The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

  “at first a decided”: RSB, “Is the East Also Insurgent?,” The American Magazine (March 1910), pp. 579, 587.

  From New England . . . over Speaker Cannon: Semonche, Ray Stannard Baker, pp. 236–37.

  “tense and dramatic”: Washington Times, Mar. 19, 1910.

  “fighting the fight”: Washington Times, Mar. 18, 1910.

  “met his Waterloo”: Washington Times, Mar. 19, 1910.

  Forty-three insurgent Republicans . . . pass the resolution: Remini, The House, p. 275.

  “A real revolution”: RSB to J. Stannard Baker, Mar. 27, 1910, RSB Papers.

  “case study . . . within the reform movement”: Semonche, Ray Stannard Baker, p. 238.

  “We are naturally . . . our opportunity”: JSP to WAW, Aug. 9, 1910, White Papers.

  As precinct leader . . . changed from within: WAW, The Autobiography, p. 424.

  the insurgents’ vision: WAW, “The Insurgence of Insurgency,” The American Magazine (December 1910), p. 171.

  her “powerful pen . . . could well be”: Washington Times, June 24, 1910.

  “the same old circus”: IMT, All in the Day’s Work, p. 272.

  the “rousing challenge”: Ibid., p. 273.

  “the hazy generalities”: RSB, “On the Political Firing Line,” The American Magazine (November 1910), p. 9.

  “crystallized into one”: IMT, All in the Day’s Work, p. 274.

  “argues and fights . . . ways of thinking”: IMT, “The Standpat Intellect,” The American Magazine (May 1911), p. 40.

  “The popular judgment”: JSP, Editorial, The American Magazine (September 1910), p. 707.

  “I thought that Taft”: JSP to WAW, Sept. 18, 1909, White Papers.

  “opposed him”: JSP to RSB, Feb. 24, 1910, RSB Papers.

  “mattered little . . . crusading spirit”: Hechler, Insurgency, p. 13.

  “Taft is done for”: IMT to WAW, Sept. 29, 1909, White Papers.

  “But they will not work”: WAW to WHT, Feb. 3, 1910, in Johnson, Selected Letters of William Allen White, p. 105.

  Taft responded to White . . . made no sense: WAW to Guy W. Mallon, Jan. 13, 1910, WHTP.

  “I have confidence”: WHT to WAW, Mar. 20, 1909, White Papers.

  “foolishly and needlessly”: NYT, April 20, 1910.

  “I could not have asked . . . steer the conversation”: WAW, The Autobiography, p. 425.

  “everything under the sun”: WAW to J. Haskel, June 6, 1910, White Papers.

  “We had . . . a fool’s errand”: WAW, The Autobiography, pp. 425–26.

  “I trust you are . . . the fireworks”: JSP to RSB, Feb. 24, 1910, RSB Papers.

  “There is one thing”: RSB, “The Measure of Taft,” The American Magazine (July 1910), p. 362.

  They appreciated . . . homes and hotels: National Tribune, Jan. 6, 1910.

  “If these young visitors”: National Tribune, Mar. 31, 1910.

  “A mighty cheer . . . trusty right arm”: Washington Post, April 15, 1910.

  “All his life long . . . chief thing is to fight”: RSB, “The Measure of Taft,” The American Magazine (July 1910), pp. 364–65, 367–68.

  “free from severe criticism”: WHT, “Speech to the New York Press Club,” Mar. 22, 1910, WHTP.

  “criticism may spring”: RSB, “The Measure of Taft,” The American Magazine (July 1910), p. 369.

  “arrayed against . . . from the first”: Paul Kester to HHT, Sept. 22, 1910, WHTP.

  “skeleton” . . . still carried weight: Lyon, Success Story, p. 322.

  “In the first place . . . against the people’s wishes”: McClure to Charles Norton, Oct. 11, 1910, McClure MSS.

  Pinchot arrived at Roosevelt’s villa . . . over the Maritime Alps: San Francisco Call, April 12, 1910.

  “We have fallen back”: Gifford Pinchot to TR, Dec. 31, 1909, TRP.

  “disappointment . . . the President’s opinions”: Jonathan P. Dolliver to Gifford Pinchot, Mar. 25, 1910, TRP.

  “The people at first”: Albert J. Beveridge to Gifford Pinchot, Mar. 24, 1910, TRP.

  “We had one of the finest”: Gifford Pinchot to James R. Garfield, April 27, 1910, Pinchot Papers.

  “no event in”: San Francisco Call, April 12, 1910.

  “You do not need . . . the best he knows how”: TR to HCL, April 11, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, pp. 71, 70.

  “keep absolutely still”: TR to HCL, Mar. 4, 1910, in ibid., p. 52.

