The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (171 page)

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Authors: Edmund Morris

44.
Lod.204; TR qu. by Talcott Williams in
Century Memorial to TR
, 74; Mor.509.

45.
Ib., 505–6;
Chicago Tribune
, Feb. 23, 1895.

46.
Eve. Post
, Jan. 14, 1896.

47.
Ib.

48.
TR to B, Feb. 2, 1896; Lod.213.

49.
N.Y.T.
, June 6, 1896; Mor.503.

50.
Eve. Post
, Apr. 1, 1896; see
Commercial Advertiser
, Apr. 4.

51.
Mor.525.

52.
Journal
, Apr. 11, 1896; AND.193; Mor.525–6;
N.Y.T.
, Apr. 17. AND.194 confirms.

53.
Mor.525
; Journal
, Apr. 10, 1896.

54.
Ib. TR’s childhood friend, Fanny Smith Parsons, was watching from the gallery, and regretted that he did not behave to better effect. (Par.112.)

55.
See Mor.524–32.
Her.
, Apr. 15, 1896.

56.
Sun
, Apr. 16, 1896;
Evening News
, Apr. 19.

57.
Eve. Post
, May 1, 1896.

58.
Ste.276.

59.
World
, May 6, 1896. The following account is taken from two articles in this newspaper, plus others in the
Her., Comm. Adv., Eve. Post, Journal, Trib.
, and
N.Y.T.
, same date.

60.
Journal
, May 6, 1896.

61.
World
, May 6, 1896.

62.
Trib.
, May 6, 1896;
Eve. Post
, May 6;
Sun
, n.d. (TR.Scr.);
Her.
, May 7.

63.
Ib.;
N.Y.T.
, May 7, 1896.

64.
TR to B: “I am on pretty good terms with the old boy now, and he is trying to turn Parker out.” June 1, 1896.
Press
, May 7.

65.
AND.30–1;
Comm. Adv.
, June 2, 1896;
N.Y.T.
, Apr. 22;
Recorder
, Apr. 28.

66.
Recorder
, May 20, 1896. See also Ste.276.

67.
A copy of this statement, with TR’s covering letter, is in the New York Municipal Archives, Strong Mss.

68.
Ber. 117–18; TR to B, June 1, 1896, also Apr. 26: “Unfortunately I cannot be sure of Parker’s financial honesty … I feel very uneasy lest he compromises.” Andrews memo, TRB.

69.
Recorder
, May 21?, 1896 (TR.Scr.).

70.
Sun
, May 28, 1896.

71.
P.D.
Minutes
, 17; AND.148.

72.
TR.Wks.XIII.126.

73.
The following account is taken from
Sun
and
Her.
, June 2, 1896, plus various artists’ sketches in TRB.

74.
The mid-nineties marked the peak of the “bicycle boom” in the United States, and the proliferation of two-wheelers in New York City streets, combined with wagons and carriages, caused serious traffic jams long before the advent of the automobile. See AND.146–52; also TR.Auto. 187–8.

75.
See, e.g.,
Her.
, June 2, 1896.

76.
Eve. World
, June 3, 1896.

77.
Ib.;
Her.
, same date.

78.
Eve. World
, June 3, 1896;
World
, June 4.

79.
Ib.

80.
Ib.

81.
Trib.
, June 9. The day before, this paper had become the first to call for Parker’s resignation. According to Jessup, Philip C.,
Elihu Root
(Dodd, Mead, 1938) I.190–191, TR and Andrews drew up the charges together, although they publicly denied this.

82.
Max Fishel,
Eve. World
reporter, int. FRE. Jan. 1922, TRB; see also TR.Scr.

83.
Riis, Jacob,
Making of an American
(NY, 1902) 334–5.

84.
Ib.

85.
AND.199; Gos.68.

86.
See
Trib.
, June 9, 1896;
World
, June 10.

87.
N.Y.T.
, June 22, 1896. This newspaper contains the fullest session-by-session account of the Parker trial, and its issues of June 12, 13, 19, 22, July 3, 8, and 9 form the basis of the following summary. Other sources: AND.198–9; TR.Scr.

88.
World
, July 8, 1896; AND.158 agrees TR was too hasty in promotion procedures.

89.
World
, July 8, 1896; Mor.546.

90.
Her.
, June 26, 1896;
Sun
, July 3.

91.
N.Y.T.
, July 10, 13, 1896

92.
See, e.g., Lod.212; Pri.158. It will be remembered that TR had helped make Reed Speaker in 1889 (Ch. 16), and doubtless expected to be rewarded with a Cabinet post if he helped make him President.

