William Howard Taft

The American Presidents #27

by Jeffrey Rosen, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Editor), Sean Wilentz (Editor)

The only man to serve as president and chief justice, who approached every decision in constitutional terms, defending the Founders’ vision against new populist threats to American democracy

William Howard Taft never wanted to be president and yearned instead to serve as chief justice of the United States. But despite his ambivalence about politics, the former federal judge found success in the executive branch as governor of the Philippines and secretary of war, and he won a resounding victory in the presidential election of 1908 as Theodore Roosevelt’s handpicked successor.

In this provocative assessment, Jeffrey Rosen reveals Taft’s crucial role in shaping how America balances populism against the rule of law. Taft approached each decision as president by asking whether it comported with the Constitution, seeking to put Roosevelt’s activist executive orders on firm legal grounds. But unlike Roosevelt, who thought the president could do anything the Constitution didn’t forbid, Taft insisted he could do only what the Constitution explicitly allowed. This led to a dramatic breach with Roosevelt in the historic election of 1912, which Taft viewed as a crusade to defend the Constitution against the demagogic populism of Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

Nine years later, Taft achieved his lifelong dream when President Warren Harding appointed him chief justice, and during his years on the Court he promoted consensus among the justices and transformed the judiciary into a modern, fully equal branch. Though he had chafed in the White House as a judicial president, he thrived as a presidential chief justice.

Genres: Presidents, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, Us Presidents

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the interview on CSPAN of Jeffrey Rosen discussing his new book “William Howard Taft: The 27th President 1909-1913”. It is the newest title in The American President Series. Rosen discussed the challenge he faced in staying within the Series’ guidelines of a concise short book.

I have read a number of the biographies of Taft as well as his wife, Helen (Nellie). Taft is one of the forgotten presidents. In all the books about Taft, it was clear Taft did not want to be president but his wife did. Taft wanted to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. President Harding appointed Taft to the Supreme Court as its Chief. Rosen approached this biography from a different viewpoint than other biographers of Taft. He emphasized the fact that Taft looked and did everything from the viewpoint of constitutional law during his presidency. This viewpoint made for a most interesting discussion of Taft. Rosen is a legal scholar and law professor. If you want to learn about Taft but have little time, this is an excellent book to read.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is five and a half hours. David Colacci does an excellent job narrating the book. Colacci is an actor and audiobook narrator. Colacci has won numerous Earphone Awards as well as a nomination for the Audie. Colacci is one of my favorite narrators.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most important thing to remember about William Howard Taft is that he dearly loved the Constitution of the United States of America, but he loved his wife Nellie more. His dream job was always to be Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but Nellie had her heart set on being FLOTUS, so William Howard became POTUS instead.

His story, however, has a happy ending. After a difficult, somewhat unpopular first term as president, and an unfortunate election in 1912 in which he was not only defeated by Woodrow Wilson, but had the humiliating experience of having to run against third party candidate Teddy Roosevelt, his onetime mentor and (now former) friend, Taft ended his days having been appointed by Calvin Coolidge Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

You will learn many other things about WHT in this volume, including 1) what a superb executive he could be (as Governor of the Philippines and Secretary of War), 2) how when his sense of propriety and occasionally fearful temper combined, they could lead to unfortunate decisions (as they did in his handling of Roosevelt’s favorite conservationist Gifford Pinchot), and 3) how scrupulously he defended the separation of powers and attempted to guard against the extreme politicization of both the executive and the judiciary.

This last quality of Taft’s comes in for particular praise from the author of this book, Jeffrey Rosen, who conluded the book with these words, written in 2018:

These are anxious times, in America and around the world, in which constitutional limitations on executive power, and the independent judges necessary to enforce them, are under attack from popular politicians, amplified by social media technologies that channel and intensify divisive passions … The populist forces that Taft assailed as our most judicial president and presidential supreme justice once again threaten to undermine the Constitution in precisely the ways that Taft predicted. The fact that all three branches today are institutionally equipped, if they choose, to resist these populist threats and to defend the rule of law is an inspiring tribute to Taft’s constitutional legacy.

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Howard Taft In The American Presidents Series

Founded by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr, the American Presidents Series aims, in Schlesinger's words "to present the grand panorama of our chief executives in volumes compact enough for the busy reader, lucid enough for the student, authoritative enough for the scholar." The volumes explore the qualities of leadership or its lack of each president.