  “As the fight deepens . . . of continental size”: RSB, “The Impending Roosevelt,” The American Magazine (April 1910), pp. 735, 737.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: “The Parting of the Ways”

  He was perplexed: AB to Clara, June 5, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, p. 364.

  a gold ruler: AB to Clara, Mar. 22, 1909, in ibid., p. 25.

  “There is no doubt . . . his way over”: AB to Clara, June 5, 1910, in ibid., p. 364.

  “Am deeply touched”: TR to WHT, Mar. 23, 1909, in LTR, Vol. 7, pp. 3–4.

  “Roosevelt did write”: AB to Clara, June 6, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, p. 367.

  The lack of communication . . . accomplishments of his administration: Mansfield [OH] News, June 15, 1910.

  “received no letters . . . other persons”: Indianapolis Star, June 12, 1910.

  “singularly silent”: AB to Clara, Feb. 14, 1910, AB Letters.

  although eighteen-year-old Ethel . . . to recognize her: EKR to Kermit Roosevelt, May 12, 1909, KR Papers.

  “to let the setting sun”: Nicholas Longworth to TR, April 27, 1910, TRP.

  “solely as a result”: AB to Clara, May 17, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, p. 352.

  “Everything which is . . . personal jealousies”: AB to Clara, May 17, 1910, AB Letters.

  no “word of welcome” . . . in Khartoum: AB to Clara, June 6, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, p. 367.

  “nearly complete . . . would find the truth”: WHT to TR, May 26, 1910, TRP.

  Taft made the decision . . . note of welcome: WHT to TR, June 14, 1910, TRP.

  “you and Mrs. Taft . . . out again”: AB to Clara, June 16, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, p. 392.

  “Oh, Archie . . . answer it later”: AB to Clara, June 19, 1910, in ibid., p. 398.

  “and how she dreaded . . . had distressed him”: AB to Clara, June 19, 1910, in ibid., p. 402.

  “if the master . . . a little bit late”: AB to Clara, June 19, 1910, in AB Letters.

  “I feel it is . . . courteous”: AB to Clara, June 19, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, pp. 394–95, 403.

  “I am of course much concerned”: TR to WHT, June 8, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 88.

  “kind and friendly . . . cannot help it”: TR to WHT, June 20, 1910, in ibid., p. 93.

  Overall, the feel of the letter: AB to Clara, June 24, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, p. 411.

  intense “factional wrangling”: National Tribune (Washington, DC), June 23, 1910.

  “more general legislation”: Washington Times, June 26, 1910.

  “dark days . . . to command”: New York Tribune, June 26, 1910.

  “strongly progressive . . . congressional saw mill”: Eau Claire [WI] Leader, June 25, 1910.

  a “special Commerce Court . . . at home and abroad”: New York Tribune, June 26, 1910.

  Taft’s “crowning achievement”: Eau Claire [WI] Leader, June 25, 1910.

  “I am not in favor”: Los Angeles Herald, Sept. 18, 1909.

  “I am as pleased”: WHT to [Otto] Bannard, June 11, 1910, in Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 1, p. 519.

  “one of the great Congressional”: WHT to [William B.] McKinley, Aug. 20, 1910, WHTP.

  The insurgents rightly took credit: National Tribune, June 23, 1910.

  “Old Guard” Republicans . . . the promises: Eau Claire [WI] Leader, June 25, 1910.

  “When people come”: NYT, June 26, 1910.

  “I always had faith”: Charles P. Taft to WHT, July 2, 1910, WHTP.

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p; “congratulated him . . . session was ending”: Washington Times, June 26, 1910.

  “the only incident . . . through the park”: AB to Clara, June 26, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, pp. 413–14.

  he rested at Sagamore Hill . . . The Outlook: Burlington [VT] Weekly Free Press, June 23, 1910.

  Before leaving for Africa, he had signed: NYT, Mar. 11, 1909.

  a three-room suite . . . “an office building”: Burlington [VT] Weekly Free Press, June 23, 1910.

  “very real . . . small proportion”: “Mr. Roosevelt to The Outlook’s Readers,” Outlook, July 2, 1910, p. 462.

  “not make a speech . . . I won’t say never”: New York Tribune, June 24, 1910.

  “marked by frequent . . . his other hand”: NYT, June 30, 1910.

  Throughout his governorship . . . direct primary bill: Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt (New York: Random House, 2010), pp. 94–95.

  “I believe the people”: NYT, June 30, 1910.

  “plunged into the very thick”: Boston Daily Globe, June 30, 1910.

  taken “the helm . . . in the approaching campaign”: NYT, June 30, 1910.

  “is likely to prove”: New York Tribune, June 30, 1910.

  “Ah Theodore . . . nothing on which to hang a story”: AB to Clara, June 30, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 1, pp. 418–20, 431.

