal government’s view of British East Africa, see Ronald Hyam,
Elgin and Churchill at the Colonial Office 1905–1908: The Watershed of the Empire-Commonwealth
(London: Macmillan, 1968).
44. TR to Trevelyan, October 1, 1911, Series 4A, Reel 416, TRP. When TR had visited England in 1910 he greatly amused the Trevelyan clan with his travel stories and promised to put them in a letter “for the eyes of only you and your family.” His account, from Khartoum to London, also included asides such as this one concerning Churchill. For Sir George Otto, and this interesting family in general, see Laura Trevelyan,
A Very

45. Winston Churchill,
My African Journey
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1908, Reprint: Holland Press, 1962), 31–41.
46. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 131–32, 143.
47. Ibid., 132–33.
48. Ibid., 136.
49. Ibid., 146.
50. TR to Ethel Roosevelt, June 24, 1909, bmsAm1541.2, TRC.
51. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, June 21, 1909, bmsAm 1834, TRC.
52. TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, July 27, 1909, bmsAm1540, TRC.
53. Unfortunately, Edith destroyed almost all of her correspondence with her husband.
54. Frederick S. Wood,
Roosevelt As We Knew Him
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company, 1927), 213. TR replied to Lodge that there was bound to be dissatisfaction with any tariff bill and hoped this would die down in a few months, provided the bill was “fundamentally sound” and there was a “return of prosperity when once the tariffs are out of the way.” TR to Lodge, May 15, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 9.
55. Thomas Gore of Oklahoma, on July 8, 1909, in Kenneth W. Heckler,
Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft Era
(New York: Russell & Russell Inc, 1964), 131.
56. Edith Roosevelt to Taft, June 25, 1909, Series 4A, Reel 322, Taft Papers.
57. TR to Root, May 17, 1909, Box 163, Elihu Root Papers, Library of Congress.
58. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 184–85.
59. TR to White, July 21 1909, White Papers, Box 28, Library of Congress.
60. Jusserand to TR, July 24, 1909, Series 1, Reel 89, TRP.
61. “Long Attacks Roosevelt,”
New York Times
, May 27, 1909.
62. TR to Bridges, July 17, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 20. Many safari books were published at the time in an attempt to take advantage of the TR frenzy at home. Most were generic and made no mention of Roosevelt, but several sensational titles interspersed accounts of TR with general information on Africa. These included John J. Mowbray,
Roosevelt’s Marvelous Exploits in the Wilds of Africa
(New York: George W. Bertron, 1909); Frederick Seymour,
Roosevelt in Africa
(New York: D. B. McCurdy, 1909); and Marshall Everett,
Roosevelt’s Thrilling Experiences in the Wilds of Africa Hunting Big Game
(New York: J. T. Moss, 1910). At least one book of satirical cartoons joined the parade, Fletcher C. Ransom’s
My Policies in Jungleland
(New York: Barse and Hopkins, 1910).
63. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 186–87.
64. Dawson,
Opportunity and Theodore Roosevelt
, 108–9.
65. TR to Foran, July 15, 1909, Series 4A, Reel 416, TRP.
66. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, July 27, 1909, bmsAm 1834, TRC.
67. Lodge to TR, June 21, 1909, in Lodge,
Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2: 337.
68. TR to Lodge, July 26, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 22.
69. TR to Spring Rice, October 6, 1909, Series 4A, Reel 416, TRP.