Jeffrey Rosen's recent series volume on William Howard Taft (1857 -- 1930) fulfills the goals of the series and more. An author, professor of law at George Washington University, and the president of the National Constitution Center, Rosen offers a sympathetic, balanced portrait of Taft, his accomplishments, and his thought. Taft served a single term from 1909 -- 1913 as the 27th president. He had a long distinguished career of public service before his presidency and a lengthy career thereafter as the tenth chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, the only individual to hold both these positions. Taft's heart always was with the judiciary, and he was a reluctant president. Rosen offers an insightful short portrait of Taft's entire career and concludes that Taft's "determination to use his leadership of the executive and judicial branches to promote thoughtful public deliberation and to protect the rule of law" constitutes Taft's greatest legacy.

Rosen sees Taft as a "Judicial President and Presidential Chief Justice". He finds Taft's work defined by his honesty and his judicial temperament, which requires reflection, a willingness to consider all sides of an issue, and careful analysis. Most importantly, he finds Taft's work defined by his devotion to the Constitution and its understanding as opposed to the hurly-burly world of politics and public approval. Rosen also sees Taft, in the title of a longer study portrays him, as a "progressive conservative" who worked diligently to improve government and the public welfare within the boundaries of the constitution.

Rosen's framework for approaching Taft integrates Taft's many accomplishments and offers the key to understanding his service as president and chief justice. As president, Taft shared most of the goals of his predecessor and friend, Theodore Roosevelt, while wanting to put Roosevelt's program on a firm constitutional foundation. Taft had a strong sense of the limitations of the presidency and of the virtues of the constitutional separation of powers. Taft had major accomplishments in balancing the budget and streamlining the government. He enforced the anti-trust laws and protected the environment more successfully than did the flamboyant Roosevelt. He worked towards lowering the tariff, kept the United States out of war with Mexico, supported free trade, and had visionary ideas for a world court. Still, Taft opposed the expansion of presidential powers into what today is often referred to as the "imperial presidency". He also distrusted populism and direct democracy. Taft was a deliberator more than a politician. His presidency also was ill-served by his sensitivity to criticism and his demands for loyalty. Taft's approach to the presidency resulted in a split in the Republican party between the conservative and the liberal faction which continues to the present. In the presidential election of 1912, Taft was caught between the populisms of his former friend, Roosevelt, and the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. He was defeated in his bid for re-election.

Rosen shows Taft's many accomplishments between his presidency and his service as Chief Justice but focuses on the latter. The chief justiceship was more congenial to Taft than the presidency. Rosen shows how Taft put his strong skills as an administrator, his devotion to the constitution, and his progressive conservatism to use during his nine-year tenure on the Supreme Court. Among many other things, Taft was responsible for the Supreme Court building which still remains the Court's home. The building beautifully captures the judiciary's status as a separate, equal part of the United States' constitutional system of government. Taft streamlined the Court's workload by increasing its discretionary power to review cases. Taft also worked to encourage unity among the Justices of the Court and to promote compromise and unanimous opinions. He wrote many opinions himself which for the most part of a conservative tenor, particularly where labor was involved. Rosen offers a brief accessible discussion of some of Taft's major opinions for the Court.

Taft wrote several books following his presidency including "The President and his Powers" (1916) and "Liberty Under Law" (1922). Rosen uses these books well, if briefly, in his portrayal of Taft's thought. It made me think about whether these books should be more read.

This study offers an excellent portrayal of Taft's life and of his service to the United States. The book encourages reflection on the continued relevance of Taft's constitutionalism and understanding of the nature of American government.

Robin Friedman

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffrey Rosen argues that William Howard Taft was the most constitutionalist president in American history. The book is intentionally compact, and Rosen uses it to dispute Taft's reputation as a plodding one-termer sandwiched between two more charismatic progressives. Taft's predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, held a stewardship view of the presidency: the executive could do anything the Constitution and statutes did not expressly forbid. Taft held the opposite: the president could only do what the Constitution or statute explicitly authorized. Rosen treats this disagreement as the real rift in the 1912 campaign and traces it back through Taft's career as a federal judge, solicitor general, and civil governor of the Philippines.

