The Long View: Spelling Reform

This was definitely John's least popular enthusiasm. There is just about no easier way to get a guffaw or a snicker than talk about spelling reform. Nonetheless, John did. He was even on CNN once for this I think. Theodore Roosevelt and the
Great Spelling Reform Initiative
of 1906

August 27, 1906: On this date, President Theodore Roosevelt directed Charles A. Stillings, the Public Printer of the United States, to use 300 simplified spellings in all the executive-branch documents printed by his office. The documentation for this characterically bold initiative is here made available online for the first time.

Click Below For:


The Mysterious "Executive Order"
The List
The History

Tocontrast the president's lucid and manly views with the obscurantist sophistries of the Dark Lord of Lexicography, click on the image of Dr. Samuel Johnson:

Click here  Spelling Reform Links

Various Schemes to Reform English Spelling


Famous Dead People Who Have Promoted Spelling Reform


Fiction, Nonfiction in Reformed Spelling


Spelling Progress Bulletin Samples


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