William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency

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William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency - Library of the Presidents

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000HRDRII

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Brand new LEATHER BOUND book accented in 22kt gold.

William Howard Taft, an Intimate History

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Excellent history
Taft was more than an overweight golfer
An Insightful Biography Of An Important Face In American History.

William Howard Taft, an Intimate History
Judith Icke Anderson
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393014622

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Excellent history.......2007-08-09

This book does a great job of discussing Taft's life and how he got to be President. It also provides a good deal of insight into the time in which he lived and how politics worked at that time. Overall, a great read.

Taft was more than an overweight golfer.......2007-03-29

I am reading all the presidential biographies in order.

This was a very good book, even though it is nearly 30 years old. It is also the only bio that seemed to foot the bill. And boy did it!

The author based this book on her dissertation that she worked on through much of the 1970s, I believe. I was a bit leary at first after hearing that, thinking, "oh great, it's going to be very dull." But I was very pleasantly surprised! It was VERY well written, read very well, and was a joy to discover.

We are given a VERY complete picture of Taft -- from his overbearing mother to his overbearing wife, to his overbearing partner TR. The author really gets us inside Taft's head -- literally. I think the author was a psychology major because she gives a "diagnosis" of Taft's mental state and thinking along the way. For instance, she blames his being overweight to his overbearing parents, in particular, his mother.

This was one of the better biographies I have read. I really felt bad for Taft. He seems to have been bullied by just about everyone in his life, but on the flip side it seems to have been his motivation. Only later in his life -- a lot later -- did he "grow up."

Fascinating read!

An Insightful Biography Of An Important Face In American History........2006-12-08

This is an excellent biography of William Howard Taft. It not only looks at what he did but why he did it.

Taft is not known for being a good president, but that was his one area of weakness. His life was one success after another, except for the presidency. In fact, he never wanted to be president, but was more interested in being on the Supreme Court, where he eventually served.

This book consults letters by Taft and those around him. It includes great quotes, like Taft's saying "I would rather entertain people I don't like than not entertain at all."

If you want to know more about Taft, I would highly recommend this book.

The Presidency of William Howard Taft (American Presidency Series)

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The Presidency of William Howard Taft (American Presidency Series)
Paolo Enrico Coletta
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0700600965

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Theodore Roosevelt selected William Howard Taft to be his successor and gave him vital support during the presidential campaign of 1908. Taft was a conservative of upper-middle-class background with a long career on the bench, and he aspired to a judicial rather than a political career. Roosevelt nevertheless believed that Taft, a close personal friend, was the best man to continue his policies.

Taft agreed with many of Roosevelt's objectives, but not with his interpretation of presidential authority. Taft viewed the president's power as stemming from the constitution alone; he narrowly construed that power and denied that it involved the exercise of political leadership, or even initiative, with respect to legislation. As Taft saw it, his function as president was to establish a legal basis for the reforms undertaken by Roosevelt, not to enlarge the degree of federal intervention in the economic and social life of the nation. He was neither a renovator nor an innovator. Although Roosevelt expected him to expand executive power, Taft narrowed it. He sought the sound administration of government as a bulwark against the rising tide of social democracy.

Taft quickly earned the contempt of the progressives as one who had deserted their cause. During the first two years of his administration he battled with them over the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the conservation of natural resources. His compulsive upholding of the letter of the law resulted in the severing of his friendship with Roosevelt and the splitting of the Republican party.

Ironically, a greater number of progressive reforms were accomplished in Taft's four years in office than in Roosevelt's seven. Taft undertook the first tariff revision since 1897. He improved upon Roosevelt's conservation work, made advances in railroad regulation, and launched an antitrust crusade with which Roosevelt's paled in comparison. He successfully avoided American military involvement in various international disputes during his term. Among other achievements, his administration created the postal savings bank and parcel post systems, added two states to the Union and two amendments to the constitution, established a Department of Labor separate from Commerce, nearly completed the Panama Canal, regulated corporate campaign contributions, and strengthened the Pure Food and Drugs Act.

