Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but a bad politician, spent four uncomfortable years, William Howard Taft in the White House. Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between progressives and conservatives, and got little recognition for the achievements of his government.
Born in 1857, the son of a respected judge, he graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study and practice law. He rose in politics through Republican judiciary appointments, through his own competence and availability, and because, as he once wrote facetiously, he always had his "plate on the right side, when offices were."
But Taft much preferred law to politics. He was appointed a federal judge circuit 34 He was looking for a member of the Supreme Court, but his wife, Helen Herron Taft, held other ambitions for him.
His road to the White House was over administrative posts. President McKinley sent him to the Philippines in 1900 as chief civil administrator. Sympathy for the Filipinos, he improved the economy, built roads and schools, and the people who gave at least some participation in government.
President Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and by 1907 had decided that Taft should be his successor. The Republicans nominated him the next year.
Taft liked the campaign - ". One of the most uncomfortable four months of my life" But he pledged his loyalty to the Roosevelt program, popular in the West, while his brother Charles reassured eastern Republicans. William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic ticket for the third time, complained that he resist two candidates, a western progressive Taft and an eastern conservative Taft.
Progressives were pleased with Taft choice. "Roosevelt has cut enough hay," she said, "Taft is the man to bring it into the barn." The Conservatives were delighted to be rid of Roosevelt - the "Mad Messiah."
Taft recognized that his techniques would differ from that of its predecessor. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did not believe on the route of the presidential powers. He once said that Roosevelt "to the more legal way of achieving the same goals."
Taft alienated many liberal Republicans, who later became the Progressive Party, by defending the Payne-Aldrich Act which unexpectedly continued high prices. Forced a trade agreement with Canada, the Taft by Congress, proponents of the eastern low rate would have fallen, but the Canadians rejected. He further antagonized Progressives by upholding his interior minister, accused of not performing Roosevelt retention policy.
In the angry Progressive attack on him was only a little attention to the fact that his administration initiated 80 antitrust cases and that Congress submitted, paid the states amendments for a federal income tax and direct election of senators. A postal savings system was established, and the Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to set rates for railroad.
In 1912, when the Republicans re-elected Taft, Roosevelt bolted the party of the Progressive Party to push forward to ensure the election of Woodrow Wilson.
Taft, free from the presidency, served as a professor of law at Yale until President Harding made him Chief Justice of the United States, a position he held until shortly before his death in 1930. To Taft, the appointment was his greatest honor, he wrote: "I can not remember that I ever was President."
Born in 1857, the son of a respected judge, he graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study and practice law. He rose in politics through Republican judiciary appointments, through his own competence and availability, and because, as he once wrote facetiously, he always had his "plate on the right side, when offices were."
But Taft much preferred law to politics. He was appointed a federal judge circuit 34 He was looking for a member of the Supreme Court, but his wife, Helen Herron Taft, held other ambitions for him.
His road to the White House was over administrative posts. President McKinley sent him to the Philippines in 1900 as chief civil administrator. Sympathy for the Filipinos, he improved the economy, built roads and schools, and the people who gave at least some participation in government.
President Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and by 1907 had decided that Taft should be his successor. The Republicans nominated him the next year.
Taft liked the campaign - ". One of the most uncomfortable four months of my life" But he pledged his loyalty to the Roosevelt program, popular in the West, while his brother Charles reassured eastern Republicans. William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic ticket for the third time, complained that he resist two candidates, a western progressive Taft and an eastern conservative Taft.
Progressives were pleased with Taft choice. "Roosevelt has cut enough hay," she said, "Taft is the man to bring it into the barn." The Conservatives were delighted to be rid of Roosevelt - the "Mad Messiah."
Taft recognized that his techniques would differ from that of its predecessor. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did not believe on the route of the presidential powers. He once said that Roosevelt "to the more legal way of achieving the same goals."
Taft alienated many liberal Republicans, who later became the Progressive Party, by defending the Payne-Aldrich Act which unexpectedly continued high prices. Forced a trade agreement with Canada, the Taft by Congress, proponents of the eastern low rate would have fallen, but the Canadians rejected. He further antagonized Progressives by upholding his interior minister, accused of not performing Roosevelt retention policy.
In the angry Progressive attack on him was only a little attention to the fact that his administration initiated 80 antitrust cases and that Congress submitted, paid the states amendments for a federal income tax and direct election of senators. A postal savings system was established, and the Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to set rates for railroad.
In 1912, when the Republicans re-elected Taft, Roosevelt bolted the party of the Progressive Party to push forward to ensure the election of Woodrow Wilson.
Taft, free from the presidency, served as a professor of law at Yale until President Harding made him Chief Justice of the United States, a position he held until shortly before his death in 1930. To Taft, the appointment was his greatest honor, he wrote: "I can not remember that I ever was President."
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