  “From beginning to end”: New York Tribune, July 1, 1910.

  “that their friendship”: Washington Post, July 2, 1910.

  “Just Like Old Times . . . don’t know that I shall”: NYT, July 1, 1910.

  “in swift and emphatic fashion”: Boston Daily Globe, July 1, 1910.

  “It is Mr. Roosevelt . . . prepared for war”: Cited in Literary Digest, July 9, 1910, p. 43.

  “They made the fight”: Pringle, Life and Times, Vol. 2, p. 563.

  More powerful than . . . slate of candidates: Lewis L. Gould, The William Howard Taft Presidency (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009), p. 113.

  “It did not occur . . . platform and candidates”: WHT to Lloyd Griscom, Aug. 20, 1910, WHTP.

  “Don’t you know . . . such a fight”: WHT to Charles Norton, Aug. 21, 1910, WHTP.

  Taft momentarily wavered . . . dragged into the battle: AB to Clara, Aug. 17, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 479.

  the panel chose Sherman: Gould, The William Howard Taft Presidency, p. 114.

  “he fumed . . . the heaviest blow yet”: NYT, Aug. 17, 1910.

  Roosevelt was incensed . . . endorsed Sherman’s candidacy: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 10, 1910, and WHT to Lloyd Griscom, Aug. 20, 1910, WHTP.

  “with treachery . . . kills other people”: AB to Clara, Aug. 18, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 488.

  “ever expressed . . . conference with Mr. Roosevelt”: Washington Herald, Aug. 23, 1910.

  He was “indignant”: WHT to Charles Norton, Aug. 22, 1910, WHTP.

  “was very glad to see”: Washington Herald, Aug. 23, 1910.

  “As the waters of excitement”: AB to Clara, Aug. 21, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 493.

  “profoundly grieved”: AB to Clara, Aug. 18, 1910, in ibid., p. 488.

  “His whole attitude . . . in the past”: AB to Clara, Aug. 19, 1910, in ibid., p. 484.

  “They are now apart”: AB to Clara, Aug. 20, 1910, in ibid., p. 492.

  “On which side”: Amos E. Pinchot, History of the Progressive Party, 1912–1916 (New York: New York University Press, 1958), p. 115.

  “a county fair”: Robert S. La Forte, “Theodore Roosevelt’s Osawatomie Speech,” Kansas Historical Quarterly (Summer 1966), pp. 195, 196–97.

  with fireworks . . . food stands: New York Tribune, Sept. 1, 1910.

  Climbing onto a kitchen table . . . “the front rank”: Washington Times, Sept. 1, 1910.

  the speech had gone . . . Herbert Croly: Pinchot, History of the Progressive Party, pp. 112–13.

  “The New Nationalism . . . go forward as a nation”: Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism (New York: Outlook, 1910).

  “My friends”: La Forte, “Theodore Roosevelt’s Osawatomie Speech,” Kansas Historical Quarterly (Summer 1966), p. 197.

  he was “the leader”: Char Miller, Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism (Washington, DC: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 2001), pp. 235–36.

  “Advanced Insurgent . . . materially strengthened”: Washington Times, Sept. 1, 1910.

  “frenzied applause . . . in our Government”: Sydney Brooks, “The Confusion of American Politics,” Fortnightly Review (October 1910), pp. 648–49.

  “this new Napoleon”: La Forte, “Theodore Roosevelt’s Osawatomie Speech,” Kansas Historical Quarterly (Summer 1966), p. 198.

  “slight mention . . . form of attack”: National Tribune, Sept. 8, 1910.

  “He is going quite beyond”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 10, 1910, WHTP.

  “wild ideas” . . . decent “conservative”: WHT to Horace Taft, Sept. 16, 1910, WHTP.

  “on the other side . . . against machine politics”: Horace Taft to WHT, Sept. 15, 1910, WHTP.

  “riotous reception . . . not supporting me”: WHT to Horace Taft, Sept. 16, 1910, WHTP.

  “I dared to include”: WHT to Charles P. Taft, Sept. 10, 1910, WHTP.

  Gossipmongers exacerbated . . . the nomination: AB to Clara, Sept. 17, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, pp. 514–15.

  “I know how . . . misconstrued by me”: AB to Clara, September [n.d.], 1910, in ibid., pp. 529–30.

  “He told me . . . will be placed”: AB to Clara, Sept. 17, 1910, in ibid., p. 515.

  “a connected conversation”: AB to Clara, Jan. 2, 1910, AB Letters.

  “the buffer . . . to a standstill”: AB to Clara, Aug. 4, 1910, AB Letters.

  “became separated . . . pretty awful”: Anthony, Nellie Taft, p. 280.

  “to die in harness”: AB to Clara, April 14, 1910, AB Letters.