Despite the record, Taft is remembered as the champion of privilege, and he remains a symbol of "standpattism." Perhaps the reason for this is that Taft did not know how to be a politician in the best sense of the word. He exercised little leadership over Congress. He did not know how to make effective use of the press to mold public opinion, and his administration had few enthusiastic friends. He was torn by indecision at critical times, and he permitted interdepartmental squabbles between his subordinates to balloon to astronomical proportions. He was never able to balance the advocates of reform against those of reaction during his administration.

Taft was a consistent, hones, and at times even courageous conservative. Unfortunately, in troubled times in which the people demanded change, Taft often saw the existing order as good. He insisted in moving right politically, while much of the country moved left. When viewed in the era of transition from Rooseveltian to Wilsonian progressivism, Taft is best remembered as a constitutional conservator.

This book is part of the American Presidency Series.

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"You could grow up to be the President('s wife)"

An interesting look at an underrated First Lady!

Better than expected

An engaging look at an independent First Lady

Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era
Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060513829
Release Date: 2005-04-12

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"You could grow up to be the President('s wife)".......2006-06-05

It's not far fetched for little Nellie, who's father was a confidant of one president and a friend to another, to set a goal of going to Washington in the top spot available to a woman... the wife of the president.

Having recently read about Alva Vanderbilt, I chose this bio. of her contemporary. These are two very amibitious women living in a time of limited options for women. Neither bio. suggests their paths crossed, but it would seem that they should have. Both battled the odds, one to be the hostess to society, the other to the country.

This is a very good book, and worth reading, but I've given 4 stars and not 5 because

1) the early life seemed bogged down in detail (I almost stopped reading it)

2) In this case, a better analysis of a husband's political agenda is appropriate in a bio of his spouse. In the 3 party campaign, TR has a compelling platform, but Taft only seems to speak to isolated issues and against one constitutional change (Taft's passion is law) that TR proposed. This could support the thesis that Taft is not interested in the job, and has it because his wife is interested in being First Lady (thereby losing it on this same account).

3) The Roosevelt (TR, Edith & Alice) relationship is too cardboard. Taft serves TR and the country very well in remote/dangerous locales (The Philippines, Cuba, Panama), and boring cabinet jobs and sings TR's praises. The author portrays TR's very public betrayal as TR not wanting to give up the presidency and his personality clashes with Nellie. I'd have liked more opinion on this. Maybe TR & the insurgents felt that Taft was unelectable or that Taft was disinterested in the issues (i.e. he just wanted to make his wife happy), and their agenda would be stalled.

The low key political life of the times is amazing in contrast to today's. Taft can get nominated in a tight ballot at a convention he doesn't even attend. Campaigning is not a day and night enterprise. There doesn't seem to be any fundraising or donor pleasing, Carnegie willingly offers money. Nellie can say she never takes a drink in complete confidence of no journalistic follow up. Nellie can walk the streets of DC, just show up at hearings or even the Democratic Convention without an entourage or papparazzi.

The Taft's financial situation is hazy. In the pre-While House days they presumably live on a shoestring.. but there is a lot of travel, shopping and entertaining. The Tafts leave the White House enriched by $100K, which was Taft's annual salary inclusive of White House entertainment expenses.

A psychologist might have some comments about the influence of father figures among the principle characters. One being Nellie's pursuit of what her remote father could not attain. Another being the similarity in appearance of TR and Taft(note the side by side in the photo section) and its effect on their friendship, Taft's inability to criticize TR until the very end and the curious behavior of Alice.

As you finish the book, despite words to the contrary throughout, you have the idea that Will, who loved Nellie very much, was a mere tool. Nellie seems unfazed by his death and rids herself of his clothes and books with dispatch.

