William howard taft
Talk about a lack of respect! Our 27th president is remembered, if at all, as the portliest occupant of the Oval Office. Not helping his physical image is a walrus mustache that screams “out-of-touch/ outdated.” More substantively, Taft’s one-term tenure was a severe letdown after the hyperenergetic and innovative administration of his always exciting predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt. The dazzling achiever versus the do-little dullard!
There’s no question that Taft was ill-suited to the presidency, being remarkably tone-deaf when it came to practicing politics. But this slim, well-researched and well-written biography substantially beefs up Taft’s reputation. Taft was a remarkable man who scored major achievements during his lifetime—even during his unhappy stint in the White House.
Taft’s lifelong desire was to serve on, if not lead, the Supreme Court. He clearly had the brains and the temperament to do so. (His ambitious wife wanted
him to be president instead.) He was appointed to an Ohio state judgeship in his 20s. So impressive was Taft that he was considered for the high court in his early 30s; instead, he was appointed U.S. solicitor general, where he won 16 of the 18 cases he argued before the Supreme Court. His contemporaries were struck by Taft’s thoroughness and integrity. He went on to a seat on the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. (During these years, Taft became fast friends with another rising star, Theodore Roosevelt.)
President William McKinley plucked a reluctant Taft off the bench and made him the civil governor of the newly acquired former Spanish colony, the Philippines. It was a job fraught with difficulties, as the U.S. was waging a nasty war against independence-minded guerrillas. Taft performed brilliantly, achieving genuine popularity among the Filipino people. Roosevelt, who became president when McKinley was assassinated, then made Taft his secretary of war, where Taft again did well. In 1908 the immensely popular Roosevelt anointed Taft as his successor, a job Taft really didn’t want.
Eventually, however, TR wanted his old job back. Taft’s political ineptitude as president gave the Rough Rider plenty of pretexts for a break, and he challenged Taft for the 1912 GOP nomination. Taft won, but TR then bolted and ran as an independent. The split made for an easy Democratic win, with Taft finishing a humiliating third.
Rosen argues persuasively that Taft’s approach to the presidency was diametrically opposed to Roosevelt’s.
• TR thought he could do anything he
wanted, as long as it wasn’t absolutely and explicitly forbidden by the Constitution; Taft wouldn’t do something unless it was clearly permitted by said document.
• TR didn’t hesitate to run roughshod over
Congress; Taft profoundly believed that doing so undermined the separation of powers.
Despite Taft’s seemingly somnolent approach to governing, some important things were accomplished. In fact, here, as elsewhere, Taft was an effective executive. Henry Stimson, who served under Presidents Taft, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as secretary of war and under Herbert Hoover as secretary of state, found Taft to be, by far, the finest administrator.
• Taft was portrayed as betraying his
predecessor’s conservation efforts. The truth: In four years Taft withdrew more land for federal protection than Roosevelt did in two terms.
• Taft was a far more
vigorous trustbuster, eschewing TR’s rather idiosyncratic definition of “good” and “bad” monopolies.
• Roosevelt wouldn’t
touch a third-rail issue: tariffs. Taft did and was pilloried for the results, even though he was the first Republican chief executive to achieve a reduction in tariffs, from an average tax of 24% to 21%.
• Regarding trade, Taft pushed for treaties
with other countries to reduce barriers. He negotiated a free-trade agreement with Canada, which our northern neighbor refused to ratify. (This wasn’t achieved until 1987.)
Taft took a political hit for refusing to invade Mexico—without express congressional approval—during the Mexican Revolution, in order to be ready to protect American lives and property there. (Taft’s successor, Woodrow Wilson, did so, and the results were anything but successful.)
Lesser but fun achievements include being the first president to throw out the opening day pitch for baseball and starting the tradition of the seventhinning stretch.
Taft finally achieved his Supreme Court dream when Warren Harding named him Chief Justice in 1921, the only former president to achieve this position. Here Taft was a dynamo. He pushed through long-needed reforms of the federal judiciary, making it, Rosen argues, a truly equal branch of government. He also got the High Court the magnificent building it occupies today. Rosen’s verdict: Taft was the most consequential Chief Justice since his hero, John Marshall.