Creator: Roosevelt, Theodore, 1887-1944
Size: 25,000 items; 77 containers; 33 linear feet
Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Abstract: Army officer, author, and public official. Correspondence, memoranda, diaries, drafts of speeches and writings, subject files, newspaper clippings, and other papers pertaining chiefly to Roosevelt's service as U.S. assistant secretary of the navy (1921-1924) under Warren G. Harding and Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby, as governor of Puerto Rico (1929-1932), and as governor general of the Philippines (1932-1933).
 

Alsop, Joseph, 1910- --Correspondence
Alsop, Stewart--Correspondence
Borah, William Edgar, 1865-1940--Correspondence
Buck, Pearl S. (Pearl Sydenstricker), 1892-1973--Correspondence
Chiang, Kai-shek, 1887-1975--Correspondence
Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933--Correspondence
Denby, Edwin, 1870-1929
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969--Correspondence
Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965--Correspondence
Frost, Robert, 1874-1963--Correspondence
Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, Viscount, 1862-1933--Correspondence
Hanna, Marcus Alonzo, 1837-1904--Correspondence
Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923
Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923--Correspondence
Hilles, Charles Dewey, 1867-1949--Correspondence
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964--Correspondence
Knox, Frank, 1874-1944--Correspondence
Lindsay, Vachel, 1879-1931--Correspondence
Lippmann, Walter, 1889-1974--Correspondence
MacArthur, Douglas, 1880-1964--Correspondence
Marshall, George C. (George Catlett), 1880-1959--Correspondence
Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset), 1874-1965--Correspondence
Pershing, John J. (John Joseph), 1860-1948--Correspondence
Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946--Correspondence
Quezon, Manuel Luis, 1878-1944--Correspondence
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962--Correspondence
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945--Correspondence
Roosevelt, Kermit, 1889-1943--Correspondence
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919--Correspondence
Root, Elihu, 1845-1937--Correspondence
Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944
Stimson, Henry Lewis, 1867-1950--Correspondence
Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951--Correspondence
White, Walter Francis, 1893-1955--Correspondence
White, William Allen, 1868-1944--Correspondence
Wood, Leonard, 1860-1927
Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943--Correspondence
Roosevelt family--Correspondence
Philippines. Gobernador-General
Puerto Rico. Governor
United States. Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy
American Legion
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
Conference on the Limitation of Armament (1921-1922 : Washington, D.C.)
Roosevelt, Eleanor Butler, 1889-1960. Papers
 

Disarmament
Political campaigns--United States
Military pensions--United States
Military readiness--United States
Outdoor life
Politics, Practical--United States
Prohibition
Socialism
Travel
Veterans--United States
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1939-1945
Africa--Description and travel
East Asia--Description and travel
New York (State)--Politics and government
United States--Intellectual life--20th century
United States--Politics and government--1901-1953
United States--Social conditions
 

Army officers
Authors
Public officials
 

The papers of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., assistant secretary of the navy during the administration of Warren G. Harding, army officer, author, and political aspirant, were given to the Library of Congress by his heirs, 1958-1964.

The papers of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. were arranged and described in 1972. This register was revised in 1998.

Photographic negatives and prints have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.

Copyright in the unpublished writings of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and his wife Eleanor Butler Roosevelt in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: container number, Theodore Roosevelt (1887-1944) Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

The papers of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1887-1944), which include correspondence and other papers of his wife Eleanor Butler Roosevelt, cover the period 1780-1962, bulking largest between 1920 and 1944. The collection consists of Diaries, Family Correspondence, General Correspondence, Special Correspondence, Letters of Condolence and Congratulation, Subject File, Speech, Article, and Book File, Printed Matter, and Papers of Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919). The last segment of the papers contains correspondence of President Theodore Roosevelt, including nine letters addressed to Marcus Alonzo (Mark) Hanna.

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was not a consistent diarist. However, the diaries he did maintain, written primarily during the 1920s, are significant for their observations on important events and individuals. There are numerous entries concerning his activities as assistant secretary of the navy and his relationships with Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby, President Warren G. Harding, and others. The diaries, which are in typescript, contain notations and deletions made by Eleanor Roosevelt after her husband's death.

Roosevelt maintained a large correspondence with family members, often writing diary-like letters. Other significant family correspondence includes the letters he exchanged with his father concerning political events, particularly after 1903.

Correspondence of Theodore and Eleanor Butler Roosevelt with prominent associates and friends is contained chiefly in the Special Correspondence series. Among their numerous correspondents are Joseph and Stewart Alsop, William Edgar Borah, Pearl S. Buck, Chiang Kai-shek, Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Felix Frankfurter, Robert Frost, Edward Grey, Warren G. Harding, Charles Dewey Hilles, Herbert Hoover, Frank Knox , Vachel Lindsay , Walter Lippmann, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, W. Somerset Maugham, John J. Pershing, Gifford Pinchot, Manuel Luis Quezon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elihu Root, Henry Lewis Stimson, Arthur H. Vandenberg, Walter Francis White, William Allen White, and Alexander Woollcott.

The General Correspondence and the Subject File contain much information about social, political, and intellectual currents in the 1920s and 1930s. Prohibition, military preparedness, "Cousin Franklin" (Franklin D. Roosevelt), political campaigns, socialism, and veterans' benefits are among the topics discussed. As a government official, military officer, and son of a former president, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., received letters from ordinary citizens as well as prominent individuals. These letters and Roosevelt's replies constitute a rich source of information about the period.

Among the major facets of Roosevelt's career that are documented in the Subject File are his activities in organizing the American Legion in 1919; his role in the presidential election campaign of Leonard Wood, 1919-1920; his participation in the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armament, 1921-1922; his race against Alfred Emanuel Smith for the governorship of New York, 1924; his expeditions to Africa and the Far East , 1924-1939; and his military participation in both world wars, which led to numerous medals and decorations, including the Croix de Guerre and (posthumously) the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Roosevelt was in much demand as a speaker and appeared before many veterans groups and political gatherings. During the period between the world wars, he regularly campaigned throughout the nation for Republican presidential nominees. The Speech, Article, and Book File contains the texts of many such speeches, as well as speech requests and comments. It also contains speeches and other material relating to his role as governor of Puerto Rico, 1929-1932, and governor general of the Philippines, 1932-1933. Roosevelt's many magazine articles of the 1920s and 1930s usually concerned travel, the out-of-doors, or World War I and are preserved in typescript form in the Speech, Article, and Book File. On the other hand, there is little more than correspondence to represent the many books he wrote, although there are drafts, reviews, clippings, legal papers, and research material relating to Eleanor Butler Roosevelt's book, Day Before Yesterday (1959).

The Miscellany file contains a variety of papers, including an autograph collection, items relating to the Roosevelt family, and typewritten transcripts of many letters from Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. and Jr., and Eleanor Butler Roosevelt. A fairly complete file of clippings on the activities of the two Theodore Roosevelts is located among the Printed Matter. Since the clippings are unmounted and in poor condition, photocopies are available for reader use.