Theodore Roosevelt & New York State Politics
September > November, 1898
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Roosevelt, left — The Traveler (Southold) / November 11, 1898
Roosevelt, right — Boston Globe / November 9, 1898
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——— September 1, 1898 ———
Amusing Dog-Day Politics
Editorial — New Yorkers are indebted to Gov. Black and Senator Platt for a most welcome mitigation of the discomfort incident to the dog-days. At the very period of the year when the weather makes life a burden and the preservation of an equable temper an apparently hopeless task, the boss of the Republican machine and the would-be boss of a new machine are engaged in a struggle, which is so full of humorous features that the daily reports of its progress divert the reader’s mind from heat and humidity and restore his good nature….
Gov. Black is the creation of machine politics. He owed his nomination and consequent election to Congress in 1894 to Lou Payn, who represented the machine in his district; he owed promotion to the governorship in 1896 to the same forces. He has always been not only a defender but a champion of machine methods in politics….
The Platt machine wanted to get rid of Black….Notice was accordingly served, but to the equal dismay and disgust of the machine, the Governor refused to get out. He announced that he was entitled to a renomination, and proposed to have it ….
The situation would be amusing enough if no other personality entered into it than Platt and Black. But there is a third, and one far more interesting than either of them. The irrepressible Roosevelt is back from the wars, covered with glory, and ready for a new job, as his “Rough Riders” are to be mustered out of service….Roosevelt is not the sort of man whom the machine picks out as its first choice; what Platt always wants is an official whom he can “do business with”….
The Roosevelt boom was worth encouraging with a view to killing off Black. If it could be arrested soon enough to slip in a “compromise candidate” between the two, so much the better. The policy for the adherents of the machine, therefore, is to encourage the Roosevelt movement, but, if possible, not let it get beyond control ….
— Evening Post / pages 202 – 203
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——— September 1, 1898 ———
Roosevelt’s Letter to Secretary of State John Hay.
“The Slightest Knack”
My Dear Mr. Secy.,
…. My regiment will be mustered out in a few days, and then I shall be foot-loose. Just at the moment there is a vociferous popular demand to have me nominated for Governor, but I very gravely question whether it materializes, and I haven’t the slightest knack at making it materialize.
I wish I were going to be in Washington, all the more now that you will be there; but I think this winter will have to be spent at Sagamore Hill….
Very Faithfully Yours,
— Montauk, September 1, 1898 / page 207
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——— September 3, 1898 ———
Platt Endorses Roosevelt
“I have decided to favor the nomination of Colonel Roosevelt for Governor. I know he will be nominated at the convention to be held in Saratoga, September 27. I believe by acclamation. I am also convinced that he will be elected….
“From all parts of the state come a demand for Roosevelt, and none for Black. Up to this time, I have kept faith with the Governor in my statement that I did not favor any one and would not until I had studied the situation with great care. That has been done….”
— Senator Thomas C. Platt, Brooklyn Daily Eagle / page 221
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——— September 3, 1898 ———
Where Roosevelt’s Strength Lies
Editorial…. That Platt would, without a grimace, accept as his candidate a Republican who is an independent thinker, a Civil Service reformer …. a man whose whole political life, writings and speeches form the antithesis of the methods and theories upon which Platt has built up his machine, is so ludicrous as almost to excite the risibles of a Toltec image….
The very fact that Roosevelt refused to bow the knee to Baal gave the movement for his nomination a new impetus….
Should Roosevelt be nominated and elected, he will go into office without a single political debt or political pledge. “The first requisite of the citizen in public office,” he once wrote, “is that he shall act disinterestedly and with a sincere purpose to serve the whole commonwealth.”
That is the kind of Governor the Republican voters of this State want.
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— Mail And Express / pages 223 – 224
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——— September 3, 1898 ———
Roosevelt’s Letter to Journalist Francis Ellington Leupp.
