Page 160 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

INSCRIBED BY ROOSEVELT TO HIS COUSIN
372 ● WASHBURN, CHARLES G. Theodore Roosevelt: The Logic of his
Career. 6 plates. [9], 245, [1] pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth gilt, moderate wear; in moderately
worn pictorial dust jacket; inscribed by Roosevelt on front free endpaper to cousin
Nicholas Roosevelt (1893-1982): “Dear Nick, See pp 105-108. Your aff cousin Theodore
Roosevelt, April 19th 1916,” and with Nicholas Roosevelt bookplate on front pastedown.
Boston, 1916 [800/1,200]
Roosevelt directed his young cousin, a diplomat then posted in Spain, to a speech which concluded:
“If we desire to secure peace . . . it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.”
373 ● Roosevelt vs. Newett: A Transcript of the Testimony Taken and
Depositions Read at Marquette, Mich. 362 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth gilt, minor
wear; internally clean; W. Emlen Roosevelt calling card laid down on verso of title page.
Np, [1914] [300/400]
Theodore Roosevelt was occasionally rumored to be a heavy drinker, a rumor which peaked
during the 1912 presidential campaign. George Newett was the editor of the Iron Ore newspaper
of Ishpeming, MI. On 11 October 1912 he published a strongly worded attack on
Roosevelt in which he asserted: “Roosevelt lies and curses in a most disgusting way; he gets
drunk, too, and that not infrequently, and all his intimates know about it.” Roosevelt sued for
libel, and brought in a battery of witnesses including Jacob Riis and Admiral George Dewey.
Roosevelt testified that “I have never been drunk or in the slightest degree under the influence
of liquor,” and detailed his infrequent ingestion of alcohol in great detail—an occasional glass of
wine at a state dinner, a sip from a mint julep passed around at a party, 7 tablespoons of
brandy he took to treat a fever in Africa. Ultimately, Newett could find no witnesses to testify
that Roosevelt had ever been drunk, and was forced to issue a retraction.
William Emlen Roosevelt (1857-1930) was Theodore’s cousin and financial advisor. He
testified at the trial, wrote the introductory note, and had this volume of testimony published for
posterity.
372