The strongest chapters cover Taft's post-presidential decade on the Supreme Court, the phase Rosen most admires. As Chief Justice, Taft pushed through the Judiciary Act of 1925, which gave the Court discretionary control over its docket and invented its modern form. Rosen argues that Taft's greatest constitutional work came on the bench, and that Taft himself always knew it. The book also has its limits. Rosen is a legal scholar writing about a constitutionalist, and his narrative sometimes reads as a lawyer defending a client. Taft's paternalistic views on race, his labor record, and his marriage and personal life are all compressed into a few paragraphs.

The book was published in 2012, so Rosen’s argument for stable temperament, constitutional restraint, and suspicion of demagogic executive power feels relevant now, even more than when he wrote it. He delivers on his defense of Taft as a president whose reputation should rest on the coherence of his constitutional thinking.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Howard Taft is best remembered in trivia: the largest president (weighing 300 pounds at his heaviest), the only American to serve both as president and chief justice of the Supreme Court, the first president to throw the first pitch in an opening season baseball game—and initiator of the time-honored tradition of the seventh-inning stretch (only Americans will get that one), creator of the now iconic Oval Office in the West Wing of the White House, accepting the gift of cherry trees from Japan that now define Washington in the spring, and arguably the man most responsible for construction of the U.S. Supreme Court building, the completion of which he did not live to see. Legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen’s short biography of Taft may be the best of the The American Presidents series I have yet read. His recounting of Taft’s life, who revered constitutional order as a check against populism, serves as a stark contrast to the contemporary abomination in the White House. Taft’s weaknesses and inconsistencies are not glossed over by Rosen, but the complete picture reveals a man and a mind that were anything but trivial.

In the United States, the name Taft stands for Republican aristocracy. William’s father, Alphonso, was a delegate to the very first Republican convention, distinguished himself as an Ohio Superior Court judge and served as Secretary of War and U.S. Attorney General. A Black colleague who recommended him as a candidate for governor wrote, “Judge Taft, the only white man in the Cabinet of any President during the last eighteen years who had the manhood, temerity and humanity to exact…the powers of the Constitution of the United States to protect the black man in the exercise of his constitutional rights.” In 1870, he wrote a dissent in a case that overturned a ban on mandatory reading of the Bible in public schools, “…Taft held that sectarian reading from the Protestant Bible was offensive to Catholics and Jews and represented and unconstitutional preference of one religion over another.” William’s son, Robert, served in the U.S. Senate and became known as Mr. Republican for his opposition to the New Deal and other progressive measures championed by FDR and Truman. William’s grandson served in the U.S. House and Senate, and his great-grandson was governor of Ohio.

Taft’s lifelong temperament and philosophy was largely formed by 1884 a crowd, enraged “by a jury’s refusal to hang a notorious murderer…burned the Cincinnati Courthouse” and gave birth to “a lifelong horror of mob violence and a determination to insulate the courts—and the presidency—from popular passions.” Taft was a gifted lawyer, replacing his father on the Ohio Superior Court at the age of 29 and was considered for the U.S. Supreme Court, his life’s ambition, at the age of 31. Instead, he became Solicitor General, who argued cases on behalf of the federal government in the Supreme Court, before returning to a judgeship three years later. In an era defined by reigning in trusts and the growth of unions and strikes,

Taft distinguished between legal and illegal trusts in the same way he distinguished between legal and illegal union boycotts; by focusing on the question of malicious intent to interfere in what should be a free and fair market where labor and capital can compete on equal terms.

He strengthened his ties to the national Republican establishment, including a strong friendship to TR, who recommended Taft to President William McKinley, to become Civil Governor of the Philippines, one of the spoils of the Spanish-American War. McKinley dangled the promise of a seat on the Supreme Court should one become open to convince Taft to leave his beloved judgeship.

Although Taft took the “paternalistic view that only those who took the time to acquire self-discipline…were capable of self-government” and “referred to Filipino people as ‘our little brown brothers’” he was a popular and competent leader and declined a seat on the Supreme Court offered by President Roosevelt, who took office after McKinley’s assassination, when it opened because “he felt a duty to the Filipino people at a time of economic crisis, and this compelled him to resist temptation.” But he could not deny Roosevelt’s request to become Secretary of War, which he took in part because it included jurisdiction over the Philippines. Roosevelt lamented that he could not appoint Taft as Civil Governor, Secretary of War, and as a Supreme Court justice. Taft distinguished himself with his judicial temperament as “a natural consensus seeker.” When Roosevelt chose not to run for reelection, he used his influence to make Taft the Republican nominee declaring, “I sincerely believe that Taft will make our greatest president, excepting, of course, our two greatest, Washington and Lincoln.”