“The Eighth Commandment”
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Dear Leupp,
I have’t bothered myself a particle about the nomination and have no idea whether it will be made or not. In the first place, I would rather have led this regiment than be Governor of New York three times over….
It is a party position. I should be one of the big party leaders, if I should take it. This means that I should have to treat with and work with the organization, and I should see and consult the leaders … and earnestly try to come to an agreement on all important questions with them….when (however) we come to a matter like the Canal, or Life Insurance, or anything touching the Eighth Commandment and general decency, I could not allow any consideration of party to come in….
As for taking the honor without conditions or not at all, I do not believe anybody would so much as propose to mention conditions to me….I should have to be my own master, and when a question of honesty or dishonesty arose, I should have to pay no further heed to party lines….
I should say that the odds are against my nomination; but I can also say, with all sincerity, that I don’t care in the least.
— Montauk, September 3, 1898 / pages 224 – 225
Note: New York State voters had approved an appropriation of $ 9,000,000 to improve the Erie and Champlain Canals….When these funds were nearly exhausted, it was estimated that an additional
$ 12,000,000 would be needed…gross mismanagement throughout the program…the public held Gov. Black accountable for the costly scandal. The report of the committee was made public on August 4, 1898. / page 463.
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——— September 3, 1898 ———
MONTAUK’S GREAT DAY
President William McKinley
Commander-In-Chief of the Joint Forces
Note: President McKinley & his Presidential Party, which included Vice President Hobart and Secretary of War Alger toured Camp Wikoff on Saturday, September 3rd.
Shortly after disembarking the train at Montauk Station in the morning and climbing aboard his Victoria carriage, he saw a man — “in a brown canvas uniform with cavalry trimmings, heavy eyeglasses, and a happy sort of grin, about twenty yards away.”
“Why, there’s Col. Roosevelt!” exclaimed the President to Secretary of War Alger….“Colonel!” called the President. “I’m glad to see you.”
Then the commander of the Rough Riders executed a remarkable maneuver. He forgot to make a formal dismount, but sort of fell off his animal in the way he does at the end of a race across the hills with a squad of his cowpunchers. At the same time the President did a remarkable thing for a President to do. He stood up in his carriage, pushed open the door, and, jumping out, started toward Col. Roosevelt, who was coming toward him as fast as he could. The President held out his hand; Col. Roosevelt struggled to pull off his right glove. He yanked at it desperately and finally inserted the ends of the fingers in his teeth and gave a mighty tug. Off came the glove and a beatific smile came over the Colonel’s face as he grasped the President’s hand. The crowd which had watched the performance tittered audibly. Nothing more cordial than the greeting between the President and Col. Roosevelt could be imagined. The President just grinned all over.
“Col. Roosevelt, I’m glad to see you looking so well.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. There isn’t a healthier man in the camp than I am. I am delighted to see you down here, sir, and hope you will enjoy the trip. I do want you to see my boys while you’re here.”
“Oh, I will, Colonel, I will,” said the President as he got back into his carriage….
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— The Sun, above / New York Tribune, New York Times, New York Press
/see pages 235 – 236 for an account of McKinley’s entire five hour visit
— McKinley Portrait / Boston Globe / page 135
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——— September 4, 1898 ———
Roosevelt’s Letter to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts
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“If I Am Nominated…If I Am Not Nominated…”
Dear Cabot:
…. Today the President came to visit Camp, and was more than cordial, for when he saw me, just after he got into his carriage, he promptly got out again and stepped toward me so that I had to bet off my horse and shake hands with him. Hobart and Griggs did the same thing….
As for myself, old man, I do not think that even you could do anything for me here. If the popular feeling is strong enough, and steady enough, I shall be nominated and elected. If it is merely temporary, then I shall be neither; and I don’t believe that any effort of mine would alter the result one way or the other….If I am nominated, well and good; I shall try to be elected, and if elected, I shall try to rise to the extremely difficult position in which I shall find myself. If I am not nominated, I shall take the result with extreme philosophy and with a certain sense of relief, and shall turn my attention to the literary work which is awaiting me….
