Description:

Taft William


President William H. Taft TLS: "I don't appoint Judges that way, and I don't intend to"

 

2pp letter typed in blue ink on watermarked "The White House, Washington" letterhead signed by 27th U.S. President William H. Taft (1857-1930) as "Wm H Taft" at top of the second page. With three typographical edits in black ink in Taft's hand also located at the top of the second page. Written at the White House, Washington, D.C. on August 17, 1912. In near fine condition, with expected paper folds and overall light toning. Page measures 6.625" x 8.75".

 

President Taft wrote this lengthy letter marked "Personal" to his long-time friend and colleague Pastor John Wesley Hill (1863-1936). In the letter, President Taft defends the way he appoints U.S. District Court Judges. At issue was Taft's anticipated nomination of Chicago lawyer Charles S. Cutting to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois.

 

"So far as the Editor of the Chicago Inter-Ocean is concerned, I have no conscientious feeling on the subject…He attacked me bitterly during the Lorimer days, and now he has come around to me because of he can not [sic be anywhere else. I am grateful to him for such support as he gives, but what has put me in an attitude of utter indifference is his disposition to resent my failure to appoint somebody to a Judgeship, at his instance. I don't appoint Judges that way, and I don't intend to…The selection of a Judge in Chicago is not an easy one…If I appoint Cutting, it will not be because Max Pam is for him - it will be because I think he is the best man out there, and that is the way with any appointment that I may make."

 

In this very interesting letter, President Taft refers to influential individuals, entities, and other cogs of the Republican party political machinery. "Mr. Hilles" refers to President Taft's former private secretary Charles Dewey Hilles (1867-1949), now chair of the Republican National Committee. Thus Taft's breezy comment to Hill: "I am glad to know of the luncheon that Mr. Hilles had, and the result."

 

The Chicago Inter-Ocean was a Republican leaning illustrated newspaper established in 1865. Its editor and publisher between 1898-1912 was George Wheeler Hinman (1864-1927). Evidently, Hinman and Taft had had a tumultuous track record. During the "Lorimer days," as Taft called them, Hinman had criticized Taft for his suspected involvement in the election of William Lorimer (1861-1934) as an Illinois Senator. The so-called "Blond Boss" of Chicago, Lorimer had been investigated and lost his Senate seat just one month earlier, in mid-July 1912.

 

Taft boldly asserts that only he determines judicial appointments, and that candidates are selected based on merit and not on favoritism or sweetheart deals. Taft was aware, for example, that some people would think that Max Pam (1865-1925), a partner at the Chicago-based firm of Pam & Hurd, had actually chosen Charles S. Cutting for the Judgeship instead of Taft. Yet Taft was above such considerations: "I would like to oblige a friend; but generally other things are not equal in a judicial appointment."

 

Taft and his correspondent Hill had known each other for a long time. Both Taft's presidential predecessors McKinley and Roosevelt relied on Hill's counsel as a Methodist preacher, and he served as a sort of religious advisor to Taft on his Western presidential campaign. The two were also officers of the peace organization International Peace Forum. Hill was the pastor at the Metropolitan Temple in New York City for many years.

 


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