43. Milholland Diary, May 18, 1908, John E. Milholland Papers (1887–1924), Ticonderoga (NY) Historical Society.
44. John E. Milholland, letter to Joseph B. Foraker, August 22, 1907, Foraker Papers; John B. Foraker, letter to John E. Milholland, August 23, 1907, Foraker Papers.
45. John B. Foraker, letter to Napoleon B. Marshall, July 26, 1907, Foraker Papers.
46. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:376.
47. Milholland Diary, May 18, 1908, Milholland Papers, cited in “The Political Career of Joseph Benson Foraker,” by Earl R. Beck (PhD diss., Ohio State University, 1942), p. 96.
48. Only six days earlier he had sent Congress his last annual message. There was no mention of Brownsville. See “Last Message of Roosevelt,” New York Times, December 9, 1908.
49. 43 Cong. Rec. 185, 185.
50. Letter from the Secretary of War Transmitting a Report, S. Doc. No. 60-626 (1909), p. 2.
51. Appendix A, Letter from the Secretary of War, S. Doc. No. 60-626.
52. S. Doc. No. 60-587 (1908), p. 9.
53. Appendix C, Letter from the Secretary of War, S. Doc. No. 60-626.
54. 43 Cong. Rec. 191–92.
55. Luke Wright, who had replaced Taft in 1904 as governor of the Philippines, now took his seat as secretary of war.
56. 43 Cong. Rec. 190, 194.
57. 43 Cong. Rec. 194.
58. Ibid.
59. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to William Howard Taft, December 12, 1908, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 5:864. Morison added Roosevelt's statement, released that same day, did the trick. It “ended the continuing talk of a [Roosevelt] third term” and “strengthened Taft's position.”
60. See Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography, 2 vols. (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1964), 1:318, 353.
61. See Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex (New York: Random House, 2001), pp. 526–27.
62. Walters, Joseph Benson Foraker, p. 268. In Notes of a Busy Life, 2:394, Foraker imperfectly remembers the vote count of the candidates other than Taft. He wrote his sixteen votes were “probably as many as any other candidate…except Taft.” Actually, each of the other candidates had more than sixteen.
63. Joseph B. Foraker, letter to William Howard Taft, June 18, 1908, folder 1, box 24, Foraker Papers; William Howard Taft, letter to Joseph B. Foraker, June 19, 1908, in Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:394.
64. Walters, Joseph Benson Foraker, p. 272. Walters also cites Taft's letter to Roosevelt, September 4, 1908, quoted in Pringle, Life and Times of William Howard Taft, 1:271.
65. See “Roosevelt Frees Taft of Censure,” New York Times, August 8, 1908.
66. “Roosevelt Helps Taft with Negroes,” New York Times, August 9, 1908. See also “Negro Voters Will Swing to Taft,” New York Times, May 18, 1908.
67. See Emma Lou Thornbrough, “The Brownsville Episode and the Negro Vote,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 44, no. 3 (December 1947): 469–93. See also August Meier, “Booker T. Washington and the Rise of the NAACP,” Crisis 61, no. 2 (February 1954): 75.
68. As much to transfer to a Taft administration some semblance of the influence he once had with Theodore Roosevelt. See Booker T. Washington, letter to William Howard Taft, July 7, 1908, in The Booker T. Washington Papers, ed. Louis R. Harlan and Raymond W. Smock, vol. 9, 1906–8 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980), pp. 365–66.
69. Ralph Tyler, letter to Booker T. Washington, October 5, 1907, in ibid., 9:589.
70. Emma L. Thornbrough, T. Thomas Fortune: Militant Journalist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), p. 328. For discussion of black vote for Taft, see Thornbrough, “Brownsville Episode and the Negro Vote,” pp. 487–93.
71. “The Niagara Movement,” Electronic Oberlin Group, http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/Niagara%20Movement/niagaramain.htm (accessed June 1, 2014). Booker T. Washington knew that by then the Niagara Movement barely had a pulse. “We can safely say the movement is practically dead.” Booker T. Washington, letter to the editor of the New York Age, September 7, 1908, in Harlan and Smock, Booker T. Washington Papers, 9:619. Earlier that year its treasurer reported to Du Bois that it was broke. Members were not paying their dues. Rev. J. Milton Waldron, letter to W. E. B. Du Bois, February 11, 1908, W. E. B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts, http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b004-i190 (accessed October 3, 2014).
