Woodrow Wilson to Henry D. Clayton

I am a great deal concerned at the thought of losing you from the working force of the House of Representatives. As the chief direction of affairs in the present session has lain with the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Banking and Currency, I foresee that the chief responsibilities of the next session will lie with the Committee on the Judiciary, of which you are chairman. I was looking forward with great satisfaction to working with you and having your experienced counsel and assistance in the work that is before us. It seems to me, indeed, indispensable in the carrying out of our party’s programme.
I do not deem myself at liberty to suggest to you anything that would interfere with your own personal plans and I feel rather selfish in saying what I am saying, but I considered it a matter of mere public duty on my part to say how earnestly I had desired that I might have your aid and counsel as chairman of the Judiciary Committee during the next session and the next Congress, —for our work cannot be finished in a single session. If I accomplish no more by this than giving myself the pleasure of letting you know my personal estimate of you, I shall, at any rate, have discharged my conscience in the matter and said what was really in my mind and heart. If I dared, I would beg you to remain in the House.