Description:

Taft William

Taft reflects on His loss to Woodrow Wilson with utmost detail and class

 

Three page typed letter signed on White House letterhead, 7.5" x 10.5". Typed on recto of each page in bright blue type, dated "November 10, 1912", and signed by President Taft as "Wm H. Taft". Written in response to a letter from John Hill of the International Peace Forum. Taft's letter with expected folds.  Hand written number to the top right corner of each page, with small ink spot to upper edge of first page, else near fine. Accompanied by the original two page typed letter from John Wesley Hill of the International Peace Forum.

 

A superb letter with incredible content, perhaps the finest Taft letter we have seen. President Taft contemplates his loss to Woodrow Wilson with the utmost class, and responds to John Wesley Hill who was commiserating Taft's loss, shown in part below:

 

"My dear Mr. President,

I am not writing to offer you condolence  … your place in history is established. The man popular with the crowd has his reward, but it is fleeting and ephemeral, mere empty applause … you have accomplished more in four years that has ever been written, during the same period of American history … the storm will abate, the clouds will lift, the people will recover the common sense which is apparently now in exile. Then you will be appreciated … "

 

Taft's lengthy and reflective response is extraordinary, shown in part below:

 

" … I thank you for the proper reading or my present mental state. I could not truthfully say that I do not regret the inability to carry out some plans that I think I might have matured and made useful to the nation in the next four years … but of personal disappointment, I know you will believe me when I say there is none … I did not permit myself to contemplate the possibility of another four years in the White House. I looked forward then, as I look forward now, to retire into private life … Many who write me write in the spirit of severe criticism of the people of the United States in the fact that the result of the election manifested ingratitude to me as a faithful servant, and indicated a lack of clear-headed judgement as to what their best interests were. I do not share this feeling or resentment toward the people at all. The situation was most peculiar, and was made so by the act of a man whose equal for political strategy and political mischief we have not had in this country before. The vote which I received I believe is the irreducible minimum of the Republican strength in this country. The conviction that I could not be elected drove away many who would have otherwise voted for me, and the fear of the Bull Moose drove many to vote for Wilson who assistance I could have had had they thought there was any chance for my election.

 

I have no word of criticism for the people at large. I think a great many of them were misled by misrepresenation contained in the muchraking press and in the magazines, and I must wait for years if I would be vindicated by the people under the circumstances. I am content to wait.

 

… I have proved to be a burdensome leader and not one that aroused the multitude, not one that was calculated to lead on to victory in a close contest …

 

The newspapers have treated me in a very kindly way since my defeat and I believe I can say the truth when I tell you that I harbor no ill will … "

 

Taft, despite his pledge, was more conservative than Roosevelt, and lacked Roosevelt’s expansive view of presidential power. He also lacked Roosevelt's charisma as a leader and was generally a more successful administrator than politician. Though initially Taft was active in “trust-busting,” initiating some 80 antitrust suits against large industrial combinations–twice as many as Roosevelt–he later backed away from these efforts, and in general aligned himself with the more conservative members of the Republican Party. In 1909, Taft’s convention of a special session of Congress to debate tariff reform legislation spurred the Republican protectionist majority to action and led to passage of the Payne-Aldrich Act, which did little to lower tariffs. Though more progressive Republicans (such as Roosevelt) expected Taft to veto the bill, he signed it into law and publicly defended it as “the best tariff bill that the Republican Party ever passed.”

 

By 1912, Roosevelt was so incensed with Taft and the conservative Republicans that he chose to break from the party and form his own Progressive Party (also known as the Bull Moose Party). In the general election that year, the divide among Republicans handed the White House to the progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson by a landslide, who received 435 electoral votes to Roosevelt’s 88. Taft received only eight electoral votes, reflecting the repudiation of his administration’s policies in the wave of progressive spirit that was then sweeping the nation.

Undoubtedly relieved to be leaving the White House, Taft took a position teaching constitutional law at Yale University Law School. In 1921, President Warren Harding fulfilled Taft’s lifelong dream by appointing him chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.

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