LOT RR Auction  /  RR Auction: Rare Manuscripts, Documents and Auto...  / 

156

Theodore Roosevelt

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:800.00 - 1,200.00 USD
Theodore Roosevelt

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2012 Aug 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS, two pages, 8.5 x 11, Kansas City Star letterhead, October 18, 1918. Letter to to E.B. Johns of the Army Gazette, with 12 hand corrections and additions in Roosevelt’s hand, written just three months after TR's son, Quentin, was killed in action. In full: “I most heartily and cordially join with you in your appeal to the President to secure efficient action to do away with the disenfranchisement of American soldiers on the battlefronts. The President recently made an appeal for enfranchising women, on the ground that such enfranchisement was demanded as a war measure, and in the course of his speech he stated, as a justification for demanding votes for women, that it would be intolerable to submit to the disenfranchisement of our soldiers. The President has been misinformed, or else he has not been informed at all by those who should have informed him, as to the facts in the case; otherwise, he would have known that as a matter of fact, our soldiers are now actually disenfranchised.

It is useless to refer this matter to the separate states. We are dealing with the United States army, and it is the duty of the United States government to take the lead in action for the army of the United States. To refer the matter back to forty-six states is to invite and insure delay and injustice. I believe that the President should urge Congress to act in the first place, pointing out the method; but if this seems impracticable then I earnestly advise that the President summon all the Governors of the States (precisely as I summoned them when I was President, in order to secure prompt action in conservation matters). In any event, the national government must itself take the lead in order to prevent the continuance of this intolerable injustice.” In very good condition, with intersecting folds, with one horizontal fold passing through signature, a few small separations at intersections of folds, toning to both pages, staple hole to top left, and scattered creases and wrinkles. Letter is housed in a custom-made folder.

Roosevelt was no admirer of Wilson’s wartime politics. He had attacked the president’s foreign policy at the outbreak of World War I, and when Roosevelt tried to raise a volunteer infantry division in 1917, Wilson forbade him. Here the former president criticizes Wilson’s newfound support for women’s suffrage when American soldiers abroad were being denied their voting rights. Wilson's main argument for granting women the vote was their role in the war effort. Indeed, in a speech to congress, Wilson compared women on the home front with soldiers overseas: "I propose [women's suffrage] as I would propose to admit soldiers to the suffrage, the men fighting in the field for our liberties and the liberties of the world, were they excluded."

In fact, American soldiers were excluded. Several states had adopted absentee voting laws between the Civil War and World War I, but most men in uniform were effectively disenfranchised. Even these inadequate provisions for absentee voting became moot in 1918 when military officials ruled that servicemen on foreign soil would not be allowed to vote due the complexities of organizing a process overseas. This remarkable letter exemplifies the righteous passion of the former president who remained a formidable political presence well after he left political office.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot