William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati in 1857. His father Alphonso Taft was a lawyer, judge, member of President Grant’s cabinet, and minister to Vienna and St. Petersburg. William Taft was born plump and jovial and remained so his entire life.
Boys from his neighborhood feuded with boys from other neighborhoods, throwing rocks at each other and drawing blood. He enjoyed playing baseball, though they would sometimes be attacked while playing. He was nicknamed Big Lub. He covered second base and was good at bat, but a slow runner. He swam in the canal in summer and skated on it in winter.
He and his brothers sometimes spent summers with their strict grandfather on his farm. He went to dancing school and became a good dancer. His family was Unitarian. When he got into politics he would be accused of being a Unitarian atheist and thus not fit for office. He did believe in God, but not the divinity of Christ.
He finished second in his high school class. In high school, he wrote an essay in favor of female suffrage. In 1874, he followed in his father’s footsteps by going to Yale, where he also finished second in his class.
He didn’t smoke and rarely drank. He was bored by chapel services. He joined the Skull and Bones club that his father helped found. He wasn’t a strong speaker. He loved his time at Yale and when he became President, he gave appointments to his fellow classmates.
In 1878, he entered Cincinnati Law School, where he was only required to attend two hours a day. He worked as a court reporter as well. He once beat up a newspaper editor for publishing malicious things about his father.
He was a fan of the theatre and once had dinner with Fay Templeton, an actress he had a crush on. He belonged to the Literary Club of Cincinnati and the Unity Club affiliated with the Unitarian church. He played the title role in their production of Sleeping Beauty which had the audience in stitches and earned him the nickname of Angel. For Valentine’s Day he received poetic tributes to his chubby build which he kept as cherished mementos.
In 1880, he was appointed assistant prosecutor of Hamilton County in exchange for helping out the newly elected prosecutor with his news reports.
He campaigned to get his father elected governor, but he lost.
In 1882, he became a collector for internal revenue. At 24, he was the youngest collector in the nation. It helped that his father was friendly with President Arthur. However, he retired after a year. He didn’t like being asked to fire competent employees for political reasons.
He became a lawyer. He campaigned for the Republicans and was appointed chief supervisor of the election in Cincinnati in 1884 to prevent voting fraud. He appointed 60 assistants. It was a rough election. There was voter intimidation on both sides and one black person was killed.
He began courting Helen “Nellie” Herron, daughter of an attorney. She was intelligent, opinionated, and musical. She taught at a prepatory school and became one of the organizers of the symphony orchestra. Nellie wanted to be friends with a man before dating him. Fortunately for Taft, he was a part of her friend circle.
They met at a winter night’s coasting party in 1879 when she was 18. She started a salon and Taft became a member. They went out with each other occasionally over the next few years. By 1884, they saw each other constantly.
He proposed in April 1885 and she said no. (It was customary to reject the first proposal or two.) She accepted his proposal in May and they married a year later. They sailed to Europe for their honeymoon. Nellie was said to have a sharp tongue because she would rebuke Taft at dinner parties, but he didn’t mind.
A man named William Kirk was murdered on Christmas Eve, 1883. One of the murderers escaped the gallows thanks to his lawyer, Thomas Campbell. The murderer was only found guilty of manslaughter. Taft considered Campbell an enemy because he had lost cases to him in the past.
Intense rioting followed the manslaughter verdict in which 45 men died. The courthouse was burned down. There were calls to lynch the jury. People moved to disbar Campbell for doing his job too well and getting his client a lighter sentence.
Taft was junior counsel (an unpaid position) trying to disbar Campbell. He traveled Ohio investigating cases Campbell had tried, to try to find evidence of wrongdoing. He found a juror from a case Taft lost four years ago willing to testify against Campbell for jury tampering.
The main lawyer fell ill, so Taft got to sum up the case. He was only 28. It was his moment to shine. He spoke four hours summing up the evidence against Campbell. However, he didn’t prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He also used intellect rather than emotion which is a losing strategy for a lawyer. Campbell defended himself with emotion and won.
At a Republican primary convention, a man accused Taft of buying votes. The two got into an argument and Taft slapped him. The man tried to pull his pistol, but was restrained.
