William Howard Taft
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
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William Howard Taft by Jeffrey Rosen
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Poor William Howard Taft. He is the only president to serve on the Supreme Court (as Chief Justice, no less). He was widely hailed for his legal brilliance, wrestled at Yale, broke up more trusts than Teddy as president, and was a reformer and a peace activist. He was even the last president to date with facial hair. And yet, what is he known for? Getting stuck in the bathtub. Something that never even happened.
He was a rather rotund man, and in a kinder time, we may have sympathized with his plight instead of ridiculing him for it. But why has it come to define his legacy so completely? Why not his years of public service? Why not his baseball fandom or his facial hair?
Well, as with so much history around the turn of the century, the answer seems to be Teddy.
Before we get into Taft, I want to note that two books are listed with this post. I read the first and did not like it. It was brief and cursory and didn’t seem to even touch on the man I could tell was in there. So, I chose also to read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s masterful work on Taft, Roosevelt, and journalism. It is not quite a biography of either of the two men, but it is outstanding. The way she weaves the three stories together and spends time dissecting the individuals and moments that shaped this era is truly the work of a virtuoso. I cannot recommend her book highly enough.
As for Rosen’s, skip it.
Okay, back to Taft. He was very close with Roosevelt. They both worked in the McKinley administration—Roosevelt first as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (a post he received in no small part based on Taft’s recommendation), then as Vice President, and Taft in various positions, most notably as governor of the Philippines. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Philippines was a horrible segment in American history, full of violence and racism. But Taft did not perpetuate that cycle. He seemed to have been a fair and forward-thinking governor. He wanted nothing more than to assist the Filipinos in forming their own nation. Roosevelt, who coveted the same post, would’ve likely been a much different and controlling governor.
Taft never wanted the governorship, just as he later did not seem to desire the presidency. It was always the Supreme Court that excited him. When McKinley sent him to the Philippines, he promised to summon him when a Supreme Court vacancy became available. Of course, McKinley was assassinated, and Taft’s good friend Roosevelt became president.
And then a vacancy on the Supreme Court did open. Roosevelt summoned Taft back from the Philippines to fill it, but Taft declined. He felt there was more work to be done there. Roosevelt respected this, let him stay, and later appointed him Secretary of War. Taft would still have ultimate authority over the Philippines in this role, so he accepted. Roosevelt wanted him close and consulted with Taft frequently on legal issues and general governance. The two become inseparable, and, despite Taft’s comments about never wishing to run for president, he soon came to accept that he would be Roosevelt’s successor as the Republican nominee.
As happens with so many people in power, Taft’s ambitions changed. I don’t know if he ever desired to become president, but he no longer was enticed by a mere seat on the Supreme Court. He wanted to be Chief Justice and turned down two potential appointments to the bench from Roosevelt.
It seems that Teddy saw Taft as a spiritual successor to the presidency. He may have also seen him as a man he could manipulate into action when necessary. Roosevelt always regretted his 1904 proclamation that he would not run for reelection in 1908, and it seems possible that he saw Taft as the next best thing. A close friend who shared his ideologies and, perhaps, was pliable.
This is not how things played out.
Taft was not a far departure from Roosevelt. As I mentioned, he continued with Teddy’s anti-trust work, but Roosevelt was a man who needed the spotlight. He was also, unlike Taft, a brilliant politician. Teddy could sense the changing tides of popular opinion before they crested. He could connect with people and bind them to him. He was larger than life. He lives on in our imaginations to this day. Taft did not possess any of these qualities. He was a party stalwart and a brilliant legal mind but no politician.
Ultimately, they split. Roosevelt went left, Taft right. Roosevelt became obsessed with furthering the Progressive Movement, and he came to see Taft as increasingly conservative. I think they played off each other here. Teddy saw a lane open to the left of the Taft and, in response, Taft drifted to the right.
And then the Election of 1912 came, and Teddy wanted back what he’d abdicated. It was a close-fought thing at the 1912 Republican National Convention, and despite popular sentiment being with Roosevelt, Taft and his conservative allies won a narrow victory. But Teddy wasn’t about to take that standing down. He broke from the Republican Party and formed the Bull Moose Party, running on a progressive platform that sought to end the corrupt connection between business and politics.
The election was brutal. It contained the famous moment when Roosevelt was shot before a speech and, instead of seeking medical treatment, gave the full ninety-minute speech. Legendary stuff.
Taft ran a campaign that befitted the man. It was quiet and dignified, and discussed his belief that judges should have more power than elected officials. It was a conservative campaign for an increasingly conservative man. The Republican Party fractured and lost its progressive wing. They never quite regained it, and the current iteration of the Republican Party as a conservative party was born in this election.
In the end, Roosevelt’s magnetism saw him best Taft (and Socialist Eugene V. Debs, who received his highest vote tally in his five presidential attempts) but fall to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, another progressive. The combined Roosevelt and Taft votes would’ve won easily, but it’s hard to say whether either candidate would’ve carried the election on their own. Roosevelt may have failed to win over the increasingly powerful conservative business interests in the Republican Party, and Taft never would’ve won over Roosevelt’s progressives.
It is, perhaps, the most fascinating single election in American history. Four distinct and enthralling individuals running against each other. Three of them presidents. Two of them former friends turned enemies. And, in the end, it reshaped American politics. The Republican Party became the party of business, capital, and conservatism. The Democrats began their slow journey to the left.
But the true tragedy here is that these men lost each other. It seemed to have been particularly difficult for Taft. Roosevelt was a sun hurdling through space. Everything orbited around him, and he didn’t always seem to understand the shrapnel he left in his wake. They would eventually reconcile, but it’s hard to recapture that spark after the light has gone out.
Taft would become Chief Justice and serve in that post for years.
Roosevelt would regret giving up the presidency and longed to be the man in charge during the First World War. And he almost was. Imagine how different the world would be if he had been. If instead of Wilson’s attempts to keep the United States out of a European conflict, Roosevelt had thrust us in. Would it have been a shorter war? Would we have recklessly wasted America’s position as post-war peacekeeper? Would Roosevelt’s charisma have been better able to sell his version of the League of Nations?
It is a fascinating thought exercise, but ultimately, it is unfair. Here we are again, in Taft’s post, talking about Roosevelt. It’s the curse of being linked to such a volcanic figure.
In the end, remember that he never got stuck in a bathtub and was the last president with facial hair. At least that will be a mild improvement on his legacy. Also, read Goodwin’s book. It is outstanding.