1. August 3, 1909, in Butt,
Taft and Roosevelt
, 1: 168; O’Toole,
When Trumpets Call
, 60.
2. bmsAm 1541.2, TRC.
3. TR to Ethel Roosevelt, September 26, 1909, bmsAm 1541.2, TRC.
4. Edith Roosevelt to Spring Rice, September 11, 1909, CASR 9/1, Spring Rice Papers, Churchill College Archive, Cambridge University.
5. Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 349–51; Edith Roosevelt to Spring Rice, December 17, 1909, CASR 9/1, Spring Rice Papers, Churchill College Archive, Cambridge University.
6. TR to Edith Roosevelt, bmsAm 1541.2, TRC.
7.
The Leader of British East Africa
, August 3, 1909.
8. September 10, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 31. The better known American novelist forced the Englishman, who badly needed the publishing cash, to add an S (for Spencer) to his name for literary purposes.
9. TR to Lodge, August 2, 1909, in Lodge,
Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2: 345.
10. August 17, 1909, in Butt,
Taft and Roosevelt
, 1: 178–79.
11. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 203–4. Roosevelt’s friends in the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire had been instrumental in this preservation effort.
12. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 199.
13. Ibid., 197.
14. Ibid., 207–11.
15. Ibid., 212.
16. Ibid., 225.
17. Ibid., 266. For Burroughs’s recollection of the gallop among the elk, see “Camping with President Roosevelt,”
Atlantic
(May 1906). 18. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 228–30.
19. Ibid., 231.
20. Ibid., 213–16.
21. TR to Lodge, September 10, 1909, in Lodge,
Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2: 347.
22. Theodore Roosevelt, “Introduction” to Robert E. Peary,
The North Pole
(London: John Murray, 1910); TR to Peary, November 7, 1908, Series 2, Reel 352, TRP.
23. TR to Foran, September 12, 1909, Series 4A, Reel 416, TRP. 24. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 249–51.
25. Ibid., 254–63.
26. October 17, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 37–38. 27. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 283–87.
28. Mearns to Miller, November 5, 1909, RU 208, Box 52, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Mammals Records, Smithsonian Archive.
29. Carl Akeley,
In Brightest Africa
(New York: Garden City Publishing Company, 1920), 161.
30. Ibid., 162.
31. November 22, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 39. 32. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 291.
33. Akeley,
In Brightest Africa
, 163.
34. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 294–95.
35. Ibid., 296–97.
36. For this see James Penick, Jr.,
Progressive Politics and Conservation: The Ballinger-Pinchot Affair
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968). 37. Thomas Ross,
Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver: A Study in Political Integrity and Independence
(Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1958), 264.
38. Bacon to TR, September 3, 1909, Series 1, Reel 89, TRP. 39. TR to Pinchot, March 1, 1909, Series 2, Reel 354, TRP.
40. Ross,
Dolliver
, 267.
41. Taft to Helen Taft, October 18, 1909, Series 2, Reel 26, Taft Papers. 42. Ross,
Dolliver
, 266.
43. One read simply: “Taft is burning your soup. You had better come home.” J. E. Forbes to TR, October 28, 1909, Series 1, Reel 89, TRP. 44. Butt,
Taft and Roosevelt
, 1: 269–70.
45. December 17, 1909, bmsAm 1834, TRC.
46. November 28, 1909, in Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 352. Some complained that the “Back from Elba” slogan was illogical as Napoleon had been almost immediately defeated and at least one newspaper letter writer asserted that “Back From Eg ypt” would therefore be more accurate. However, as it turned out, “Back from Elba” was quite appropriate. 47. Worthington Ford, ed.,
Letters of Henry Adams
, 2 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938), 2: 531.
48. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 299–300.
49. For this see Elspeth Huxley,
White Man’s Country: Lord Delamere and the Making of Kenya
(New York: Praeger, 1967) and more recently Kathryn Tidrick,
Empire and the English Character
(London: I. B. Tauris, 1990).
50. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 300.
51. TR to Walcott, December 15, 1909, Box 52, RU 208, National Museum of Natural History Division of Mammals Records, Smithsonian Archive.
52. Excerpt from Girouad Papers, courtesy of Michael Smith, TRC subject files.
53. TR to Girouad, July 21, 1910, Series 3A, Reel 363, TRP. For Girouard, see Errol Trzebinski,
The Kenya Pioneers
(New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985). For a glowing appraisal of TR by Girouard, see Lawrence F. Abbott,
Impressions of Theodore Roosevelt
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1919), 263.
54. October 6, 1909, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 32. 55. Delamere to TR, April 11, 1910, Series 1, Reel 90, TRP.
56. Huxley,
White Man’s Country
, 251.

1. Mearns to Mrs. Mearns, December 20, 1910, Box 1, RU7083, Mearns Papers, Smithsonian Archive; Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 309–10.
2. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 315.
3. TR to Ethel Roosevelt, December 23, 1909, in Joan Paterson Kerr,
A Bully Father: Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children
(New York: Random House, 1995), 244–45.
4. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 313–14.
5. Ibid., 311–12.
6. Ibid.
7. TR to Lodge, January 1, 1910, in Lodge,
Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2: 355–56.
8. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 335. The white rhino was also sometimes called the “square lipped” rhino.
9. Ibid., 336–37.
10. Ibid., 337–38.
11. Mark Sullivan.
Our Times
, 6 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939), 4: 394.
12. Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 356.
13. TR to Pinchot, January 17, 1910, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 45–46.
14. TR to Lodge, January 17, 1910, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 46.
15. Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 342–52.
16. TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, January 21, 1910, bmsAm 1834, TRC. 17. TR to Lodge, February 5, 1910, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 47.
18. Box 1, RU 7083, Mearns Papers, Smithsonian Archive.
19. Pinchot to TR, December 31, 1909, Series 1, Pinchot Papers, Library of Congress.
20. TR to Pinchot, March 1, 1910, in Morison,
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, 7: 50–51.
21. Swift to TR, March 4, 1910, Series 1, Reel 89, TRP.
22. TR to Lodge, January 8, 1910, in Lodge,
Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2: 356.
23. Root to TR, February 11, 1910, Series 1, Reel 89, TRP.
24. The scientific value of the specimens was first revealed in papers written by Mearns, Heller and others published between 1910 and 1914 in the
Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections
, 54, 56, 60, and 61. For further initial analysis, see also Ned Hollister,
East African Mammals in the United States National Museum
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1918–24).
25. For a list of the game shot by rifle, see Roosevelt,
African Game Trails
, 389–90. Also see TR’s preliminary report to Walcott dated March 15, 1910
listing all the specimens, published in the 1910
Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
(Washington, DC, 1911), 10. 26. Selous to TR, March 6, 1910, Series 1, Reel 90, TRP.
27. TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, January 21, 1910, bmsAm 1540, TRC.
28. TR to Wingate, July 29, November 27, 1908, Series 3A, Reel 363, TRP. For Wingate’s regime, see Gabriel Warburg,
The Sudan under Wingate: Administration in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1899–1916
(London: Frank Cass, 1971).
29. TR to Sir George Otto Trevelyan, October 1, 1911, Series 3A, Reel 369, TRP.
30. “British Rule in Africa,” Address Delivered at the Guildhall, London, May 31, 1910, in Theodore Roosevelt,
African and European Addresses
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 163–66.
31. “Peace and Justice in the Sudan,” in Roosevelt,
African and European Addresses
, 3–4.
32. TR to Lodge, January 15, 1910, in Lodge,
Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
, 2: 357.