Governor Foraker appointed Taft to become judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, a post his father had held. It’s a bit of a mystery why. Foraker and Taft hated each other and Taft was 29, having little law experience and also being very young to be a judge. Perhaps Foraker knew Taft would do well in politics thanks to his father’s connections and wanted Taft to be in his debt.
Years later, Foraker advised President Harrison to put Taft on the Supreme Court. Harrison made Taft solicitor general (counselor to the attorney general) instead in 1890. A friend of his father’s welcomed him into the social scene of Washington D.C. The job didn’t pay well and he had to borrow money from one of his brothers.
His first son Robert was born around this time.
His father died in 1891 at the age of 80. Taft was with him for his final month. He’d kind of believed in a supernatural way that his father was his guardian angel and responsible for his rapid rise and good fortune. Was his good fortune now at an end?
In 1892, he became a circuit court judge and moved back to Cincinnati. Nellie became manager of the Cincinnati Orchestra Association. He began a tradition of visiting Murray Bay in Quebec every summer (except when he was president and followed the tradition of not leaving American soil). The locals called him “le petit juge”.
As circuit judge, he traveled and was too honest in that he returned unused travel expenses to the federal treasury which annoyed Nellie.
In 1896, he also became dean and professor at Cincinnati Law School. Once, as judge, he found one of his students guilty of a swindle and sentenced him to prison.
Taft didn’t speak publicly about the Pullman railroad strike of 1894, but in his private letters, he thought the strikers should be killed. He ruled against strikers in his legal decisions. He was at least on the side of the working man when he was injured on the job. He also ruled against a pipe monopoly, so he wasn’t entirely on the side of big corporations.
Taft’s main goal throughout his life was to be a judge on the Supreme Court. In 1895, one of the justices died and Taft’s name was brought up to the president as a replacement, even though Taft was still quite young for the job.
He became friends with Theodore Roosevelt and was one of the people who convinced President McKinley to make Roosevelt assistant secretary of the Navy. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft wasn’t pro-war and didn’t even like to kill animals.
He had to put his dreams of the Supreme Court on hold. In 1900, after the Spanish-American War, President McKinley surprised Taft by asking him to go to the Philippines which America had taken control of after defeating Spain.
Taft didn’t think America should have taken over the Philippines in the first place, but he also didn’t think the Filipino people could self-govern after centuries of Spanish rule. He accepted the position, hoping to make the Filipino people capable of self-government. He spent the next four years in the Philippines.
He did some sight-seeing in Japan on the way there. He weighed so much, that in addition to one man pulling his rickshaw, several also had to push. Crowds gathered to see this man of such enormous size. He was just as amused by them as they were of him.
As president of the commission, Taft should have been in charge, however General Arthur MacArthur was the US military leader. He thought continuing fighting was the only option and resented the civilian leaders. He treated Taft and the other commissioners with contempt, and fought them every step of the way. MacArthur’s power was taken away and he was eventually replaced.
The Philippine Commission set up the law similar to the US, with a few exceptions (no jury trial or a right to bear arms). Taft also suppressed freedom of the press by forbidding talk of Philippine independence. The intention was to put Filipinos into government and court positions to transition them to rule themselves. An education system was also set up.
Taft was a bit racist, but also looked fondly upon the Filipino people. They were afraid the Americans would make them slaves or treat them as an inferior race. He assured the Filipinos they wouldn’t be treated as inferior. At official and unofficial diners, Taft made sure guests weren’t separated according to race. He tried to learn Spanish and ate Filipino food even though he hated it.
He granted amnesty and civil service jobs to those who gave up fighting, and threatened to seize the property of those who kept fighting for independence. The fighting died down but didn’t completely end. Taft hoped the Philippines could become a U.S. state. As time went on, he replaced Filipino judges with American judges, considering the Filipino judges corrupt.
Before the U.S. took over, Spanish friars controlled the Philippine government, health care, police, jails, theatre, and religion. Many of the friars were corrupt and amassed a lot of land and wealth. Most Filipinos remained devoted Catholics, but were opposed to the friars remaining. The question of what to do with them and their property was the most difficult issue Taft had to deal with. He decided the friars had to leave and their land needed to be bought from them.
Taft got dengue fever and had to go back to the U. S. for surgery on his abscesses. While there, he met with Roosevelt who said Taft would have to go to Rome to negotiate with the Vatican. Pope Leo was agreeable, but the cardinals refused to withdraw the friars. Years later, the lands were finally sold. The Spanish friars were never withdrawn, but their influence waned and they were replaced by American and Filipino friars.