An interesting look at an underrated First Lady!.......2006-02-15

I've been a history buff most of my life. In kindergarten, I could recite the U.S. Presidents. Many years later I added the Vice Presidents. Perhaps someone could name all the First Ladies. Note: some Presidents were widowers when they took office. One was a lifelong bachelor. Others remarried, before, during, or after their terms. Nellie Taft has received relatively little attention in history books. One main reason may be that her husband only served one term. A falling out with his onetime mentor (and predecessor) Theodore Roosevelt led to a split in the Republican party. Democrat Woodrow Wilson won. Taft finished third, to Roosevelt's Progressive "Bull Moose" party. That's the only time in recent years that a "third" party finished better-than third. Yet if it wasn't for Nellie Taft, her husband would have never been President. She worked hard to fulfill her longtime wish to be the wife of a President. This was at a time when women couldn't even vote. Ironically, her own position on suffrage would evolve. At first, she favored allowing only educated women-and men to vote. Nellie Taft was ahead of her time in many ways. Unlike most women, she enjoyed alcohol, smoking, and gambling. She had worked as a schoolteacher. Even after marriage and children, she oversaw a local symphony orchestra. Throughout her life, she loved to travel overseas. After the Spanish American War, the USA acquired the Phillipines Islands. William Howard Taft was appointed governor. Nellie was a great asset. She showed remarkable sensitivity in her dealings with the Filpino people. Theodore Roosevelt found her an ally in steering her husband toward the Presidency. Yet their relationship would be very shaky. Her tenure as First Lady was ground breaking. She was the first to ride with her husband in the inaugural parade. She sponsored concerts, had Japanese cherry blossoms planted in Washington, and placed African American doormen in the White House. A stroke sidelined her for a little while. Yet she supported her husband's bid to defeat Roosevelt for the Republican nomination in 1912. That year she had another first. She attended a political convention-the Democrats'. Another first came after leaving the White House. She wrote her memoirs. Her life continued to be active. It became more separate from her husband's. That was especially true after 1921. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. That was his life's goal. But she was with him during his final days. After his death in 1930, she continued a life full of travel, family, and some politics. She even varied from the Republican party on occasion. There are many photos. This is a long read, but very informative. The book is well footnoted. You may want to check out the author's other books next.

Better than expected.......2005-10-30

On May 31, 2000, I read Carl Anthony's excellent biography of Florence Harding, wife of President Harding. When I saw this book I decided to read it, based on my good experience with his Harding book, even though the subject did not seem to be nearly as interesting as was Harding--since there were rumors that Florence Harding had some sinister role in her husband's death. But I enjoyed this book much. It is superbly researched and since Nellie Taft was very much caught up in her husband's career, it is exceptionally interesting. Nellie never liked Teddy Roosevelt's wife, and she told her husband in 1908 that TR would turn on him--as of course he did. The book is written from the Taft viewpoint and so Nellie comes out looking pretty good--though she was imperious and quite demanding and gave her husband a hard time often. In her youth she had a goal: to marry a man who'd become President. And while Taft's goal was to become Chief Justice, he attained his wife's goal before he attained his own. (But attained both!) Even the account of Nellie's life after her husband died in 1930 is full of interest. She had a rather detached view toward her son, Robert Taft, and his presidential ambitions in 1940, and lived till 22 May 1943. This was a much better book than I expected and held my interest thoroughly.

An engaging look at an independent First Lady.......2005-07-02

I read Carl Sferrazza Anthony's biography of Florence Harding a few years ago and thought it was terrific. Mrs. Harding deserved a full-fledged biography, given her push to make her husband president and the scandals that followed. I was less interested in Nellie Taft and wondered if this woman warranted 411 pages of text. Mr. Anthony proved that it was worth it.

The initial chapters of this book are narratively slow. The Taft/Herron courtship as described by the author bogs down in style and I'm not a fan of his calling his subjects "Will" and "Nellie". (I can't imagine a biographical author of Lincoln referring to them as "Abe" and "Mary") However, once President and Mrs. Taft are married Mr. Anthony's writing finds its groove. By the way, previous to this book, the one bit of recognizable knowledge about Mrs. Taft was that she was the First Lady who secured the cherry trees for Washington, D.C.