72. Henry Litchfield West, “American Politics,” Forum, July 1902, p. 3.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: AN ACT OF TREASON
1. See Cincinnati Times-Star, March 27, 1907, for Charles Taft's statement. See John D. Weaver, The Brownsville Raid (College Station: Texas A&M University, 1992), p. 269, for its postconvention effect on Foraker.
2. “Taft Will Make No Set Speeches,” New York Times, April 8, 1908.
3. See Everett Walters, Joseph Benson Foraker: An Uncompromising Republican (Columbus: Ohio History Press, 1948), p. 269.
4. See ibid., p. 270.
5. Joseph B. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2 vols. (Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd, 1917), 2:395.
6. See David Nasaw, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), pp. 220–21.
7. Maybe it was not spur of the moment. Why else would he have the letters with him?
8. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:328.
9. Nasaw, The Chief, p. 221.
10. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:329.
11. Julia Foraker, I Would Live It Again (New York: Arno, 1975), p. 300.
12. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:329.
13. John D. Archbold, letters to Joseph B. Foraker, January 27, 1902, and February 25, 1902, both cited in Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:329–30.
14. “Foraker Makes Attack on Taft,” New York Times, September 26, 1908.
15. “Foraker Defends Standard Oil Fees,” New York Times, November 16, 1908.
16. “Newspaper Comment on Campaign Contributions,” Outlook, September 14, 1912, p. 68.
17. “The Standard Oil Scandal,” HarpWeek, http://elections.harpweek.com/1908/Overview-1908-4.htm (accessed June 1, 2014).
18. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Henry Cabot Lodge, September 19, 1908, in Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, 1884–1918, 2 vols. (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1925), 2:316. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to William Howard Taft, September 19, 1908, in The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, ed. Elting E. Morison, vol. 6, The Big Stick: 1907–1909 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952), p. 1244. Roosevelt came back to Foraker's Standard Oil troubles again with Lodge just a few days later. “Foraker is a brilliant man; he was a gallant soldier…. He was also a corrupt man and [struck through by Roosevelt] but [handwritten in] as this was so I am glad that he was exposed.” Lodge replied, “Foraker's downfall appears complete and his letter was one of the feeblest productions I have ever read.” Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Henry Cabot Lodge, September 25, 1908; Henry Cabot Lodge, letter to Theodore Roosevelt, September 29, 1908, both found in Henry Cabot Lodge Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.
19. Theodore Roosevelt, telegram to Nicolas Longworth, February 21, 1908, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1244–45.
20. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to William Howard Taft, September 19, 1908, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1244.
21. See Archibald Butt, letter to Pamela Butt, September 23, 1908, in The Letters of Archie Butt, Personal Aide to President Roosevelt, ed. Lawrence F. Abbott (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1924), p. 95. Butt was military aide to both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft. In 1912 Taft gave him leave to visit Europe with a friend. Their passage home was booked on the Titanic; both were lost.
22. Foraker, I Would Live It Again, p. 311.
23. Robert D. Bowden, Boies Penrose: Symbol of an Era (New York: Greenberg, 1937), pp. 178–79; Walter Davenport, Power and Glory: The Life of Boies Penrose (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1931), p. 177.
24. “George B. Cortelyou (1907–1909): Secretary of the Treasury,” American President: Theodore Roosevelt, Miller Center, University of Virginia, http://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/essays/cabinet/422 (accessed June 1, 2014). Pringle writes Roosevelt did not order the Standard Oil money returned until October 26, less than two weeks before the election, and it was not paid back until after Election Day. Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1984), p. 251.
25. Cited in “Newspaper Comment on Campaign Contributions,” p. 68.
26. Clark's statement is cited in Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:312.
27. Clark's comment about the Senate is that Brownsville “contributed largely” to what happened to Foraker's run for reelection. It is cited in ibid., 2:312. Foraker's response is at ibid., 2:328.
28. Robert Dove, The Term of a Senator—When Does It Begin and End?, S. Doc. No. 98-29 (1984), http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/termofasenator.pdf (accessed October 3, 2014).