Returning to the Philippines, Taft found many American officeholders had stolen funds. He prosecuted them and most were sent to the penitentiary. A cholera epidemic killed over 100,000 Filipinos, rinderpest had killed most of their pack animals, a drought had destroyed crops, and a storm had destroyed homes. Roosevelt provided relief funds.
Taft got dysentery and went to a mountain resort to recover. Secretary of War Root was worried about his health. Taft said he was fine and rode horseback twenty-five miles to five thousand feet elevation. Root, picturing the 300-pound man upon a horse, replied by telegram, “How is the horse?” Taft was amused by the joke and had it published. This joke became famous and was told repeatedly during the 1908 presidential campaign.
Roosevelt twice offered Taft a position on the Supreme Court. It was his life goal, but he declined because he didn’t want to abandon the Filipino people. However, Roosevelt then ordered him to return to the US to become secretary of war and Taft agreed. He’d still be in charge of the Philippines as secretary of war, although at a remove. Also, he hoped leaving the tropics would cure his dysentery.
War was brewing between Japan and Russia over Korea. The Emperor of Japan asked Taft to visit him before returning to the states and let him know Japan wanted peace.
As secretary of war, he traveled to Panama and was involved in building the canal. He also immediately sent supplies to relieve the victims of the San Francisco earthquake without first getting congressional approval, which was technically illegal. The job didn’t pay well. Fortunately, his brother Charles provided him with an additional $8,000 a year so he had enough money to entertain guests in the extravagant manner that was expected.
In December 1905, Taft weighed 326 pounds. To lose weight, he began daily horseback rides and began a diet under supervision by a doctor. By April 1906, he was down to 255 pounds.
He went to Japan a couple more times to inform them the US was on their side even if there were anti-Japanese demonstrations in California.
The president of Cuba was driven out of power by insurgents and resigned. Taft became the provisional governor of Cuba for a couple weeks. He convinced the insurgents to disarm. The country was basically a protectorate of the US for a couple years before becoming independent again.
In 1906, Roosevelt offered Taft a position on the Supreme Court and Taft turned it down a third time. It was for associate justice not chief justice. Also Taft’s wife wanted him to be president. He also liked the idea of being president himself and it was a real possibility.
He was reluctant to run for president and suggested that other men would be better for the job. When he decided to go for it, he initially didn’t want Roosevelt to fire post masters and internal revenue collectors who didn’t support Taft for president, but later decided they should either support him or keep quiet if they wanted to keep their government jobs.
In 1906, black soldiers stationed in Brownsville, Texas were accused of shooting white people. Roosevelt dismissed 160 black men including six Medal of Honor recipients and others with distinguished records. This meant they wouldn’t receive pensions and could be destitute in their old age. As secretary of war, Taft carried out Roosevelt’s orders.
Joseph Foraker, who had helped Taft early in his career but was now opposed to his presidency, made this incident a cause célèbre. There was a senate hearing. No one ever found out who was responsible for the shooting. Everyone agreed however that most of the men dismissed, if not all, were innocent.
Taft spent a lot of time investigating but didn’t find out what really happened. The matter worried him for more than two years. He was eventually able to joke about it. When a black head waiter at one of his dinner parties proved incompetent, Taft joked that it was the Twenty-fifth Infantry getting even.
While traveling through Yellowstone, Taft accidentally played a game of whist on Sunday (he thought it was Saturday) and his wife was upset that he played cards on Sunday. Taft was worried this would be publicized and cause a controversy, but it didn’t get out.
Taft gained a reputation for being Good Old Bill: big, jolly, easily influenced, sometimes lazy. A Supreme Court justice joked that he was so polite he once arose in a streetcar to give his seat to three women.
Taft got the Republican nomination for president in 1908 thanks to Roosevelt’s endorsement and he easily beat the Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan who made the mistake of saying the only way to stop railroads from being a monopoly was public ownership, which many considered socialism.
Taft didn’t want campaign contributions from big corporations, fearing how it would look. He got smaller contributions from smaller businessmen and wound up with 1.6 million, less than the 2.2 million Roosevelt raised last election.