Faithfully yours,
Note that “old man” Lodge was eight years older than Roosevelt, age 39.
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——— September 5, 1898 ———
Roosevelt’s Sermon
“The first Bully Pulpit”*
Montauk, Sept. 5 — There was “church” in the camp of the Rough Riders yesterday. When Chaplain Brown looked at the increasing rings of men who sat on the grass in front of his tent he became a little alarmed. He loves those rough, good-hearted fellows, and he knows that in their hearts the majority are kind and to a degree religious…
Chaplain Brown made up his mind that they must ill or needed consolation badly. It wasn’t that, however, for the news had gone around that Teddy, the idolized colonel, was going to preach the sermon of the day — and it was a very remarkable sermon….
Roosevelt was the same old Roosevelt, in spite of his picturesque brown fatigue, campaign suit. He made the same old grimaces when he spoke and showed his teeth just as conspicuously as before and when he told of a man who said things that were not catalogued in the prayer books, he repeated those things, with emphasis, too. It was not irreverent. It was merely graphic. He talked more religion right into the souls of those men than they had had for many a day.
“….Our trials, our hardships, our victories, we have all shared together, officers and men. There has been no distinction, we have all worked for and accomplished the glory of the regiment….What we have done only calls us to renewed exertion in the future….Life is a constant struggle, and no man can afford to remain idle….
“The world will be kind to you for about ten days; everything you do will be right. After that you will be judged by a stricter code….
“Uncomplaining obedience, an acceptance of whatever came, is one of the things that has made me admire, respect and love you all. It has been a perpetual pleasure to me to see the way the officers and men have stood shoulder to shoulder, the officers looking out for the interests of the men always….
“Should there be another war, I shall endeavor to raise this regiment again and feel certain that for every vacancy there will be ten, yes, a hundred applicants. You men have demonstrated to the world that Uncle Sam has hundreds of thousands of men who are able and willing to form regiments that are simply invincible.
“In closing, I only want to say that I feel a love and attachment to each and every one of you and that we are bound together by ties that death alone can sever.” ….
A friend of the Colonel spoke to him about the gubernatorial nomination. The friend looks something like the Colonel, since he has a reddish mustache and wears spectacles. He said that he had been taken for Roosevelt in the city at almost every place he went and was greeted on all sides as the next Governor.
“You don’t know anything about how popular you are, Colonel, and you would be surprised at the way the people are talking about you. Even at Coney Island, where I met several Tammany men, they patted me on the back and said, “I am with you, old man.’ I tell you, it is something great. I had a hard time making them believe I was not you.”
Colonel Roosevelt laughed and only said that it reminded him of the time when he was police commissioner, how, when a man was seen on the streets of New York late at night wearing spectacles and a reddish mustache, he was at once taken for Roosevelt out on a still hunt after dilatory policemen.
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— Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Sun, New York Herald, The World / pages 262 – 265
Note: First ‘Bully Pulpit’ claim is speculation by this editor.
‘BULLY’ was an expression popularized on Roosevelt’s return from Cuba, and this was the first time he had spoken to his Rough Riders at a church service, therefore ….
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——— September 6, 1898 ———
Gov. Black Seeks Vindication
Something of a shock has been administered to the Roosevelt rooters by the news which came from Albany this morning concerning the conference of Gov. Black’s friends held yesterday. The Governor has put on war paint and is certainly in the fray to stay ….
There are a good many “fast Black’ men upstate who admire him as a statesman of the highest order…The Governor thinks … he ought to seek vindication from the people …
— Standard Union / page 274
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——— September 7, 1898 ———
His Own Peculiar Way
Mr. Roosevelt has rather an erratic disposition and does many things which a man possessed of a cooler head would not do. He does not seem to care for criticism and goes right ahead doing things in his own peculiar way, despite what other people may think….
