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| Roosevelt speaking in Phoenix, Sep. 1912 |
The day the Buckey O’Neill Rough Rider monument was unveiled on the Plaza, (July 3,1907,) it was hoped that Teddy Roosevelt, the field commander of said group, would come to see the world-class sculpture for himself. After all, he donated an undisclosed amount toward its creation, himself!
Roosevelt had been to Arizona while President four years earlier in 1903, but had only planned to view the Grand Canyon. Frank Murphy, railroad mogul and Prescott resident, was in Washington before the President’s western expedition and invited him to take some time to visit Prescott. “[He] told the President that the people of the territory would be greatly disappointed if he passed through without giving them the privilege of meeting him,” the Arizona Republican reported, “and the President said that he would be glad if the schedule could be arranged so that he would be permitted to greet them in some central place. “Strange to say no previous effort had been made to induce the President to visit any Arizona town.” It was hoped that Murphy convinced Teddy to speak a few hours in Prescott after seeing the Grand Canyon. “If present plans are followed,” the paper continued, “he will go from the Canyon to Prescott, and sufficient notice will be given to enable patriotic citizens to assemble in the mountain city and give the nation’s chief executive a rousing welcome.”
Perhaps predictably, the President found the Canyon to be sublime and decided to remain there instead of going to Prescott.
Roosevelt’s next visit to Arizona was four years after the monument was unveiled, and was on the occasion of the opening of the dam named after him on March 18, 1911. This trip, he made whirl-wind visits to a handful of the Territory’s towns including Mesa. Before reaching the dam, he gave a speech in Flagstaff and shook hands with a number of people in Williams. He not only spoke to a crowd in Phoenix, but enjoyed an “ informal buffet lunch with those his Rough Riders who had found it possible to be in Phoenix to meet him [at the Ford Hotel,]” the Republican reported.
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| Rough Rider reunion, 1910 New York |
Between Williams and Phoenix, Roosevelt would be passing through Prescott. Mayor Morris Goldwater invited Roosevelt to Prescott, but received a letter from him “regretting his inability to accept the invitation of the city to visit Prescott, and explained that it was impossible to change his itinerary,” the Weekly Journal-Miner disclosed. The Daily Journal-Miner recorded that “he came through early in the morning and didn’t speak.”
In September, the following year, Roosevelt was running for President with a third-party, “Bull Moose” candidacy. He brought his campaign to the seven-month-old state of Arizona. This trip would see his train stopping in Prescott and although it would be only overnight, it was hoped that he could be persuaded to travel the short distance from the depot to the Plaza to see the great statue.
Originally the only town he was scheduled to speak at was Phoenix, but supporters in Tucson were able to convince him to take a fast, special train there to deliver an address in the morning before speaking in Phoenix.
The Tucson address was a flop. The Arizona Daily Star described it as “disappointing.” “[He] appears to have lost [the] force and vim that formally carried people with him,” the paper remarked. A “great crowd..listened attentively,” but “he offered no argument [and] said nothing that he has not said before.
“He attempted to draw strongly on the fact that he had been a colonel in the Rough Rider regiment,” the paper continued, “and made several allusions to the fact, but he failed to get applause.”
The speech in Phoenix went much better: “Col. Roosevelt made a triumphant entry into Phoenix,” the Arizona Republican described, “and two hours later passed out in a blaze of glory.” He was welcomed by the cheers of roughly 4000 people and the reception seemed to gladden him as he spoke well over time. “Finally, his secretary stepped to his side, whispered to him and showed him the fact of his watch. ‘Great heavens!” exclaimed Mr. Roosevelt, “Have I talked an hour and a quarter?’”
From Phoenix he would head to Ash Fork to connect with the Atlantic & Pacific line, but would spend the night in Prescott. A number of prominent Prescottonians, led by ES Clark, had made the trip down to Phoenix to meet up with the President, undoubtedly lobbying the man to take a few minutes to see the monument.
“Col. Roosevelt, who passes through Prescott tonight [Sep. 17, 1912,] at 12:30am, en route north [to Ash Fork] will be prevailed upon to make a stopover here of about ten minutes to visit the Rough Rider monument, on the Plaza, of which regiment he was colonel in the Spanish-American war,” the Daily Journal-Miner forecasted.
The following day, the same paper described the scene: “Over 500 people were massed at the depot last night at [12:30am] to greet Colonel as he was passing through the city, but all were disappointed in not being able to see or hear the distinguished American.” He had gone to bed at Wickenburg, “and his private secretary stated on the arrival of the train that it would be impossible for him to be seen or heard, at that late hour, as the labors of the day had taxed his physical ability to the utmost, and he was a very tired man.”
As disappointing as this was, (and frankly, still is,) Prescott should not take it personally. The same thing happened to the folks in Yuma. Roosevelt’s train also arrived in the middle of the night there, while “his entire party were sleeping,” the Tucson Citizen explained. “Yuma, which had made elaborate preparations for the Colonel’s reception, was left in the lurch," the paper continued. "The gaily decorated stand in that town was unoccupied,” and the expectant crowd was highly disappointed.
RELATED: The Rocky Road That Brought the Rough Rider Monument
The comprehensive story of how Prescott, AZ got the Buckey O'Neill / Roughrider Monument on the downtown Plaza.
One final attempt to get Roosevelt into Prescott during daylight hours was made the following year (1913) for him to open the festivities for Frontier Days. The committee sent the invitation “as soon as plans for the celebration were finally decided upon,” the Weekly Journal-Miner recounted. But “owing to a pre-arranged appointment…in Portland, Maine,” he was “unable to open the festivities” that year.
No other invitation was offered the former President. He passed away January 6, 1919.
As far as Roosevelt’s experience in Prescott goes, the most one can say is: "Teddy Roosevelt slept here."
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SOURCES:
Arizona Republican, 3/20/1903 p1 c4
Weekly Journal-Miner, 3/25/1903_p2_c3.
Coconino Sun, 3/17/1911 p1 c1-2
Williams News, 3/18/1911; p1
Arizona Republican, 3/20/1911; Pg. 6, Col. 2.
Arizona Republican, 3/21/1911; Pg. 4, Col. 8.
Arizona Daily Star, 3/22/1911; Pg. 5.
Arizona Republican, 3/20/1911; Pg. 7, Col. 2.
Weekly Journal-Miner, 3/8/1911; Pg. 7, Col. 1.
Prescott (Daily) Journal-Miner; 9/17/1912; Pg. 4, Col. 6.
Arizona Daily Star, 9/11/1912; Pg. 2, Col. 3.
Arizona Daily Star, 9/18/1912; Pg. 1, Col. 1.
Arizona Republican, 9/18/1912; Pg. 1, Col. 1-2.
Prescott (Daily) Journal-Miner, 9/18/1912; Pg. 5, Col. 4.
Bisbee Daily Review, 9/15/1912; Pg. 7, Col. 4.
Tucson Citizen, 9/18/1912; Pg. 4, Col. 3.
Weekly Journal-Miner, 5/28/1913; Pg. 4, Col. 8.
Prescott (Daily) Journal-Miner, 9/18/1912; Pg. 5, Col. 4.
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