  “something young and prettier”: AB to Clara, Oct. 4, 1910, AB Letters.

  “I suppose you will have”: AB to Clara, July 6, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 436.

  “step out of the way . . . like a gentleman”: WHT to Horace Taft, Sept. 16, 1910, WHTP.

  “on the Eve . . . away with radicalism”: Washington Times, Sept. 24, 1910.

  “Twenty years ago . . . on good terms”: TR to HCL, Sept. 21, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, pp. 135–36.

  unity might “turn the scale”: TR to TR, Jr., Sept. 21, 1910, in ibid., p. 133.

  “made a point of being”: TR to HCL, Sept. 21, 1910, in ibid., pp. 135–36.

  “not genial and quite offish”: AB to Clara, Sept. 20, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 524.

  “had spoken first”: WHT to HHT, Sept. 24, 1910, WHTP.

  “very irritating . . . genuine wisdom”: TR to HCL, Sept. 21, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 135.

  Roosevelt’s opponents jumped on the story: New York Tribune, Sept. 20, 1910.

  a statement “emphatically” denying: Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA), Sept. 21, 1910.

  “to beg for assistance”: TR to HCL, Sept. 21, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 135.

  “farther apart than ever”: AB to Clara, Sept. 20, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 518.

  “riotous cheers . . . passed up to the platform”: Washington Herald, Sept. 28, 1910.

  “an enemy of the nation . . . public safety”: New York Tribune, Sept. 27, 1910.

  “catcalls . . . for Col. Gruber”: San Francisco Call, Sept. 28, 1910.

  Roosevelt’s supporters were anxious: Washington Herald, Sept. 28, 1910.

  567 votes against . . . 445: Morris, Colonel Roosevelt, p. 114.

  “to our able, upright”: Omaha [NE] Daily Bee, Sept. 28, 1910.

  “The house party has been”: WHT to HHT, Sept. 28, 1910, WHTP.

  “Bulletins . . . from New York”: AB to Clara, Sept. 27, 1910, in AB, Taft and Roosevelt, Vol. 2, p. 531.

  “I hope you saw”: WHT to HHT, S
ept. 28, 1910, WHTP.

  “We had a delicious table”: George Wickersham to HHT, Oct. 2, 1910, WHTP.

  “should have lost everything”: TR to TR, Jr., Oct. 3, 1910, TRJP.

  Pinchot refused to back the ticket: TR to TR, Jr., Oct. 19, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 145.

  “I think it absurd . . . as radical as I am”: TR to William Kent, Nov. 28, 1910, in ibid., p. 176.

  “have been nearly insane”: TR to Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Sept. 21, 1910, in ibid., p. 133.

  “the wild-eyed radicals”: TR to TR, Jr., Oct. 19, 1910, in ibid., p. 145.

  “I had one . . . force me to be a candidate”: RSB, Notebook, Oct. 5, 1910, RSB Papers.

  “usual moral punch . . . finest characteristics”: RSB, Notebook, Oct. 6, 1910, RSB Papers.

  “the old game . . . radical & conservative”: RSB, Notebook, Oct. 8, 1910, RSB Papers.

  “I am being nearly worked”: TR to ARC, Oct. 7, 1910, TRC.

  When Democrats won an “unprecedented” victory: National Tribune, Oct. 27, 1910.

  “If Mr. Roosevelt can save”: Literary Digest, Nov. 5, 1910, p. 775.

  “it will be practically”: NYT, Oct. 5, 1910.

  the strength of the Democratic victory “stunned Washington”: National Tribune, Nov. 17, 1910.

  Democrats gained control . . . the forty-eight states: Andrew Busch, Horses in Midstream: U.S. Midterm Elections and Their Consequences, 1894–1998 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999), p. 85; Sullivan, Our Times, Vol. 4, p. 452.

  “The Democratic party”: Mowry, Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement, p. 156.

  “crushing rebuke” to Theodore: NYT, Nov. 9, 1910.

  “defeat would have come”: Literary Digest, Nov. 19, 1910, p. 917.

  “New Nationalism has been pitched”: NYT, Nov. 9, 1910.

  “to be a fatal . . . triumphantly elected”: Literary Digest, Nov. 19, 1910, p. 917.

  “The trail that Mr. Roosevelt”: Current Literature (December 1910), p. 585.

  This “tremendous overthrow”: Literary Digest, Nov. 19, 1910, p. 916.

  “the chief architect”: Ibid., p. 917.

  “a smashing defeat”: TR to Arthur Hamilton Lee, Nov. 11, 1910, in LTR, Vol. 7, p. 163.

  He recognized that he had lost support . . . “envenomed hatred”: TR to Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Nov. 21, 1910, in ibid., p. 173.

  “The American people”: TR to WAW, Dec. 12, 1910, in ibid., p. 182.