PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/18/1906 CO-SIGNED BY: JAMES B. CONNOLLY - HFSID 31212

THEODORE ROOSEVELT and JAMES B. CONNOLLY
The President signs a typed letter to author and Olympic athlete James Connolly, asking for his help in explaining why he is unable to attend an Ancient Order of Hibernians banquet, accompanied by Connolly's reply
Typed Letter Signed: "Theodore Roosevelt" as 26th U.S. President, ¾ page, 7¼x8¾. Washington, D.C., 1906 October 18. On White House letterhead to Mr. James B. Connolly, Dorchester, Massachusetts. In full: "Will you explain to Mr. Riordan my regret that I am unable to attend the banquet to Mr. Cummings? I am sure you will understand how many such invitations I receive, and how impossible it is for me to accept them. Remember you are to bring Mrs. Connolly down to Washington this year, so that we may see you." At lower margin, Autograph Note Signed: "J.B.C" in pencil. In full: "Fellows were always bothering me to ask Roosevelt to attend functions in Boston. The Cummings above was [illegible] Cummings, a national figure in the A.O.H". The A.O.H. was the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic organization (reportedly founded in 1565) that was established in the U.S. in 1836 (a ladies' auxiliary was founded in 1894). Today, membership in the A.O.H. numbers 56,000 in the U.S. and Canada. On December 10, 1906, less than two months after signing this letter, THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1858-1919) became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize, winning the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Roosevelt did not travel to Norway to receive the award; he received it while traveling in Europe in 1910. Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of President William McKinley in September 1901, had been elected President in his own right in 1904, serving from 1901-1908. JAMES BRENDAN CONNOLLY, the son of Irish immigrants, was the first winner in the "modern" Olympics, taking first place in the triple jump to earn the first silver medal of the 1896 games (the gold medal was introduced in 1908, two years after this letter). Connolly, who became a prolific writer (some 50 novels and over 200 short stories, primarily about the sea), had fought in the Spanish-American War with the Irish 9th Infantry from Massachusetts. His accounts of the war were published in the "Boston Globe" as "Letters from the Front in Cuba". Lightly creased (not at signature). Slightly soiled at blank margins, Tackhead-size stain at lower right blank corner, light stains on blank integral leaf. Overall, fine condition.