93.
Rho.12.

94.
TR, qu. Dun.20.

95.
TR to HCL, Feb. 27, 1896 (LOD.).

96.
TR to B, Mar. 21, 1896 (TRB); Pla.212–4; qu. Pri.159.

97.
Lod.222; Mor.543.

98.
N.Y.T.
, June 19, 1896; Rho.16–17.

99.
N.Y.T.
, July 19, 1896.

100.
Mor.543.

101.
N.Y.T.
, Aug. 11, 1896;
World
, Aug. 3.

102.
Her.
, July 22, 1896: “Henceforth it will be war to the knife in the councils of the heads of the Police Department.”

103.
Mor.545.

104.
This is confirmed in Mor.556 and Lod.229.

105.
See Lod.214.

106.
Mor.512, 519; TR to B, Apr. 26; Mor.542, 544. Bamie Roosevelt had amazed her family by marrying Commander Cowles in November 1895. She was then in her forty-first year. See Rixey, Lillian,
Bamie: TR’s Remarkable Sister
(David McKay, 1963) 86–7.

107.
Mor. 544.

108.
Storer, Maria Longworth (Mrs. Bellamy), “How Theodore Roosevelt Was Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy,”
Harper’s Weekly
, 56 (June 1, 1912). See also ib.,
Theodore Roosevelt the Child
(privately printed, 1921) 15. Mrs. Storer dated this visit “in July 1896” and said that it lasted “several days.” Her memory was slightly in error, since TR in a letter to B, Aug. 2, 1896, writes: “The dear Storers are spending Sunday with us.” They probably arrived Saturday evening, Aug. 1, and left Monday morning, Aug. 3.

21: T
HE
G
LORIOUS
R
ETREAT

1.
TR to CSR, Jan. 16, 1893. See also Storer, “How Theodore Roosevelt,”
Harper’s Weekly
, 56 (June 1, 1912),
Theodore Roosevelt the Child
, 15.

2.
See Lee. 58–60 and Mott, T. Bentley,
Myron T. Herrick, Friend of France
(NY, 1924) 72–74 for details of McKinley’s “debt” to the Storers. His financial situation was entirely honorable in that he had endorsed the notes of a friend, totalling $130,000, believing that they would be paid off. The financial panic of 1893 caused the notes to fail, and McK took it upon himself to redeem them.

3.
Storer,
Child
, 1.

4.
Ib., 15.

5.
Storer, “How TR Was Appointed,” also see subsequent text. Ib.

6.
Mark Hanna’s arrival had been widely reported in the local papers, e.g.,
New York Times
, July 29. See Rho.2 for his “comet-like” entry into the political scene. For the early relationship of MH and McK, see Lee.
66
-9; Rho.9–11; Morg.52 ff.

7.
N.Y.T
. and
Tribune
, July 29, 1896.

8.
Mor.552. The adjective “coarse” was changed to “rough” by HCL when editing this letter for publication.

9.
Ib., 556;
Trib.
, Aug. 4, 1896. Aug. 3 was formal opening day at HQ. The suggestion that TR was being evasive about the two July 28 visits to MH is prompted by the tone of his letter describing the Aug. 3 visit to the Storers: “The day after you left I saw Mark Hanna, and
after I thought we had grown intimate enough, the chance arriving
, I spoke of Bellamy …” (author’s italics). It seems odd he should write of Hanna thus as a stranger, having dined with him
à quatre
only six days before.

10.
Mor.556.

11.
Trib.
, Aug. 4, 1896; Mor.556.

12.
Rho.10, 17–8; Whi.157; TR to B, Aug. 2, 1896. John Hay, visiting HQ at this time, remarked on the nervousness of the general atmosphere. Tha.150.

13.
World
, July 31, 1896;
Trib.
, Aug. 4; Mor.226–7, 230; Pri.160.

14.
Boorstin, Daniel J., ed.,
An American Primer
(U. Chicago Press, 1966) II.573 ff. gives the complete text of Bryan’s speech.

15.
Trib.
, Aug. 5 and
6
, 1896, reports that MH was having difficulty attracting “name” speakers who would be effective over a wide area of the country. TR was emphatically in this category.