In defeating the charismatic Democratic populist William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1908, Taft coopted some important Democratic platform issues. He supported the rights of unions to strike with the caveat that they had to “persuade their co-workers to join them, ‘provided it does not reach the point of duress.’” He also supported constitutional amendments to directly elect senators—prior to this time senators were appointed by their state legislatures—and a federal income tax. On another issue that still reverberates through the American political process today, Taft strongly supported public disclosure of corporate contributions to political campaigns. Taft’s campaign also, to Bryan’s disgust, “imitated the Democrats in using the talking machine as a means of reaching the public.” The production of records with Taft and Bryan speeches to be played at events around the country was the first modern “media” campaign.

Upon taking office, Taft continued view and practice politics “as a principled judge rather than a calculating politician…immediately stepp[ing] into political minefields.” First he cleared out many of TR’s cabinet choices and replaced them with corporate lawyers who were, in his view, dispassionate technocrats who would consolidate TR’s policies on solid constitutional ground, reasoning it was more effective “to change the law, and not rely upon the Executive himself to ignore the statutes and follow a law unto himself.” Taft also respected the separation of powers—perhaps too doctrinaire, seen in retrospect—“insisting that the Constitution prohibited him from interfering in Congress’s deliberations.” He felt it was his job to submit proposals “to Congress [and be] content to wait for Congress’s verdict.” Adherence to these principles converged in his first big political test, which turned out to be a failure and defined his presidency. In many ways, his administration was a precursor of the failed presidency of Herbert Hoover; one that stuck to theory that was divorced from the pragmatism that is often needed to respond to real events.

Taft’s lack of political skill was magnified by his judicial temperament, especially since it was members of his own party that exacerbated his failures as was made clear in the first legislative and political test he faced as chief executive. Throughout American history, right up to Taft’s presidency, virtually the entire federal government was funded by high tariffs, a policy that inhibited free trade, caused tensions with trading nations, and raised consumer prices. Growing support for an income tax was, in large part, driven by a desire to fundamentally change how federal revenue was collected, put more money in people’s pockets and make the wealthier pay through a fairer system of progressive taxation. Having run on lowering tariffs, the issue became the first big test of his administration. The chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, Republican Sereno Payne introduced and passed a bill that Taft described “as near [to] complying with our promises as we can hope.” But protectionists in the Senate, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, weren’t having it, amending Payne’s bill more than 800 times, wish basically shaped the final product. The Payne-Aldrich bill that became law technically fulfilled the requirement of lowering tariffs—by two percent—as Taft observed in his judicial reasoning, but the details betrayed the spirit of his campaign pledge: “there were 654 decreases, 220 increases, and 1,150 unchanged items and the average duty on imports were 21.09 percent, whereas under [existing] law it had been 24.03%.” Hardly sweeping reform. Rather than stand up for reform, Taft prioritized Republican Party unity and wanted to avoid possible reversing of law by the judiciary. The Payne-Aldrich debacle became a major issue in the 1912 election, giving TR and Woodrow Wilson all the ammunition they needed to define a meek president rather than one who exuded leadership.

Taft continued making gaffes in which “he did not consider the political implications of his candor.” His belief that the best way toward reform was “to change a law and not rely upon the Executive himself to ignore the statues and follow a law unto himself.” In doing so, he made a passionate enemy out of his mentor and friend TR. Although he protected more federal lands, created ten new national parks, and codified TR’s reforms against trusts, he “exacerbated the conflict [with TR] through his legalistic insistence on viewing [issues] in constitutional rather than political terms.” Some of his wounds were self-inflicted and belied his claims of having a fair, judicial temperament; he was a Republican first, a less-than-enthusiastic president second.

