William Howard Taft

Theodore Roosevelt left office as one of the most popular presidents in American history. His handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, proved to be such a departure that Roosevelt himself challenged Taft's reelection campaign. Lacking the relatability of Roosevelt, Taft's unpopular decisions and refusal to even campaign cost him reelection. How did this one president veer so hard from expectations?

Fig. 1 - William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft Biography

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1857. His father, Alphonso Taft, had a distinguished career serving as both Attorney General and Secretary of War. He followed his father into a legal career, graduating from Yale and returning to Cincinnati to practice law.

Political Career

In 1887, Taft was given his first judgeship, which began a long career of political appointments. Taft would go on to be appointed to many other positions including Solicitor General, Federal Judge, Governor of the Philippines, and finally, Secretary of War under Teddy Roosevelt. Something that would mark his career is that none of these positions were elected, so before the presidency he had never campaigned for office. His interest had always been in the law and his desire to was to lead the Supreme Court, yet he turned down Supreme Court nominations in favor of political positions.

Fig. 2 - 1908 Taft Campaign Button

William Howard Taft Political Party

William Howard Taft as President

As President, Taft was not the continuation of Roosevelt that had been expected. The main difference between the men was fundamental. Roosevelt was a strong personality that sought any method to accomplish his goals, Taft was more of a legal scholar who sought to work within the confines of established legal precedent. Roosevelt had pushed the limits of presidential powers, while Taft had a much more conservative view of the role.

Fig. 3 - Taft Political Cartoon

William Howard Taft Domestic Policy

Conservation, civil liberties, and corporate regulation were three major issues that came up in Taft's domestic agenda. In some ways, such as Corporate Regulation, Taft continued the general goals of the Roosevelt administration but along a tighter legal framework. In other areas, such as civil rights, Taft controversially reversed Roosevelt era positions.

Civil Liberties

Roosevelt had stood behind appointments of Black Americans to federal positions, such as postmaster. The Republican Party had long played an active role in fighting for racial equality, from abolition through reconstruction. White Americans in areas of the South with high racial tensions had resented these appointments and did not wish to recognize these officeholders. Right from his inaugural address, Taft stated that he would not follow Roosevelt's position. He removed many Black Americans from positions and appointed very few to new positions, even in the North.

Conservation

A huge scandal erupted in the Taft administration around the issue of conversation, which had been a major part of the Roosevelt administration. Conservation was a cause a Taft generally supported but he did not believe in making the executive actions on the issue that Roosevelt had. Taft replaced Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, James Garfield, with Richard Ballinger, who approved a mining claim on land the Roosevelt administration had declared protected. A government agent who investigated the claim made public that Ballinger had once acted as the lawyer of the claimant, creating a conflict of interest. When chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, complained about the matter to a senator he was fired by Taft. As a result, Congress investigated and while Ballinger was cleared, the administration had to make embarrassing admissions about putting false dates on reports related to the matter.

Corporate Regulation

Corporate Regulation was an area that saw some of the greatest continuity of action between Roosevelt and Taft. Taft actually increased the amount of anti-trust suits brought from 40 in the 8 years of Roosevelt to 70 in the 4 years of Taft. During his administration, Roosevelt had supported a merger of several companies under US Steel, which Taft had supported at the time. During the Taft administration, the justice department claimed that Roosevelt had allowed the company to become a monopoly, after being tricked by industrialists. The accusation was one of many occurrences during the Taft administration that offended Roosevelt.

Fig. 4 - Taft Asia Political Cartoon

William Howard Taft Foreign Policy

In the area of foreign policy, Taft advocated what he called "dollar diplomacy" where the United States would seek international stability through investments instead of wars. With a belief that the United States should stay out of European conflicts, Taft focused on defending the Panama Canal and expansion of relations with Latin America and Asia. He sent US Troops to engage in an occupation of unstable Nicaragua, home to many US investments, which lasted long after his administration. His foreign policy actions did not meet its goals as Latin American countries generally resented US interference and despite large investments, trade with China actually fell during the period.

William Howard Taft Tariffs

Making changes to the existing tariffs had been part of the Republican platform which Taft had been elected to enact. The House of Representatives passed a bill lowering tariffs, which was supported by progressives. In the Senate amendments were made to the bill, significantly raising tariffs. When Taft refused to intervene, he again found himself opposed by progressives. Taft again failed to reduce tariffs when a bill to create free trade with Canada was not approved by the Canadian parliament.

Fig. 5 - 1912 Taft Postcard

William Howard Taft Progressive Era

Theodore Roosevelt had been the leader of the progressive wing of the Republican Party. Roosevelt was outraged not just by Taft's turning away from some of his progressive reforms but what he viewed as personal slights such as the firing of Pinchot and attacks on Roosevelt in the US Steel anti-trust case. When he decided to run for a third term, Roosevelt won the primaries in a landslide. The party establishment and Republican political machine however still nominated Taft at the Republican convention, despite his massive loss in the public primaries. Roosevelt and his supporters left the party to form the Progressive Party and launch a third-party bid.

Election of 1912

Taft had felt that Roosevelt had grown too radical but in taking the nomination Taft had only managed to split the Republican Party. The Election of 1912 was not decided on if the country wanted to move in a progressive direction but how far it would go. Taft did not actively campaign and received little monetary support as few believed he would be reelected. The split of the Republican Party delivered the election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson in 1912 who was not a conservative like Taft but not as radical as Roosevelt or Socialist Party candidate, Eugene Debs.

William Howard Taft Later Life

Out of office, Taft went to academia. From 1913 until 1921 he returned to his alma mater and became a professor at Yale. In 1921, he finally achieved the position he had most desired, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. He held the position until his death in 1930.