16.
Whi.329. TR told Hanna’s biographer that the Chairman had “not a single small trait in his nature.” Cro.361. In TR.Auto.157 TR wrote with a trace of wistfulness, “I do not think he ever grew to like me.”

17.
Description of MH based on sketch reproduced at beginning of this chapter; other sketches and pors. in
Review of Reviews
, XIV.4. (Oct., 1896). Prose sources: White, William Allen,
Masks in a Pageant
(Macmillan, 1928) 155 ff.; Whi.292;
N.Y.T.
, July 29, 1896;
World
, ib., and July 30; Murat Halstead in
R. of Rs.
, cited above; Rho., Sul., Sto., and Bee.,
passim
.

18.
Rho.12; Whi.292; Morg.230,253.

19.
Ib., 219; Rho.10.

20.
See McK to MH, Nov. 12, 1896, qu. Cro.229; also ib., 221. Although the National Committee ended the campaign with a considerable surplus, MH refused to accept reimbursement of the $100,000 he had spent before the Convention. For McK’s metallic quality, see Tha.III.78; White,
Masks
, 175.

21.
MH’s despondency lasted at least through mid-August. Cro.219. TR to B, Aug. 2, 1896; Mor.554.

22.
Sun
, Aug. 13, 1896.

23.
TR was very defensive about this bad publicity. See Lod.230. Certainly the huge size of the crowd and high temperatures (New York was in the middle of a heat wave) must be counted as extenuating circumstances. Other newspapers guardedly praised the security arrangements, and the Democratic National Committee sent a formal note of thanks to Chief Conlin. Even so, there were some peculiar goings-on
which the Police Department never satisfactorily explained. George Spinney, TR’s old reporter friend from Albany days, was told that “the doors is locked” when he presented his press pass. Spinney protested, and was instantly arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.
World
, Aug. 13, 1896. Several other eminent citizens and newsmen suffered the same treatment, as did many members of the general public. These were all “mysteries of reform,” the
Sun
editors remarked, “to which Mr. Theodore Roosevelt had better apply his intellect without delay.” Ib., Aug. 14.

24.
Ib., Aug. 13, 1896.

25.
TR to B, Aug. 15, 1896.

26.
Mor.558;
Herald
, Aug. 20, 1896.

27.
N.Y.T.
, July 13, 1896.

28.
Sun
, Aug. 21, 1896;
N.Y.T., World
, same date. The
Times
editorially accused Parker of “intolerable impudence and bravado,” and said he had “wrought inestimable harm on the Police Department and to the whole cause of municipal reform in this city.” Aug. 21, 1896.

29.
TR to B, Sept. 13, 1896.

30.
Ib.

31.
See Boorstin,
Primer
, II.581.

32.
TR to B, Sep. 13, 1896; to HCL, Mor.559;
N.Y.T.
, Sep. 11. There were two GOP headquarters, one in Chicago and one in New York.

33.
TR to
Evening Post
reporter, c. Sep. 11, 12, 1896 (TR.Scr., n.d.)

34.
R. of Rs.
, XIV.4 (Oct. 1896). This periodical gives good monthly summaries of the campaign. See also ib., 5 (Nov. 1896).

35.
Ib., see also Cro.; Rho.20 ff.

36.
Cro.209; TR to B, Sep. 13.

37.
See also TR to B, Aug. 2, 1896; Pri. 162–3.

38.
TR.Wks.XIII.153.

39.
To the Sound Money League, Sep. 11, 1896. Text in TR.Wks.XIV.25–7. The Chicago platform contained a plank “which condemned the use of the injunction in labor disputes and deplored the judicial invalidation of the income tax.” Pri.163.

40.
Lod.236–7; TR to B, Oct. 4, 1896.

41.
Ib. The visit probably occurred on Oct. 2 (Lod.237). Cro.215.

42.
Lee.88; Cro.215–6; Rho.25.

43.
See Ch. 16. TR to B, Oct. 4, 1896.

44.
Ib., Oct. 11, 1896.

45.
R. of Rs.
, XIV.4 (Oct. 1896); Cro.217–8.

46.
For a good recent account of the campaign, see Morg.209–248. Lod.237.

47.
Pri.163–4; TR.Wks.XIV.258–79.

48.
Chicago Tribune
, Oct. 16, 1896; TR.Wks.XIV.258.

49.
Ib.; also 265, 264–5.

50.
Chicago Tribune
, Oct. 16, 1896.

51.
Ib.