As he campaigned for himself, Taft had to read his speeches since he had no gift for oratory. His speeches were often too long. However, he had an infectious laugh that the audience couldn’t help but join in. It started with a silent trembling of his stomach. Then he would pause his reading and a slow grin would spread across his face. Then came a kind of gulp that seemed to escape involuntarily. Then he’d laugh and the audience would join in.
He rarely drank alcohol as it didn’t agree with him. He believed each locality should decide for itself whether to prohibit alcohol. Prohibitionists didn’t like that. His Unitarianism made some think he was disqualified for the presidency. Some thought he was a Catholic because he met with the Pope. Foraker had been caught taking bribes from Standard Oil and Taft had to distance himself from him after Foraker had started cozying up to him again. Some thought Taft was a “dude” (an elitist) because he played golf.
Roosevelt was only 50 when he left the presidency. Taft was slightly older entering it. Roosevelt left to Africa for a hunting trip and said he planned to write a biography about his good friend Taft.
Taft apparently promised to keep Roosevelt’s cabinet while campaigning. Of the five who wanted to stay, he kept two. Years later, this would be cited as the beginning of the rift between Roosevelt and Taft, but at the time, they were still on good terms.
Mrs. Taft wanted to replace the white ushers at the front door of the White House with black ushers. She also replaced the male steward with a female housekeeper. The Roosevelts were apparently annoyed by this.
Roosevelt had met with the press regularly, but Taft wouldn’t meet with them, causing the good will upon his election to evaporate pretty quickly. He also associated with members of congress Roosevelt was against, but Roosevelt had advised he do this to get legislation passed.
Some industries benefited from a high tariff, but the common workingman would benefit from a lower one. Taft wanted a lower tariff, but didn’t have tariff expertise. He also wasn’t skilled in politics, such as leveraging appointments to get what he wanted. He was also too trusting of Congress doing what they said they would do. It didn’t help his case that Roosevelt was okay with only token tariff reform.
To deal with the deficit, Taft maneuvered congress into a situation in which they had to accept instituting a corporate tax and asking the states for a constitutional amendment to allow income tax. He also managed to lower the tariff, although not by as much as he would have liked.
Unfortunately the tariff reduction didn’t lower the cost of living for the average person. The tariff on wool remained the same, but newspapers claimed it had risen and stores used this as an excuse to raise prices. The tariff on a few items increased, although it was an overall reduction.
In May 1909, Nellie had a stroke. It took her months to recover and her speech was affected so she couldn’t attend social affairs for a long time.
Like Roosevelt, Taft was a friend of environmental conservation. However, he wanted everything to be done legally. He got Congress to pass laws making Roosevelt’s setting aside of natural resources legal. He pushed through Roosevelt initiatives like creating a postal saving system, railroad reforms, building up the navy, and improving rivers and harbors. He followed Roosevelt’s suggestion for who to appoint as chief justice of the Supreme Court (he ended up making six appointments in all, making the majority of the Supreme Court men he picked). However, a misunderstanding would end up forever driving a wedge between the two.
Secretary of Interior Ballinger was accused of corruption regarding coal lands in Alaska by the chief of the US Forest Service. Taft defended Ballinger. Ultimately, the accusations proved groundless, but the controversy hurt Taft’s reputation and his relationship with Roosevelt who was friends with the chief of the US Forest Service.
One of Taft’s weaknesses was being content to let facts speak for themselves rather than defending himself. His silence on matters allowed his enemies to make unrefuted insinuations. By the time the truth finally came out, Taft’s reputation had already been sullied.
One of the reasons given for Roosevelt’s sudden hostility is Taft dismissed ambassador Henry White. When Taft learned of this, he was surprised because he had replaced White with Roosevelt’s friend Robert Bacon. Taft had always done what he thought Roosevelt wanted him to do, but Roosevelt decided to believe the rumors spread by Taft’s enemies instead.
When Roosevelt returned to America, Taft invited him to the White House, but Roosevelt declined. They did end up meeting in person later. Roosevelt was nice to Taft’s face while he plotted against him behind his back.
After returning to America, Theodore Roosevelt claimed he was done with politics, however, it didn’t take long for him to jump back in. He conspired with Taft’s enemies even though Taft continued to support him and tried to do what he thought Roosevelt wanted. Roosevelt’s ego wouldn’t allow him to support President Taft no matter how deferential he was because Roosevelt wanted to be president again himself. He therefore searched for reasons to be against Taft to justify his own presidential ambitions.
