Lot 296

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Description:

Theodore Roosevelt Re: William R. Hearst


Single page typed letter signed, 7" x 9", on White House stationary. Dated "April 23, 1906", and signed by Theodore Roosevelt "Theodore Roosevelt". Verso of document has stain likely from an adhesive residue, faintly seen from the recto. 


Yellow journalism was at its height, and No two people defined the era of yellow journalism more than Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst, owner of the New York Journal. In fact, the term “yellow journalism” itself was the product of an ongoing battle between these two newspaper moguls.  Roosevelt defined and coined the term Muckrake in one of his famous speeches. Roosevelt described a man as a muckrake who "fixes his eyes . . . only on that which is vile and debasing." His speech gave rise to the new word muckrakers. The manifest function of the speech was to slow Hearst politically, but its latent function was a delegitimization of all muckrakers while the president solidified control over the direction of reform.

The letter offered here shows a frustrated Roosevelt with Hearst now having put in his application for "quo warranto proceeding". Quo warranto is a special form of legal action used to resolve a dispute over whether a specific person has the legal right to hold the public office that he or she occupies. Quo warranto is used to test a person's legal right to hold an office, not to evaluate the person's performance in the office.

Roosevelt writes:

"I earnestly hope not only that the application will be granted but that the case will be pushed as quickly and as hard as possible. As you know, I do not care a rap about Hearst, but I do think it advisable to make it evident that we tolerate no fraud, whether for or against Democrat, Republican, or independent. Whoever was elected last year in the contest for the mayoralty should be seated, without the slightest reference as to how we feel about that individual or his party. I am sure you absolutely agree with this view."

William R. Hearst put in an application to the Attorney General for permission to commence quo warranto proceedings to test the title of George B. McClellan to the office of mayor of New York City. The attorney for Mr. Hearst, In presenting his argument, said Mr. Hearst asked for the opportunity of a recount, because he believed that he had received the largest number of ballots; because ballots had not been truthfully counted; because Intimidation and violence had prevented a full expression of the elective franchise, and because he had been the object of conspiracy and declared that there had been a miscount, and that fact alone should warrant the granting of the application. Mr. Hearst, he said/had no representation in election officers and the bi-partisan boards in some districts were nothing more than a farce.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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August 19, 2020 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

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