Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/178

 ROOSEVELT

ROOSEVELT

Philander C. Knox of Pennsylvania as attorney- general, and George Bruce Cortelyou of New York (former secretary to the President) secre- tary of commerce and agriculture, an executive department newly created by congress in Feb- ruary, rJ03, Mr. Cortelyou taking the oatli of office on February 18. The diplomatic represen- tatives continued from McKinley's administra- tion were: Josepli H. Choate of New York, U.S. ambassador to Great Britain; Horace Porter of New York, U.S. ambassador to France; Robert S. McCormick of Illinois. U.S. minister to Austria until Jan. 8, l(t03. when he was trans- ferred as U.S. ambassador to Russia; Charle- magne Tower of Philadelphia. U.S.. ambassador to Russia, transferred Jan. 8. 1903, to Germany; Andrew D. White of New York, U.S. ambassador to Germany, who resigned December, 1902; George von L. Meyer of Massachusetts, U.S. ambassador to Italy, and Bellamy Storer of Ohio, U.S. minister to Spain, transferred December, 1902 to Austria as U.S. ambassador and being succeeded at Madrid, Spain, by Arthur Sherburne Hardy, late U.S. envoy to Switzerland. A vacancy occurred on the bench of the U.S. supreme court by the resignation of Associate Justice Horace Gray, and on Aug. 11, 1902, President Roosevelt appointed Oliver Wendell Holmes of Massachusetts, associate justice, and on the resignation of Associate Justice George Shiras, Jr., in 1903, he appointed Judge William R. Day of the U.S. circuit court, associate justice. His first message to congress followed the line of pf)licy foreshadowed in McKinley's last speecli at Buffalo, and as President, he made extended journeys through the various states, the welcome extended to him being alike generous and uni- versal in New England and in the Southern states. It is safe to say that no President who had reached the office through the Vice-Presi- dency began his administration under better auspices or with less of partisan opposition and criticism. His recommendations were acknow- ledged to be wise and conservative and while congress did not adopt them all, it gave to each careful corLsideration. His action in reference to the coal strike of 1902 restored order and secured a return of the miners to their work, and at the same time made the working men feel that their cause had not suffered from his counsel. In the complications arising from the Venezuela diffi- culties in 1902-03, he maintained tiie Monroe doctrine in all negotiations with the European powers interested, and was honored by the gov- ernment of Venezuela in b^ing named as an ac- ceptable arbitrator, which duty he gracefully avoided by proi>osing the Higne tribunal as the proi>er means for arriving at a peaceful solution. Later when the European powers involved ob-

jected to appearing before the Hague court, they unanimously suggested the President of the United States as a more satisfactory arbitrator, a position which he declined, and U.S. Consul Bowen arranged tiie term of settlement. When the Uziited States senate failed to act upon the treaties providing for an Isthmian canal and for reciprocity with Cuba, President Roosevelt called an extra session of the senate, and the treaties were ratified, March 5, 1903. In November, 1903. he recognized the new Republic of Panama immediately on its secession from Colombia. He was a member of the Columbia Historical societj- to which he contributed papers on the Dutch colonies of New Amsterdam; the National Geographic society; the Union League club and the Century association of New York city; the Anthropological society of Washington, the American Museum of Natural History of which he was a trustee, as he was of the State Charities Association, and of the Newsboys' Lodging House of which his father was the organizer and a liberal patron. He organized in 1887 and was the first president of the Boone and Crockett club, whose objects are the hunting of big game, ex- ploration, and preservation of game and forests, holding the office until 1896. He instituted, Feb. 2, 1899. and was the first commander, of the Naval and Military Order of the Spanish-American War; and became a member of the Rough Riders' association, organized in Cuba before the dis- bandment of the 1st Regiment, U.S. Volunteers Cavalry, and of the National Association of Span- ish-American War Veterans, incorporated Dec. 14, 1899. He was made an honorary member of the Union League club of Chicago in 1902, and of the Alpine club of London. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Columbia in 1899, from Yale in October, 1901, and from Harvard in 1902, having been elected a member of tiie Har- vard Universit}^ board of overseers in 1895. He is the author of: History of the Naval ]Var of 1S13 (1882); Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (1885) -yLife of Tliomas H. Benton (1880) and Life of Gouverneur Morris (1887) in the " Amer- ican Statesmen Series "; Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail (1888); Essays on Practical Politics (1888); The Winyiing of the West— The Fotindiug of the Alleghany Commontcealtlis, 17S4-fiO (Vol. I. and II., 1889); History of Xew York City (1890); The Wilderness Hunter (1893); ''Tlie Boone and Crockett Club Series" edited by Mr. Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell: American Big Game Hunting (1893); Hunting i7i Many Lands (1895) and The Trail and Camp Fire (1896): Hero Tal^s from American History. 14 tales by Theodore Roosevelt and 12 by Henry Cabot Lodge (1S95): The Winning of the West —Louisiana and the Xorth West (Vols. III. and