Description:

Taft William

William H. Taft TLS Addressed to "My Dear Old Trust-Buster, Anti-Socialist, and General Boomer"

 

1p TLS on "The White House, Washington" letterhead typed in blue ink and signed by 27th U.S. President William H. Taft (1857-1930) as "Wm. H. Taft" at bottom. Taft's signature is large and bold, with a little feathering. The watermarked cream stationery paper is in near fine condition, with expected paper folds. Page measures 6.75" x 8.875."

 

President William H. Taft wrote this TLS from the White House on April 13, 1910 to longtime friend and colleague Pastor John Wesley Hill (1863-1936): "My Dear Old Trust-Buster, Anti-Socialist, and General Boomer: I have read your address on business honesty which you sent me and like it very much. I am obliged to you for your kindly reference to me. I wish I could have heard the speech."

 

Taft had many reasons to be grateful for Hill's "kindly reference" in his latest speech, as well as overall. Hill was then the pastor of the Methodist-Episcopal Metropolitan Temple in New York City. He used his standing in the religious community as a jumping off point, becoming a public figure known for his ardent Republican Party loyalty and personal devotion to Taft.

 

On June 16, 1910, Hill would became president of a mostly clergy-led organization called the Individual and Social Justice League of America. The group's mission was to reassert the role of religion (of all kinds) in America; expose the dangers of socialism; and promote general American values. This organization later praised Taft's presidency, both for its upholding of traditional values and its pro-business attitudes. As Taft faced the 1910 midterm elections with a splintered party, Hill drew a red line: anyone who did not support Taft was a socialist.

 

Left-leaning politics were a real threat. Taft's control of the Republican Party had weakened to such an extent that progressive Republicans from the Midwest like Robert M. LaFollette challenged his mandate. Thus, Taft could lose ground to more centrist Republicans and former Roosevelt supporters as well as to members of the Democratic Party. Throughout the spring and summer of 1910, Hill proved himself one of the President's most vociferous champions, especially on the death-to-socialism issue.

 

Taft and his correspondent Hill had known each other for a long time. Both Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt had 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. Hill and Taft were co-editors of The Peace Forum, a monthly magazine established in 1910. The two men were true contemporaries, both born in mid-nineteenth-century Ohio.

 

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