The government was losing money on second-class mail (newspapers and magazines) charging only 1 cent a pound for delivery which cost 9 cents. Taft proposed raising the rates, which, of course, turned the newspapers against him.
The split in the Republican party caused by Roosevelt allowed the Democrats to win big in the 1910 midterm elections. Taft fought for free trade with Canada. This would lower costs for newspapers which were suddenly on his side again. He got Congress to pass it, however, some Canadians thought he really wanted to annex Canada and they shot down the free trade bill.
Taft inherited a $59 million deficit from Roosevelt. Before him, presidents had little control over government spending. He made an executive order that all estimates should come to him first. He suggested cuts and began an investigation into government spending. By 1910, he’d turned the deficit into a $13 million surplus.
He created a Commission on Efficiency and Economy which tracked government spending for the first time making Taft the Father of the Federal Budget. The commission uncovered a lot of wasteful spending. Congress, alarmed at the potential loss of patronage and political appointments, ignored the recommendations and stopped funding the commission.
A quarter of Taft’s letters dealt with job seekers, even though his administration was basically a continuation of Roosevelt’s and thus there weren’t that many openings. Taft continued the work of previous presidents who wanted to do away with the spoils systems whereby government jobs including post masters and revenue collectors were political appointments, and instead give the jobs based on merit and not fire anyone for political reasons.
Corrupt Senator Lorimer was kicked out of the Senate. Taft had been working behind the scenes to make it happen and had asked Roosevelt’s help in getting the votes. However, Roosevelt later claimed Taft was friends with Lorimer!
With regards to labor, Taft was in favor of strikes, but against boycotts, so labor unions were against him. He passed laws to improve safety for mine and railroad workers, instituted worker’s compensation for railroad workers, and banned white phosphorus matches which caused disease to those who manufactured them.
He also passed a law to keep children from being employed too early in factories. He signed the Children’s Bureau Bill at the advice of his Aunt Delia and put Julia Lathrop in charge, the first female bureau chief in US history.
He vetoed a bill that would require a literacy test for immigrants. His secretary of labor, a child of an immigrant himself, advised against it as many great men currently serving the country wouldn’t have been allowed in if the literacy test had been in place.
Corporate criminal Charles W. Morse was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He had a lot of wealthy friends agitating for his release. Taft initially denied it, but Morse pretended to be near death, tricking the doctors. It was customary to allow criminals near death to go home to die, so Taft pardoned him, but it turns out he was perfectly healthy. He’d promised to pay his lawyers $100,000 for the pardon, but never made good on this even though he went on to make millions of dollars in further frauds.
Congress voted to give an additional $100 million or so in pensions to Civil War veterans in addition to the $4 billion they’d already received. It was a time-honored way of using taxpayer money to get votes. Taft thought the veterans had already received enough and besides, much of the pension claims were fraudulent. People who joined the army just for the signing bonus and then deserted got pensions. Young women would marry old veterans on the verge of dying in order to be considered war widows and thus entitled to a pension. Taft vowed to veto the bill, but caved in and signed it when he realized Congress had a veto-proof majority. The only thing a veto would do is hurt the upcoming election.
Taft also violated a treaty with England by exempting American vessels from paying a toll to use the Panama Canal which was supposed to treat vessels from all nations the same. This hurt the reputation of the United States, since it indicated the US didn’t honor treaties. Taft’s successor, President Wilson, would repeal this exception.
Taft continued Roosevelt’s anti-monopoly crusade. The Supreme Court disbanded Standard Oil and American Tobacco Company for being monopolies, however, the same men held stock in the subsidiary companies and could still control them, so the monopolies were broken up in name only.
However, when Taft went after US Steel, newspapers pointed out that Roosevelt had strengthened US Steel’s monopoly by allowing it to acquire the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company. Roosevelt’s ego was hurt by this and he unfairly blamed Taft. Investigations found many of US Steel’s workers worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week, and got less than 18 cents an hour. The case dragged out in court until 1920 when it was ruled US Steel wasn’t a monopoly.