He is impetuous, and does everything on the spur of the moment without considering the result. He is not … a shrewd politician, if politician at all. If he is nominated for Governor of New York, it will be because popular sentiment favors him. He is not liked by the political bosses. He is his own boss. He does things in his own peculiar way.
— Washington Post / page 283
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——— September 7, 1898 ———
Political Gossip
“We can beat him easily.”
Richard Croker, the Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall, New York, has been interviewed….
“I see the Republicans are going to nominate Roosevelt for Governor,” said Mr. Croker. “Well, all I have to say is that we can beat him easily.”
When asked with whom the Democrats intended to beat the Rough Rider, Mr. Croker winked his left optic and said:
“Wouldn’t you like to know. Oh, no. We are not telling the name of our candidate these days.”
“Assuming that Roosevelt is to be the Republican candidate for Governor, how is he to be beaten?”
“Easily enough. The Republicans won’t support him….”
In view of the fact that Gov. Black has decided to remain in the race for a renomination, it is believed that if he is turned down his friends will get even at the polls. In fact, some of the Governor’s adherents are indiscreet enough to say that if Roosevelt is nominated they will not support him.
— Washington Post / page 283 – 284
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——— September 8, 1898 ———
Republicans Squandered Millions
“All the conditions in New York State are decidedly favorable to the success of the Democratic Party …. There are solid reasons for predicting the success of the Democracy this year. The chief factor…will be the accusation against the Republicans of squandering millions of the people’s money upon the canals … having absolutely wasted the immense sum of $ 9,000,000. Yet this is the record of Gov. Black’s administration. The tax payers are justly indignant …
“Probably to distract attention from issues … they plan to nominate Col. Theodore Roosevelt …But, while I yield to no one in respect for Col. Roosevelt, I am still emphatic in the belief that the election of a Democrat to the Gubernatorial chair is necessary in New York in order to show in the clearest way popular disapprobation of the reckless mismanagement of the Republican officials. Their conduct should not be condoned at the polls, no matter how kindly the people may feel toward the hero of the Rough Riders, and how much they would like to give him a grand personal endorsement.”
— Mr. Macgrane Coxe, former United States Minister to Guatemala and Honduras
— Washington Post / page 292 – 293
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——— September 8, 1898 ———
Roosevelt And The Governorship
Editorial — The Colonel is a happily constituted man. Nature has endowed him with an appreciation of his own merits so fervent that it is only with extreme difficulty he can refrain from joining in the shout whenever three cheers are given for Roosevelt. No one can so magnify his performance in war or peace as to offend his sense of modesty. Not only does it seem to him reasonable that an element of his party should want to nominate him for the Governorship, but he is unable to comprehend why there should be any opposition … Egotism of this Brobdingnagian and all-engrossing sort is funny, of course, but there is no denying its driving power….Without it, Colonel Roosevelt would have gone through life making no more noise than countless other men fully his equal in brains….
…. The citizens of New York are entirely competent to discriminate between soldiering and statesmanship, cavalry charges and canal steals….
They know — everybody knows — that Theodore Roosevelt is not fit for the office to which he aspires. They remember his official career as a Police Commissioner in this city — how headstrong, impracticable, quarrelsome and inefficient he was; how sore an affliction to the metropolis that he would have governed like a village of which he was the hereditary Squire. They know that he is full of crotchets and prejudices, and fond of riding rough-shod over the rights and susceptibilities of his fellow citizens, who think they know better than he does what is good for them.
The very narrowness and hardness of mind and the impetuosity of temper which make him a good soldier make him a bad official in a Republic.
— William Randolph Hearst, New York Evening Journal / pages 293 – 294
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——— September 10, 1898 ———
Platt and Roosevelt
Editorial — If Platt accepts Roosevelt, he will be coerced by the irony of fate — by that silent, invisible moral force of public sentiment which, however decried, will sometimes compel political bosses and dictators to make the best of it and bow to it.
