Not everyone wants to be the President of the United States. As a kid I used to claim that I wanted to grow up and be the President. Then I started studying what exactly presidents do and I changed my mind. Now I think Vice President sounds like a pretty sweet gig. It's hard to imagine that anyone would actually become the Chief Executive without truly wanting the job. However, that's exactly what happened when William Howard Taft was sworn into office in 1909. William Howard Taft's life was one of a dedicated public servant. Taft was a lawyer by trade. He loved practicing law and was regarded to have possessed one of the most gifted legal minds of his time. He served as Solicitor General for President Benjamin Harrison before being appointed as a federal judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. It was during the McKinley Administration that he moved into the Executive Branch. Following the Spanish American War, the United States took control of the Philippines and Taft was chosen to serve as Governor-General. Later, during Theodore Roosevelt's time in office, Taft served as a provisional governor in Cuba and finally Secretary of War. Taft served his country in many roles and performed admirably in all of them. If a job needed to be done, it seemed that William Howard Taft was always on the short list of capable administrators. Taft had never run for public office prior to 1908. It probably would have stayed that way had it not been for his good friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. It's difficult to understand Taft's time in office without understanding Roosevelt's. I'll discuss TR's presidency when the time comes, but it's important to know that Roosevelt was not happy to be leaving the White House. He could have legally served another term as president (the 22nd Amendment had not been added to the Constitution), however he had publicly declared that he wouldn't run for re-election after his victory in 1904. Wanting to ensure the survival of his progressive policies, the overwhelmingly popular Roosevelt handpicked Taft to carry on his agenda. Taft probably would have declined had it not been for the pressure placed on him by his wife, Neelie. Driven by a sense of duty to family, country, and party, Taft reluctantly agreed. All parties involved would regret the decision.
Roosevelt had gained a reputation has a 'trust buster' who aggressively enforced the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up monopolies and prevent the concentration of wealth and power into the hand of wealthy robber barons. Roosevelt has rightly been praised for his role in standing up for the working men and women of America. However, in truth, Roosevelt was a trust regulator, not a trust buster. Roosevelt only destroyed trusts that he thought were bad for the consumer, not all corporate mergers that constituted a monopoly. Taft's Justice Department actually brought more monopolies to court in four years than Roosevelt did in seven. This included destroying a number of trusts that Roosevelt had allowed to survive. Progressives rarely give the conservative leaning Taft the credit he deserves for standing up to corporate power and greed. Such consistent enforcement of the law only further demonstrates the judicial perspective that Taft brought with him to White House. If his job was to enforce the law, he would enforce that law as it was written, without regard to personal preference. Such conservative action strained his relationship with his former friend Theodore Roosevelt. The friendship between Roosevelt and Taft was further hindered because of Taft's removal of several Roosevelt appointees within the Department of the Interior. Conservation and land management were passions for Roosevelt. To have his handpicked administrators removed by Taft was a blow to the former President. After nearly 18 months abroad, Roosevelt returned home and began making preparations to run for President again. He missed the job. He missed the excitement. And he was disappointed in the job his former friend, and handpicked successor, was doing. Taft meanwhile, hated the presidency. His personality was not suited to the demands of the job. He had pursued the office out of an obligation of duty rather than personal ambition. His depression began to take its toll on his physical health. Like so many Americans, Taft's unhappiness led to overeating, a lack of physical activity, and restless nights.
The Election of 1912, is one of the most hotly contested in American history. Three candidates, each with a legitimate chances of winning, battled for White House. The Republican: President William Howard Taft, the Progressive: Theodore Roosevelt, and the Democrat: the progressive-minded, self-righteous Governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson. Complicating matters further was the Socialist Eugene Debts, who garnered an impressive 6% of the popular vote. In the end, as one may have predicted, Roosevelt and Taft, representing two wings of a divided Republican electorate, split the Republican vote and cleared the way for Woodrow Wilson to win the electoral collage despite winning less than 42% of the popular vote. Taft finished third with only 8 electoral vote. William Howard Taft left the White House after four years having accomplished a fair amount. Though he lacked political skill and hated the job, he proved to be a capable and respectable administrator. Unburdened by the stress of the presidency, Taft lost weight and returned to private life accepting an offer to become a Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale University. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Taft became the chairman of the National War Labor Board. He soon reconciled with Theodore Roosevelt, not long before TR's death. In 1921, he fulfilled a life long dream when he was appointed to the Supreme Court and became the Chief Justice of the United States. To date he is the only former president to have served on the nation's highest court.
Though often overshadowed by his predecessor, the charismatic Theodore Roosevelt, and his successor, the wartime president Woodrow Wilson. William Howard Taft contributed greatly to his country. For this many contributions, as a bureaucrat, federal judge, diplomat, cabinet secretary, President, and finally Chief Justice, William Howard Taft exemplified what it means to be a true public servant.
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Derek Trent AshcraftA place to discuss, among other things, politics, culture, food, faith, and nonsense. Archives
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