The confirmation of Taft’s disinterest in the presidency was found in the results of the 1912 presidential election, where he finished a distant third to Woodrow Wilson and TR—he received only eight electoral votes from Vermont and Utah. He was “gracious and relieved” to leave the White House. But before he left, he made sure that the Supreme Court was still within reach by checking on the health of the presiding chief justice (after all, a former president could accept no other role). He became a Yale law professor and served admirably in WWI-related board roles. Taft’s lifelong ambition came when Warren G. Harding was elected in a reactionary response to Wilson’s failed dream of a post WWI League of Nations. “Happily for Taft, the aging chief justice [Edward White] soon fulfilled his hopes by dying without warning on May 19, 1921.”

As Chief Justice, consensus—having the Court speak with one voice—was his paramount goal. He believed it would “make the law clearer” to citizens and “preserve its institutional legitimacy.” His decisions tended to protect property and contract rights and, reflecting his ingrained fear of the mob, applied constitutional principles, at least as he saw them, to restrain judicial activism. In one decision that does not stand the test of time, he allowed the wiretapping of suspected bootleggers because he believed the Framers of the Constitution applied the “unreasonable searches and seizures” provisions to physical intrusion of private property. He often clashed with Louis Brandeis, a champion of individual rights, giving government agencies great latitude to enforce laws and exercise executive branch regulations. He relied on the precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson to enforce selective segregation in schools and public places, practices that were outlawed—in theory if not in fact—by the Brown v. Board of Education decision three decades later.

Taft’s presidency has languished in obscurity for more than 100 years, but his biography stands in refreshing sharp contrast to the current abomination in the White House. Whether one agreed with him or not, whether his views seem anachronistic or not, Taft was a serious man who took his obligations to the nation and the Constitution as sacred trusts. His fear of the mob has never been more in evidence than it is today. He would have frowned on issues like Brexit and today’s American political process, which values immediate gratification over deep reflection. Rosen quotes one of his writings from 1916 when he was a law professor and his nation was approaching entry into war that seems a fitting epitaph:

The shorter the time the people have to think, the better for the demagogue. One of the great difficulties in carrying on popular government is in getting into the heads of the intelligent voters what the real facts are and what reasonable deductions should be made from them. Any reasonable suspension of popular action until calm public consideration of reliable evidence can be secured in the interest of a wise decision.

Intelligent, facts, reasonable, evidence, wise decisions…so unlike contemporary politics and helps explain why Taft’s legacy matters now than ever.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The head of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Rosen, wrote a 2018’s biographical installment on William Howard Taft in The American Presidents series. Similar to other books in The American Presidents series, Rosen’s biography of Taft is short, compelling, and well-researched. I read the book on the Kindle. The book includes a Timeline and a Selected Bibliography. Rosen’s book has a chapter that is a chapter of introduction that introduces themes and the focus of Rosen’s biography. Rosen is an admirer of Taft. Rosen is a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Rosen is interested in Taft’s tenure as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the 1920s. Rosen views Taft’s tenure at the Supreme Court as helping to create “the federal judiciary as a modern, strong, and fully equal branch of government” (3). Rosen writes that he approaches the presidency of Taft “as he understood it: in constitutional rather than political terms” (4). Rosen's view of Taft is that his presidency would be successful if he had not been president between Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, who helped create the philosophy of “the imperial presidency” (132). Rosen believes that “Taft’s conception of a vigorous but constrained presidency” (136) by Congress “looks increasingly appealing” (136). Rosen’s biography of Taft should not be the only biography of Taft that a reader should read if they are genuinely interested in Taft, but it is an excellent introduction to the biography of Taft. On a side note, Steve of the blog, My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies has excellent reviews of several of The American Presidents series biographies.

[Elyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The American Presidents Series has been a good fallback for me when I don't care to read an 800 page biography about a particular president. Sometimes an 800 page bio is OK but I didn't think it was warranted for William Howard Taft.

This book was very good - and entertaining. The author, Jeffrey Rosen, mixed personal stories in with his scholarly political analysis. One personal item was that Taft struggled with his weight his entire life and Rosen was right up front about it. He described how President Taft once caused an overflow from his hotel bathtub and it leaked down into the dining room below. Taft was a good sport about the public sniggling but I'm sure it hurt his feelings. He managed to lose weight later in life - from 340 lbs to 271 lbs. His top weight was during his presidency (a job he really disliked) and his low weight was when he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (his dream job).