29. Memorandum of Conversation Held with Senator Foraker, December 13, 1908, John Callan O'Laughlin Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
30. Memorandum of Conversation Held with Senator Foraker, December 15, 1908, O'Laughlin Papers.
31. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to William Howard Taft, January 1, 1909, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1454–56. Roosevelt delayed the letter until after Charley Taft withdrew. It was marked “Personal,” and in it he cautioned Taft, “This letter is to be shown to no one excepting of course Mrs. Taft.”
32. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to William Howard Taft, January 1, 1906, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1454–56.
33. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:349. Foraker is a bit misleading here. The words act of treason were not in uppercase in the newspaper. Foraker gave them added punch by capitalizing them. It was commonly believed Roosevelt dictated the article word for word. See “C. P. Taft May Quit Ohio Senate Race,” New York Times, December 31, 1908.
34. “Burton for Senator; Taft, Foraker Out,” New York Times, January 1, 1909.
35. See Walters, Joseph Benson Foraker, pp. 283–84.
36. “Burns Favorite over Negro Fighter,” New York Times, December 25, 1908.
37. Thomas R. Hietala, The Fight of the Century: Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2002), pp. 29–30.
38. Two years later when Johnson defended his title against Jim Jeffries (the “great white hope”) in Reno, Nevada, as he walked to the ring a brass band played “All Coons Look Alike to Me,” the lyrics of which were used to taunt Foraker at the Gridiron banquet in January 1907 (see chapter seventeen). The crowed joined in singing, but if they wanted to rattle the champ, it didn't work. Johnson walloped Jeffries and kept the crown. “July 4, 1910: Great White Hope vs. the Galveston Giant: The Jack Johnson ‘Fight of the Century,’” US History Scene, http://www.ushistoryscene.com/1901-1950/july-4-1910-great-white-hope-vs-the-galveston-giant-the-jack-johnson-%E2%80%9Cfight-of-the-century%E2%80%9D/ (accessed June 1, 2014). Johnson historian Thomas R. Hietala writes the band intended to play “All Coons Look Alike to Me” but at the last minute changed to “Dixie.” Hietala, Fight of the Century, pp. 13–47.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: ROOSEVELT FATIGUE
1. Reid v. United States, 161 F. 469, 470 (S.D.N.Y. 1908).
2. Reid v. United States, 211 U.S. 529 (1909). See William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 1:*242: “No suit or action can be brought against the king, even in civil matters, because no court can have jurisdiction over him. For all jurisdiction implies superiority of power: authority to try would be vain and idle, without an authority to redress; and the sentence of a court would be contemptible, unless that court had the power to command the execution of it: but who…shall command the king?”
3. Holmes's comment cited in TR: The Last Romantic, by H. W. Brands (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1997), p. 542.
4. Roosevelt had hinted to a few people something was in the wind but did not say what. See Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Booker T. Washington, November 5, 1908, in The Booker T. Washington Papers, eds. Louis R. Harlan and Raymond W. Smock, vol. 9, 1906–8 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980), p. 686.
5. Foraker had a second source for information. In September, Napoleon Marshall wrote that a man who identified himself as “Col. Brown from the War Department” came to Mingo Sanders's home and tried to get him to confess. Foraker, recognizing the name “Brown,” immediately thought of Boyd Conyers down in Georgia. Napoleon B. Marshall, letter to Joseph B. Foraker, September 15, 1908; and Joseph B. Foraker, letter to Napoleon B. Marshall, September 17, 1908, both found in Joseph Foraker Papers, Cincinnati History Library and Archives.
6. Boyd Conyers, letter to Joseph B. Foraker, July 24, 1908, cited by Foraker at 42 Cong. Rec. 192 (1908).
7. “A Discredited Case,” Boston Herald, December 15, 1908.
8. The quoted language appears in the following correspondence: Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Whitelaw Reid, April 26, 1906, in The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, ed. Elting E. Morison, vol. 5, The Big Stick: 1905–1907 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952), pp. 230–51; Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Arthur Hamilton Lee, October 22, 1906, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 5:476; Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Arthur Hamilton Lee, in The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, ed. Elting E. Morison, vol. 6, The Big Stick: 1907–1909 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952), pp. 918–21. Lee was the British military attaché to the US army in Cuba, where he and Roosevelt became such close friends Roosevelt made him an honorary member of his Rough Riders. “Lord Lee of Fareham (1868–1947),” The Roaring Twenties: An Encyclopaedia, http://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/~lysic/1920s/leelord.htm (accessed June 1, 2014).