And if Platt is thus coerced, it will probably lead to his destruction. For if Roosevelt should be elected — which we doubt — it is not conceivable that he would be controlled by Platt. It is more than probable that he would make such an independent record that he would become the centre of all the dormant sentiment against Platt — and finally destroy him.
— Joseph Pulitzer, The World / page 309
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——— September 10, 1898 ———
How The Man Has Changed
…. “Roosevelt is getting dignified and careful,” said a reporter at Montauk one day…as he sat on the grass in front of the Rough Rider’s tent, disconsolate and empty handed; he looked wistfully on at the uniformed figure marching up and down, dictating to the field secretary.
“I don’t like him any more. I liked him best when he was more hale-fellow-well met — when he was like a big boy.” ….
— J.L.S., Commercial Advertiser / pages 312 – 313
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——— September 10, 1898 ———
Roosevelt Will Run
Montauk — Colonel Roosevelt has at last talked politics, not personally, but through an authorized statement made by Colonel Lowell H. Jerome.
Three weeks ago, Roosevelt said, “I will not talk politics until I am out of the United States service.”
Colonel Roosevelt is not out of the service, but he knows the value of time and has taken this opportunity to express himself to the people before it is too late. Platt has known his position since Quigg consulted overnight with the Colonel at Third House several weeks ago.
The uncertainty of the date of mustering out has hastened this statement, expressed in the words of Colonel Jerome:
“Now that the war is over and his regiment will be mustered out in a few days, Colonel Roosevelt has authorized the following statement:
“That he has always been a Republican in the broadest sense of the work; that he has not been seeking the Republican nomination for governor, but should it come to him he would gladly accept it as an honor and a duty, recognizing, as he does, the dignity and honor of the position….
“He has been devoting his entire time to the business of getting his regiment mustered out of service and looking out for the welfare of his men. When this has been accomplished and not until then will he be able to give his attention to the political situation….”
— Brooklyn Daily Eagle / pages 314 – 315
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——— September 12, 1898 ———
Plunged On Roosevelt
Just at the present time New York is in the throes of a Roosevelt jag and the name of Teddy, the Rough Rider, is on every tongue. In the hotel lobby, in the cafe, in the grill room, in the street car, and everywhere one turns, his ear is greeted with nominating speeches, and the sole theme is Roosevelt. To use an expression of the street, New York is simply plunged on Roosevelt, and one not acquainted with the facts would be led to believe that the ex-Police Commissioner and ex-Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the man who planned the war, declared it, and conducted it to a successful termination….
The Democratic leaders are rather pleased with the Roosevelt boom …. If Roosevelt is nominated, it will be charged, and with considerable force, that he is trying to utilize his war experience for political purposes….Again, they will use Roosevelt’s dispatch to Alger, in which he egotistically placed his own command at the head of the volunteer forces, and they can be depended upon to make the most of the notion that Mr. Roosevelt was not the whole war ….
— Washington Post / Page 316
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——— September 12, 1898 ———
Roosevelt Letter to Congressman Lemuel Ely Quigg, of New York.
“In Accordance With My Conscience”
My Dear Quigg:
…. I know that you did not in any way wish to represent me as willing to consent to act otherwise than in accordance with my conscience; indeed, you said you knew that I would be incapable of acting save with good faith to the people at large, to the Republicans of the United States, and to the New York Republican Organizations….
Ever Faithfully Yours,
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To be continued ….
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Visit: Col. Theodore Roosevelt & New York State Politics / July > August, 1898 …. link
Visit: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, June – August, 1898 / Excerpts from BULLY! …. link
Visit: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders: September – November, 1898 / Excerpts from BULLY! …. link
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“A goldmine of information,”
Dr. John Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, 1998.
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Available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.
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