ROOSEVELT (THEODORE) Three typed letters signed (Theodore Roosevelt) to Hon. Powell Clayton, Am...

ROOSEVELT (THEODORE) Three typed letters signed ('Theodore Roosevelt') to Hon. Powell Clayton, Ambassador of the United States in Mexico, the first urging him not to resign before '...writing me well in advance and letting me have time to communicate with you. The result in Arkansas was to my mind absolutely conclusive... How I wish we could get a Republican Congressman from Arkansas!...'; the second asking him to attend a meeting of the National Committee the following January; the third thanking him for staying in post ('...I appreciate your having foregone your desire to return to private life...'), with autograph amendments and additional note of congratulations, on White House headed notepaper, US Embassy receipt stamp on one page, three pages, two on bifolia, creasing, light dust-staining to rectos where folded, 4to (230 x 184mm.) , White House, Washington and Oyster Bay, N.Y., 4 October 1902 to 2 December 1904 Footnotes: 'IT HAS BEEN A GENUINE PLEASURE TO WORK WITH YOU DURING YOUR TERM OF SERVICE': Letters of appreciation from President Roosevelt to his Mexican Ambassador. Powell Foulk Clayton (1833-1914) served as the ninth governor of Arkansas, as a Republican member of the US Senate for Arkansas and held the post of US Ambassador to Mexico from 1897 to 1905, when he resigned for personal reasons. A veteran of the Civil War, he played a prominent role as a Republican politician in the Reconstruction and enjoyed a controversial yet influential political career. Despite losing his Senate seat, he remained active in the Republican National Committee and helped William McKinley in his successful presidential nomination in 1896. He was rewarded with the Ambassadorship of Mexico in 1897, a post he continued to hold under McKinley's successor Theodore Roosevelt. In 1905 he brought Roosevelt to Arkansas, only the second President to visit the State whilst in office. After his retirement he continued to be a powerful influence in the party and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (see encyclopediaofarkansas.net). Correspondence from Clayton to Roosevelt from this period is held in the Roosevelt Papers at the Library of Congress. Our letters have been retained in the family until now. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com