July 29 Tuesday – In Kittery Point, Maine, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam, jokingly calling him:
Dear Mr. President: / I am sorry that the poem [Howell’s poem, “The Mother” to be published in Harper’s for Dec. 1902] has gone to Harper’s Magazine. If it comes back, either in proof or MS. it shall be sent to Mrs. Roosevelt [Livy] promptly.
This will be handed to you by my son, who will now be satisfied with the Russian embassy [MTHL 2: 743].
Sam answered, also this date, but only the envelope survives, which includes the following:
“If there is a P.O. there; failing which it is desired that the nearest P.M. take it in his basket & carry it to him after hours & charge him extra. [return address:] From Theodore Roosevelt / President of the / United States. / per S.L.C.” [MTP; not in MTHL].
Note: Sam liked Theodore Roosevelt’s persona, both public and private, but thought his policies, especially his foreign policy “insane,” and opposed him mainly on those grounds. Interestingly, the two men had much in common, though of different generations. Both moved in the upper classes; were voracious readers; had run-ins with the pious John Wanamaker; had little use for Henry James; were close to Poultney Bigelow and Thomas B. Reed; admired General Grant; supported Grover Cleveland and William McKinley for President; opposed corruption in government, especially Tammany Hall and other city bosses; had experienced great tragedy and loss of loved ones (Roosevelt his first wife and mother on the same day); reveled in nature and the enjoyment of the outdoors; built mansions; were close to many journalists; and lastly, were both authors of some note, with Roosevelt writing the popular multi-volume Winning of the West, and Naval War of 1812, and Gouverneur Morris, and other books. But after the Spanish-American War, it was foreign policy alone which pitted them against each other. See Edmund Morris’ The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt for an excellent treatment on TR’s development.