Carl Anthony gives us a detailed look into Mrs. Taft....her ambitions for her husband, her dislike of the Roosevelts, her love of champagne, automobiles and travel. Always independent, Nellie Taft became accustomed to a life of accommodation, based on her husband's political choices, her health, but also one of (often) unusual distance from her parents, siblings and children. Having fought so long to make sure that Theodore Roosevelt wouldn't gain a third term as president, she lived long enough to see another Roosevelt do just that.

This is an important book about a woman who was more of an inspiration almost one hundred years ago than we might otherwise have remembered and a woman who has largely been forgotten until Mr. Anthony's book. It is ironic that I finished the book on the day that Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation from the Supreme Court. Carl Anthony mentions Mrs. O'Connor on the very last page of his book as the Supreme Court justice spoke at the seventy-fifth anniversary of Nellie Taft's first planting of the cherry trees at the Tidal Basin. It would have been fun to gauge Mrs. Taft's reaction to that ceremony had she been alive. I'm sure she would have noted that a woman had made it onto the Supreme Court, that great position of distinction that her husband, as Chief Justice, had finally attained. Then she would have retired to a good game of bridge and a glass or two of champagne.

William Howard Taft: Confident Peacemaker

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William Howard Taft: Confident Peacemaker
David Burton
Manufacturer: St. Joseph's University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0916101509
Release Date: 2004-10-01

Book Description

This book is a study of the internationalism of William Howard Taft. In the months after war broke out in 1914, Taft was second only to Woodrow Wilson in his awareness of the need to preserve the peace of the world through a new version of international organization. Built upon a synthetic interpretation of Taft's foreign policy ideas and initiatives, the book encompasses the whole of his public career as a statesman, from his years as civil governor of the Philippines through his tenure as chief justice of the Supreme Court. During those years, he moved from a basic belief in the theory and practice of balance of power to the application of dollar diplomacy. In response to the calamity of World War I, Taft came to recognize that world peace must be based upon a combination of idealism and realism, of high-minded principles placed and kept in effect by force, deliberately chosen and carefully applied.

William Howard Taft: Our Twenty-Seventh President (Our Presidents)

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The story of the political redemption of William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft: Our Twenty-Seventh President (Our Presidents)
Melissa Maupin
Manufacturer: Child's World
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1567668356

Book Description

A thorough, illustrated biography discussing the president's childhood, his career, his family, and his term as President of the United States. Includes a time line and glossary.

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The story of the political redemption of William Howard Taft.......2003-08-03

Melissa Maupin wrote the Our Presidents volume about Theodore Roosevelt so it makes sense that she does this look at William Howard Taft as well. After all, it was T.R. who hand picked Taft, his Secretary of War, to succeed him as president in 1908 and then created the Bull Moose Party to run in 1912, which resulted in Taft receiving fewer votes than any other sitting president in history. But as we see in this look at the nation's 27th President, that is not the end of the political life of Taft who is the only person to serve as both President and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. More importantly, Taft was the first President to throw out the ball on opening day at a baseball game (this fact is not mentioned in this juvenile biography, but there is a picture of Taft at a ballgame).

Maupin emphasizes from the start that Taft's true love was the law. The opening chapter covers Taft's education and family life, as one of the Tafts of Cincinnati. Climbing the Political Leader tells how Taft was appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court, the second highest court in the country, when he was only 34 years old, and then went on to a series of other key political appointments, including governor of the Philippines. The third chapter tells of the fascinating relationship between Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. T.R. offered Taft a spot on the Supreme Court, his life's ambition, but Taft turned it down because he was not finished with his work in the Philippines. During T.R.'s second term Taft became Secretary of War and the two became friends. Taft did not want to be President, but T.R. and the Republicans pressured him into the job (the deciding factor was Taft thought his opponent, William Jennings Bryan, was a radical). Unfortunately, as Maupin shows, Taft did not have the personality needed to continue Roosevelt's progressive work.