Taft's career included disparate political jobs. He was appointed governor of the Philippines after the US took control of that territory. The Filipinos liked him so much they didn't want him to leave when he was called home. He became Secretary of War, then was handpicked by his best friend, Theodore Roosevelt, to be the next presidential candidate after him. He finally rounded out his career as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He had a long happy marriage and some children too (I forget how many). What an amazingly full life Taft had!

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

Netgalley #39

Many thanks go to Jeffrey Rosen, Times Books, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book is the next installment of the American President Series. There is an introduction to what a president is and what makes a great president.
Then the story of the particular presidency follows.
This books begins with a general overview of Taft before leading to his relationship with his father and college career. From there it's a continuous rise culminating in the White House. However he would say he never met his goal until he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, where he would serve until his retirement from public service.
Taft is known as a Constitutional president. He basically reversed many of Roosevelt's rulings because they were not passed through Congress.
I found him a very interesting man. We all know him for his weight problem. This book proves there was so much more to him than that.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is one of the better in the series. Rosen doesn't shove his personal political view on the reader. Instead he let's Taft speak for himself.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-thought-out and well-written brief biography of a frequently overlooked president. Rosen has done well in choosing what details and anecdotes should be included to paint an accurate but brief portrait of Taft. After reading this book, I feel like I knew who Taft was not just as a historical figure, but as a human being--and I was surprised at how much I liked him. There is also enough historical context given to help the reader understand the issues with which Taft had to deal, but not so much as to overwhelm the reader or to become superfluous.
All in all, this is a solid biography of a president who I probably would have voted for.

[Frank Theising · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly insightful. I was initially disappointed that this was the only Taft bio I was able to pick up in my new home. I really wanted something with more depth and analysis. However, I found myself pleasantly surprised with this one. Sandwiched between the giants of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, Taft is largely overlooked and often caricatured. Coming into this book I admit I knew very little about him (besides his obesity) other than what I gleaned from bios of TR or Wilson in which he is portrayed as incompetent, lethargic, or lacking vision. The author did a good job dispelling those mischaracterizations and providing the reader profound insight into the man, his worldview, and what he sought to accomplish as President.

I came away with a much greater appreciation and respect of the man himself. He clearly lacked the necessary skills, thick skin, and political cunning necessary to be a successful president and leader of a political party in the modern era. But those same flaws made him highly effective as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (which was his life’s ambition). Throughout, I found the author’s portrayal of Taft’s point of view rather compelling. Our founding fathers had some really contentious debates on the form and function of our government. In the Progressive Era, populists like TR sought to upend many of the checks and balances then in place in order to cater to the popular passions of the moment. Taft believed that those passions were fleeting and there was great wisdom in having elected representatives conduct reasoned debate before making momentous decisions. In the age of Brexit votes and incessant popular outrages, his views seem both enlightened and reasonable.

Taft’s fight was for the preservation of the constitution, the rule of law, and checks and balances on all three branches of government. A great many people despise conservative views on limited government. They cheer on the activism or populism of TR and the great waves he made in the operation of the Federal government. Ironically, it took the election of another unconventional Republican president in 2016 for Democrats and progressives to wake up to the threat of demagogic leadership. For that reason, I found this account of Taft surprisingly relevant to the affairs of today. I’d recommend this as a good intro to Taft.

What follows are my notes on the book:

Intro: Taft was a strict follower of the constitution and it influenced every decision he made. He was a constitutional scholar with a lifelong dream of serving as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He only performed acts that the constitution explicitly permitted. The 1912 election was a viewed by Taft as a defense of the Constitution (I.e. the limited scope of the office as envisioned by the founders) against imperial and populist presidencies (of TR and Wilson) that would inevitably flatter the people into direct democracy away from representative republic.

