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PROPERTY FROM THE FORBES COLLECTION
ROOSEVELT, Theodore. Typed letter signed (“Theodore Roosevelt”), as President, to Winchester Repeating Rifle Co., Washington, 16 December 1908. 2 pages, 4to., White House stationery, some foxing and staining.
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ROOSEVELT, Theodore. Typed letter signed (“Theodore Roosevelt”), as President, to Winchester Repeating Rifle Co., Washington, 16 December 1908. 2 pages, 4to., White House stationery, some foxing and staining.
ROOSEVELT REJECTS THE IDEA OF “HOLLOW-POINTED BULLETS” FOR HIS AFRICAN SAFARI, telling the Winchester Co. that he was disturbed by a recent visit paid him by one of their officials. T. E. Hofer told T.R. the company was “not satisfied with the bullets in the ammunition you have sent to Africa for me. Mr. Hofer says that you have not approved of the ‘bored’ bullets…or hollow-pointed bullets.” Roosevelt has “no recollection of any such order being given you,” and adds in holograph, “I never heard of” these “bored bullets.” His understandings was "that you sent simply the full-jacket and the soft-nosed bullets." He adds “under no circumstances can I afford to take with me any ammunition that is not of the very best type.” Roosevelt hunted big game in Africa from April 1909 until March 1910. The idea was to relax after eight arduous years as President, and to get out of the political way of his successor. When he set sail, his political foe J. P. Morgan grumbled sarcastically that he hoped some lion would “do its duty.” But Roosevelt returned, and after publishing his masterful account of this 11-month adventure, African Game Trails, he resumed his political life not as a GOP “elephant” but as a Progressive “Bull Mooser,” attacking his successor, William Howard Taft, and running against both Taft and Wilson in the 1912 presidential contest.
ROOSEVELT REJECTS THE IDEA OF “HOLLOW-POINTED BULLETS” FOR HIS AFRICAN SAFARI, telling the Winchester Co. that he was disturbed by a recent visit paid him by one of their officials. T. E. Hofer told T.R. the company was “not satisfied with the bullets in the ammunition you have sent to Africa for me. Mr. Hofer says that you have not approved of the ‘bored’ bullets…or hollow-pointed bullets.” Roosevelt has “no recollection of any such order being given you,” and adds in holograph, “I never heard of” these “bored bullets.” His understandings was "that you sent simply the full-jacket and the soft-nosed bullets." He adds “under no circumstances can I afford to take with me any ammunition that is not of the very best type.” Roosevelt hunted big game in Africa from April 1909 until March 1910. The idea was to relax after eight arduous years as President, and to get out of the political way of his successor. When he set sail, his political foe J. P. Morgan grumbled sarcastically that he hoped some lion would “do its duty.” But Roosevelt returned, and after publishing his masterful account of this 11-month adventure, African Game Trails, he resumed his political life not as a GOP “elephant” but as a Progressive “Bull Mooser,” attacking his successor, William Howard Taft, and running against both Taft and Wilson in the 1912 presidential contest.