The United States had taken over the administration of Santo Domingo during Roosevelt’s presidency. In November 1911, the president of Santo Domingo was assassinated and replaced by the unpopular President Victoria. The country fell into debt and there was a revolution. By 1912, during Taft’s presidential campaign, Taft sent in warships to restore order, but the US wasn’t able to keep Victoria in power.
Americans had been killed in the Nicaraguan civil war. Taft sent in troops. Zelaya, president of Nicaragua, was forced to abdicate.
A revolution broke out in Mexico. Taft amassed US troops along the border. 70,000 Americans lived in Mexico and billions of dollars in American investments were also in danger. Congress initiated an arms embargo to block weapons or war supplies from being shipped to Mexico.
Taft said he’d drop the embargo, thus giving the insurgents an advantage, if the new President Madero couldn’t protect American property and keep Americans alive. Taft resisted calls from oil and other interests for the US to go to war. Even though Americans were dying, even more would die if a war occurred.
There was tension with Japan under Roosevelt, but Taft was more friendly with Japan. One of Taft’s friends from his Yale days was Japanese. To keep California from continuing to persecute Japanese immigrants, Taft supported having the world’s fair in San Francisco. In exchange, the governor agreed give Japanese immigrants the same rights as immigrants from any other country.
Taft attempted to create a League of Peace between nations to limit armaments, combine all the navies of the world, and lesson the probability of war. Roosevelt was against the idea, thinking that seeking peace was cowardly and unmanly. Taft signed treaties with England and France, but the Senate rejected them. Taft did inspire Andrew Carnegie to create the Carnegie Peace Fund.
Major Archie Butt, who served as military aide, social functionary, negotiator, and advisor to both Roosevelt and Taft and whose writings give us incite into both presidencies, died when the Titanic went down in early 1912.
Roosevelt ran against Taft for the Republican presidential nomination. Roosevelt attacked Taft, but Taft didn’t attack back at first, still hoping they could be friends again after the election. Eventually, he couldn’t let Roosevelt’s lies against him go unanswered and finally made a speech, quoting letters from Roosevelt revealing his lies. Right after making his attack speech, Taft told a journalist that “Roosevelt was my closest friend” then began to weep.
Roosevelt claimed he’d support whoever won the Republican primary, but when he lost, he claimed Taft cheated. He first said 238 Taft delegates were frauds without evidence, then reduced the number to 72, then said only 30 were. Roosevelt needed 74 to win, so he would have lost anyway.
Roosevelt claimed Taft was supported by big businesses when Roosevelt was the one who had large companies on his side. Roosevelt had a tendency to remember things as he liked to remember them, not as they actually happened.
Taft got the Republican nomination, Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic contender, and Roosevelt created the Bull Moose party. Taft didn’t make many speeches, so Roosevelt and Wilson got all the attention. The Republicans found it difficult to get campaign contributions. Wealthy industrialists wanted to stop Roosevelt’s socialist-sounding policies, but they thought Wilson had a better chance of doing that than Taft. The Republicans had less than a million dollars to spend on Taft’s campaign. Taft came in third, only getting the electoral votes of Utah and Vermont.
After leaving the presidency, Taft became a law professor at Yale. He supplemented his income by writing articles and being a public speaker.
In 1915, Taft and Roosevelt met for the first time in years as both were honorary pallbearers at a funeral. They did little more than exchange pleasantries. They met again at a reception in 1916 at a reception for the Republican presidential candidate Hughes and again did little more than exchange pleasantries for the benefit of showing party unity. (Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party was over by this time.)
Hughes lost and Wilson was reelected. Taft blamed Roosevelt and the “emotional votes of the women.” (Women in Wyoming were able to vote for president as early as 1892. A few other states allowed women to vote by 1916.)
Wilson avoided entering World War I as long as possible. When the US finally entered the war, Roosevelt wanted to head a division, but Wilson turned him down. Taft supported the war effort with speeches and as chairman of the War Labor Board where he became more sympathetic to the working man. One of his sons served as a soldier.
Taft and Roosevelt finally starting working together again during the 1918 campaign due to their mutual hatred of Wilson and their desire for a Republican victory. Roosevelt died one year later. Taft was glad they reconciled before he died.
While on the War Labor Board, Taft visited munitions and textile mills and was horrified at the poor working conditions. He didn’t realize before how bad the working man had it. He ordered wages doubled and tripled.