For Americans of my generation the conventional image of William Howard Taft is unflattering. We picture him as a stubborn defender of the status quo. Weighing over 300 pounds, cartoonist easily caricatured him as the bloated capitalist. He was a man of the highest principals and unquestionable integrity. But he had a judicial temperament that was unsuited to the politics of the 20th century presidency. He is attacked for failing to lead as president, in the very way that his interpretation of the constitution forbade. He was an extremely gifted administrator who oversaw a limited government that was economically prosperous. Yet he was not successful exactly because his judicial beliefs prohibited the sort popular leadership needed to push forward his vision. He also had an extremely thin skin that led him to fire those he considered disloyal (with bad consequences). He agreed with Madison that the president was not to be a reflection of the temporary, popular will or passion but should promote thoughtful deliberation before making significant decisions. His father Alfonso Taft and he both served on the Ohio Superior Court. He developed his desire to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from his father, who passed on his constitutional vision to his children. Taft’s son Robert Taft would become “Mr. Republican”, one of the most significant senators of his era. He would found the small government wing of the Republican Party in contrast to Dwight Eisenhower’s big government wing.

Chapter 1: His father Alfonso, a graduate of Yale, attended and voted in the first Republican platform against extension of slavery into new territory. He read many books and had discussions with Taft as a child. He became a judge in Ohio Superior Court where he defended freedom of African-Americans in the constitution. Influenced by his Unitarian faith, he ruled for separation of church and state in Ohio (against the reading of Scripture in school that favored Protestant sects and offended Catholics). Alfonzo lost the race for OH governor to Rutherford B. Hayes twice. He believes his stance on the separation of church and state cost him the election. Both father and son believed any loss was a result of taking principled stands based on the constitution.

Taft was highly devoted to his father. The conditional approval offered by his father (based on his performance) created a lifelong anxiety that would manifest itself again with his equally demanding wife and his mentor Theodore Roosevelt. He finished 2nd in his class at Yale, was an accomplished debater, and won the wrestling heavyweight title while at Yale. After law school he got an appointment as an assistant prosecutor in Ohio thanks to his father’s influence and republican connections. As his reputation for honesty and integrity grew, Chester A. Arthur appointed him tax collector for Cincinnati. It exposed him to his first taste of the partisan politics and he was appalled. He resigned after refusing to fire coworkers that supported political opponents.

Hellen “Nellie” Herron, by age 17 was outspoken about her determination that she would only marry a man who would become president. Her meeting Taft obviously had a profound impact on the course of his adult life. They were married in 1886. Nellie was disappointed when Taft was appointed to the Ohio Superior Court. In 1889 a vacancy opened on the US Supreme Court. Taft asked governor Foraker to recommend him (he was still very young and knew it was a longshot). President Harrison instead nominated him for Solicitor General. Nellie was elated about escaping Cincinnati. I’m 1890 to 1892, Taft won 16 of his 18 cases before Supreme Court. In 1892 he resigned as Solicitor General and returned to Ohio as an appellate judge. Nelly relished her husband’s rising stock in Republican circles after some significant legal decisions against strikers and unions. Taft did not enjoy the additional attention.

President William McKinley called Taft while he was sitting on the federal bench, and offered him position on a commission to look into affairs on the recently annexed Philippine islands. McKinley trusted Taft precisely because he disapproved of keeping the Philippines. Taft was reluctant to give up his position on the bench but McKinley promised him a future seat on the Supreme Court if he remained in office long enough to fill another vacancy. General Arthur MacArthur gave them a frosty reception, viewing him as an intrusion into his role as governor of the islands and leader of the army detachment dispatched to quell the insurrection. After the insurrection was put down, President McKinley transferred authority for military to civilian hands and names Taft the Governor General.

As the Governor General Taft was excited about the prospect of creating the country’s constitution. He added Filipino representatives the commission and extend rights to Filipino citizens, including habeas corpus. Taft was a surprisingly popular Governor General. Operating with his normal judicial restraint he did not take advantage of his position and treated Filipinos as equals, inviting them to his weekly social at the palace. Still, he was paternalistic and did not grant them every right, believing they were not yet prepared to govern themselves. Teddy Roosevelt was feeling emasculated in his role as vice President. He wrote a glowing review of Taft in a magazine article. Taft reciprocated, telling TR that he was sure to be a presidential nominee in 1904. After McKinley’s assassination, TR offered a Supreme Court appointment to Taft, twice. Both times, Taft reluctantly turned it down, feeling an obligation to the Filipino people. People in Manila expressed their popular support chanting “we want Taft” and demonstrating in the streets.

TR offered Taft an opportunity to replace Elihu Root as secretary of war, with the proviso that he could continue to administer the Philippines. As secretary of war, Taft stumped for Roosevelt in 1904 election and was glad when he won. As secretary of war, he was to oversee the Philippines, pacification of Cuba, and the construction of the Panama Canal. Sent to Havana to quell an insurrection, he was briefly appointed provisional Governor.

