Signed book: Message of the President of the United States communicated to the Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the First Session of the Fifty-Seventh Congress, with Topical Analysis. First edition. NY: William Beverley Harrison, 1901. Hardcover bound in green cloth with black lettering, 4.75 x 6.25, 87 pages. Signed on the first free end page in bold ink, "Theodore Roosevelt." Autographic condition: very good, with a partially-removed old ownership signature beneath Roosevelt's. Book condition: VG/None, with partially-removed annotations to front board and a "Library of Lawrence E. Miller" blindstamp to the last page.
Delivered on December 3, 1901, President Roosevelt's first State of the Union Address was given, in his words, "under the shadow of a great calamity." Roosevelt had become president after William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in September. After addressing the nation's shock and grief in the aftermath of the tragedy, Roosevelt's message gradually moves on to a discussion of the nation's position on issues foreign and domestic. His message set forth a blueprint for his historic administration, during which he enacted legislation to reign in financial speculators, conserve the environment, and protect individual liberties. From the Collection of Dr. Lawrence E. Miller.
Terms and abbreviations used in our descriptions.