The final chapter details Taft's accomplishments as President, most of which are forgotten except for the idea of "dollar diplomacy," and explains how the firing of a dishonest political appointee outraged T.R. With Roosevelt and Taft splitting the Republican vote, Woodrow Wilson easily won the election. However, after eight years of teaching at Yale the former president was appointed chief justice by Warren Harding. Maupin underscores that Taft was one of the most effective chief justices in U.S. history. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how Maupin talks about Taft's notorious weight in relationship to the stress of his job. At the end of his unhappy presidency Taft weighed 355 pounds; as chief justice he weighed 244 pounds.

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A deservedly sympathetic juvenile biography of Taft.......2003-08-06

The story of William Howard Taft is one of the strangest for any President of the United States as this volume from the 1989 edition of the Encyclopedia of Presidents series clearly proves. Jane Clark Casey begins this juvenile biography of the 27th President as is always the case in this series, in media res, focusing on Taft's unsuccessful bid for re-election in 1912. Having been Theodore Roosevelt's handpicked successor four years earlier, T.R. had denounced Taft and started the Progressive ("Bull Moose") party to make another bid for the White House. The net effect was to split the Republican vote and while T.R. finished second to Woodrow Wilson, the highest finish by a third party candidate, Taft received less votes than any incumbent President in history. On the very first page of this book Casey tells of a reporter finding Taft weeping because he had finally responded to the attacks from the man who had been his closest friend. Yet while this juvenile biography begins with Taft at the lowest point in his life the volume ends with Taft fulfilling a lifelong dream. Consequently, young readers will find this one of the most interesting and even inspiring presidential biographies.

Having established the idea of Taft as a reluctant warrior, Casey goes back to the beginning to tell the story of a promising young man from a wealthy Cincinnati family, After graduating from Yale Law School Taft entered on a life of public service that established a reputation for efficiency and honesty. First and foremost, Taft loved the law; he was the youngest federal circuit court judge in history and was considered a prime candidate for the Supreme Court. However, Taft's judicial career was sidetracked by various administrative assignments, including being governor of the Philippines and Secretary of War. It was as the later that he impressed Theodore Roosevelt enough to be offered the Republican nomination. Ironically, given Taft was an unsuccessful one-term President, Casey devotes more attention to his bitter years in the White House than many companion volumes in this series to for more prominent presidents. Clearly, she is making the case for Taft's reputation against the charges T.R. would levy when they split in 1912. She contrasts Taft as "A Fish Out of Water," who was never comfortable being the chief executive," with the idea that Taft was either too committed or simply too naïve to stay out of controversial political battles, detailed in the chapter "Where Angels Dare Not Tread."

However, it was the Ballinger-Pinchot Affair that would cause T.R. to come out of retirement and change the course of American political history (just think about what happens to American neutrality if when World War I breaks out the President is Taft, the former governor of the Philippines, instead of Wilson, the college professor from Princeton). Casey makes it very clear that Taft did the best to make a bad situation better and that it was T.R. who was unreasonable. Most juvenile biographies of Taft touch on this point, but Casey is the only one that makes the case for Taft in such considerable detail. After telling of the story of Taft's fall from power, Casey devotes the final chapters to his happy life after leaving the White House, teaching as a professor at Yale for many years until William Harding appointed him as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921. To show young readers how different things are today, Taft was confirmed the same day his name was proposed. Consequently, the volume ends with the vindication of Taft as he achieves the fulfillment of his life's dream.

I have been reading through the lives of the presidents in alphabetical order, just to be different (just to be different), and Taft is one of the few for whom I have considerably more information after reading about them. This book is illustrated with historic black & white photographs from both Taft's personal and political life (including one of Taft swearing in Herbert Hoover as president in 1929), as well as some choice political cartoons. This is a most sympathetic juvenile biography of Taft, but as you read about what happened to him in the White House you cannot help but feel that he deserves such sympathy, perhaps more than any other American president.

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