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COMPARING HIMSELF TO GEORGE WASHINGTON ROOSEVELT, THEODORE. Typed Letter Signed, as President, to Sereno E. Pratt, editor of The Wall Street Journal,
COMPARING HIMSELF TO GEORGE WASHINGTON ROOSEVELT, THEODORE. Typed Letter Signed, as President, to Sereno E. Pratt, editor of The Wall Street Journal, thanking him for his article supporting his position on the railway rate bill and writing extensively on his waning popularity. With a few holograph corrections. 2 1/4 pages, three 4to sheets, White House stationery; usual folds. With a draft of the response from Pratt to Roosevelt. Washington, 3 March 1906
- Notes: "... I have felt a slightly contemptuous amusement over the discussion that has been going on for several months about my popularity or waning popularity or absence of popularity. I am not a college freshman, nor that would-be popular fox-hunting hero in 'Soapy Sponge,' and therefore I am not concerned about my 'popularity' save in exactly so far as it is an instrument which will help me to achieve my purpose... A couple of years ago or thereabouts a good many timid souls told me that by my action in Panama I had ruined my popularity and was no longer available as a candidate; to which I answered that while I much wished to be a candidate and hoped that I had not ruined my popularity, yet if it was necessary to ruin it in order to secure to the United States the chance to build the Panama Canal, I should not hesitate a half second, and did not understand how any man could hesitate. It is surprising to me that colonel Harvey should not see the real meaning of what he says about Washington, when he speaks of his having become an object of dislike to the bulk of his fellow-citizens at the end of his second term by refusing to side with France. Washington sacrificed a temporary popularity for the purpose of securing the permanent welfare of his country. I do not believe he was capable of being swayed in the matter by the consideration of his own permanent repute as compared with the nation's permanent good... So, my dear sir, I should be quite unable to tell you whether I was or was not now 'popular.' If I am, I am also entirely prepared to believe that I shall be extremely unpopular before I go out. But this is not what I am concerning myself about. I am not paying heed to public opinion; I am paying heed to the public interest; and if I can accomplish, not all that I desire, but a reasonable portion... why, I am more than satisfied."
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