He previously had a low opinion of labor leaders, now he supported them. He became in favor of a minimum wage, eight hour work day, unions, health and safety regulations, and equal pay for women doing the same work as men.
Western Union Telegraph Company and Smith and Wesson Arms Company were both found in violation of war labor laws and the government commandeered their companies for the duration of the war. Wages for workers at General Electric were increased.
Taft then headed an organization called the League to Enforce Peace. When Wilson was trying to put together the League of Nations, Taft suggested changes to the treaty which Wilson incorporated.
When Harding was elected president, he offered Taft a position on the Supreme Court. Taft would only accept chief justice and he eventually got it, finally achieving his lifelong dream. He served for almost 10 years. He decided questions that came up regarding the new income tax among other things.
Prohibition was passed. Taft supported it, but his wife Nellie was opposed. Taft ruled in favor of Prohibition whenever it came up. He ruled that someone who ran liquor could be charged by both state and federal authorities despite laws against double jeopardy. He ruled that cars could be searched without a warrant if liquor was suspected. He ruled that someone who stored liquor before Prohibition could still be charged with possessing it. He ruled that illegal wiretapping was ok to catch liquor smugglers. He did at least rule against a Ohio law that allowed judges to profit from Prohibition convictions.
Overwhelmed with cases, Taft lobbied to have a bill passed to limit the Supreme Court to cases of national importance.
A tax was passed on companies that employed children younger than 14, but Taft ruled it was unconstitutional as it took away state rights. He was sympathetic to people who wanted to end child labor, but valued state rights more. Although in other cases, he ruled in favor of more federal, less state power so he wasn’t always consistent.
Regarding labor, Taft ruled that unions could picket, but only if they did so without “unjustifiable annoyance and obstruction”. He ruled unions could be sued and held liable for damages, which the labor movement hated, but ruled in favor of labor by saying that a local organizations’ actions couldn’t be held against their parent organization. Also, he ruled that the anti-trust act didn’t apply to unions unless their strike affected prices in the interstate movement of a product. He ruled in favor of a minimum wage law, but was overruled by his fellow justices.
As friends of his died, Taft was reminded of the song Stand By Your Glasses: “Here’s a glass to the dead already, and here’s to the next man that dies.”
His weight fluctuated over the years. When he was happy, he could pay more attention to diet and exercise. He loved being on the Supreme Court. He weighed only 244 pounds a year before he died.
His health deteriorated in his final years. In March 1929, he administered the oath of office to Herbert Hoover. It was broadcast on radio for the first time.
He retired from the Supreme Court in February, 1930 and died a month later.
I’m interested in coming up with a ranking of US Presidents based on how many people lived or died because of their actions.
As President, Taft used American diplomats and consuls to further trade, hoping to promote world peace. Indeed, international trade is cited as being a big promoter of peace in the modern world, but this is hard to quantify. It’s impossible to know if any lives were saved by his specific actions.
Taft sent warships to Santo Domingo during a period of unrest, but this was towards the end of his presidency and as far as I can tell, nothing came of it.
Wikipedia gives a different account of Taft’s military involvement in Nicaragua than this book does. President Zelaya wanted to revoke commercial concessions to American companies. American diplomats favored rebel forces because they didn’t want Europeans to use Nicaragua to build an alternative to the Panama Canal. This began the US occupation of Nicaragua (part of the Banana Wars) which lasted until 1933 and claimed over 1,000 lives, although most of these were under later presidents. Hundreds likely died under Taft.
Taft was at least hands off regarding The Mexican Revolution, unlike Woodrow Wilson who would later support the rebels. Between 1.7 million to 2.7 million died in the Mexican Revolution. The oil industry and other American interests tried to pressure Taft to go to war with Mexico, but he refused. We can’t know how history would have turned out differently if Taft intervened. It’s possible him sending in troops would have caused even more to die, or it might have caused the fighting to end sooner and thus have saved lives. We can’t know for sure, but I generally count avoiding war as saving lives.
He passed laws to improve safety for mine and railroad workers, instituted worker’s compensation for railroad workers, and banned white phosphorus matches which caused disease to those who manufactured them. He also passed a law to keep children from being employed too early in factories and created the Children’s Bureau Bill. These laws likely saved some lives.
Taft doesn’t seem to have caused a massive amount of death or saved a massive amount of life. He seems to be a fairly middling president.
Mania Delight 