9. Maurice Low, letter to Joseph B. Foraker, December 14, 1908, Foraker Papers.
10. Letter from the Secretary of War Transmitting a Report, January 2, 1909, S. Doc. No. 60-626 (1909), p. 1.
11. Except for those reserved for the White House. They were empty.
12. 43 Cong. Rec. 805.
13. “Foraker Scorns Official Spying,” New York Times, January 13, 1909.
14. 43 Cong. Rec. 806–8.
15. 43 Cong. Rec. 805.
16. “Says President Violated Law,” Marysville (OH) Evening Tribune, January 13, 1909.
17. 43 Cong. Rec. 797.
18. “Foraker Scorns Official Spying.”
19. “Says President Violated Law”; “President ‘Oblivious to All Law and Decency.’” Daily Saratogian, January 12, 1909.
20. Joseph B. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2 vols. (Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd, 1917), 2:305–306. See also “President ‘Oblivious to All Law and Decency.’”
21. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:306. Foraker also had affidavits supporting Conyers from the assistant cashier of the leading bank in Monroe and the captain of the local company of the Georgia National Guard, both white men.
22. The next month, when the final Browne-Baldwin report was delivered to the War Department, Roosevelt told the secretary of war, “It is not necessary to send this report to Congress.” Whatever new information it might have, he saw no reason to provide further fodder for Foraker to turn against him. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Luke Edward Wright, February 7, 1909, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1507.
23. 43 Cong. Rec. 805.
24. Roosevelt sensed the antagonisms in Congress. On January 14, two days after Foraker tore apart the Browne-Baldwin investigation, Roosevelt wrote his son Kermit, “Congress of course feels that I will never again have to be reckoned with and that it is safe to be ugly with me. Accordingly, in one way I am not having an easy time.” Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Kermit Roosevelt, January 14, 1909, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1475–76.
25. “Roosevelt Will Make Full Report to the Senate,” Atlanta Constitution, January 17, 1909. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Willi
am Howard Taft, January 16, 1909, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1476.
26. “98-Mile Ride Bully, President Declares,” New York Times, January 14, 1909.
27. A. C. Stine, letter to Joseph B. Foraker, February 8, 1909, box 94, Foraker Papers.
28. Nathaniel W. Stephenson, Nelson W. Aldrich, A Leader in American Politics (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1930), pp. 48–51.
29. Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Nelson W. Aldrich, January 27, 1909, in Morison, Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 6:1486–87.
30. Collum, cited in Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:470.
31. Ibid., 2:310. This was Roosevelt's second celebration in two days. The day before, he was in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to welcome back his Great White Fleet after its fourteen-month cruise around the world. It had been received everywhere with acclaim, especially in Japan. Roosevelt had worked his magic with his sure handling of the Japanese-workers problem. See James B. Reckner, “The Fleet Triumphant,” Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal 29, no. 2 (Summer 2008): 5–16.
32. Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, 2:311.
33. 42 Cong. Rec. 3391 (1909).
34. Not completely; he helped Daggett and Marshall locate soldiers who might want to apply for reenlistment. Senator Francis Warren obtained a list from the army, and on March 13, 1909, he forwarded it, with forty-one names and addresses, to Foraker. Mingo Sanders was on the list. So were five others later found by the Court of Inquiry eligible for reenlistment.
35. Mingo Sanders testified the shooting came from the town and into the fort. Why then, he was asked, did he form his company with their backs to the town? Why were there no bullets in any of the fort's buildings? And why was none of the soldiers shot? His confused answer seems to have been something Daggett or Marshall prepared him to say in response to a different question: Why would the fort be under attack? “My reason is this, to get the soldiers away from [Brownsville and Fort Brown].” See Report of the Proceedings of the Court of Inquiry Relative to the Shooting Affray at Brownsville, Tex…., S. Doc. No. 61-701, vols. 4–6 (1911) (hereafter cited as CI-2), pp. 1062, 1069, 1078–79 (testimony of Sanders).
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