Nellie and the family encouraged Taft to reject a third offer to sit on the Supreme Court because she wanted him to be president. Teddy Roosevelt had promised not to run again for second full term. Taft quietly stumps for the position for the nomination and beat his rival Charles Evans Hughes thanks to Teddy Roosevelt’s unwavering support. In 1908 Roosevelt and Taft were the closest of allies. Taft promised to put Roosevelt’s actions and agenda on a firmer legal footing. Roosevelt was effusive with praise for Taft after his nomination.

Taft faced William Jennings Bryan “The Great Commoner”. Bryan, a proponent of free silver, intended to make this election a referendum on republican financial stewardship after the Panic of 1907. On TR’s coattails, Taft defeated Bryan. His initial focus was on tariff reduction and fiscal discipline. He was more of a deficit hawk than TR was. He immediately set out to do what he promised on the campaign trail, to put Roosevelt’s executive actions on a firmer legal footing. Because he approached many decisions as a principled judge rather than a calculating politician, he immediately stepped into a political minefield. In not retaining TR’s cabinet he alienated would-be allies. To aid in his mission, he stocked his cabinet full of corporate lawyers. Whenever he made decisions, he reviewed all the “evidence” from both sides and delivered his verdict like a judge without consulting others. He based his decisions on legal rather than political considerations and delivered his speeches or papers to Congress without considering their political fallout.

Upon entering office, he called an extra session of Congress, which anticipated some extraordinary development. But Taft called the session only to provide a short recommendation to examine tariff reform. Taft just walked into a huge political minefield that even Roosevelt feared to enter. Farmers and Westerners opposed tariffs that effected the price of raw materials they produced while manufacturers approved them. TR and the progressives were weary that higher tariffs would only help entrench monopoly. As the tariff reduction bill became bogged down in the Senate, Taft refused to intervene, claiming it was wrong for the executive branch to interfere legislative affairs. Around that time, Nellie became extremely ill after a terrible stroke. Taft nursed her for over a year as she struggled to recover her ability to speak. He threatened to veto the tariff bill unless it reduced rates. The bill reduced rates marginally, but it raised rates on over 200 items as well. Taft signed it, but by refusing to offer presidential leadership Taft ended up dividing the Republican Party that he had worked so hard to keep united. To Make up for the lost revenue, he proposed a constitutional amendment authorizing an income tax (he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling that Congress did not have the right to tax income).

He was the first president to visit Mexico. This was his first exposure to dollar diplomacy. He tolerated Mexico’s dictator because he feared revolution would put $2B in US capital at risk. The Mexican government fell to the populist revolutionary Madera 18 months later.

He was determined to put Roosevelt’s policies of protecting the environment, prosecuting the trusts, and keeping the peace on firm legal footing. He had appointed Richard Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior. TR’s Forest Service chief Gifford Pinchot believed Ballinger was trying to undo TR’s conservation efforts and accused him of wrong doing. Louis Glavis of the Government Land Office made similar accusations and accused Taft of siding with the trusts. Taft investigated and exonerated Ballinger and fired Glavis for insubordination. When accused of covering up scandal, he also fired Pinchot. The move was guaranteed to alienate Roosevelt’s men and possibly split the party. Louis Brandeis made a name for himself, discovering Taft had backdated a memo used to justify his decision to fire Pinchot, which made the move look political and scandalous when it really wasn’t.

Roosevelt returned from his African safari. The Ballenger – Pinchot Affair had initiated the breach between the old friends. TR was convinced that Taft had failed to advance his policies on the environment and trusts. TR declined an invitation to the White House and began a Western speaking tour. He delivered his “New Nationalism” speech in Osawatomie, Kansas. Taft was most distressed when TR attacked the independent judiciary for overturning of laws passed by Congress.

The Supreme Court ruled several trusts unconstitutional, but did so based on the rule of “reasonableness”. Taft thought this introduced an arbitrary power that introduced inconsistency and would prove impossible to enforce. Nevertheless, he praised the decision publicly, not wanting to undermine the legitimacy of the court. In 1911 Taft made the most judicially sound but politically foolish decision of his presidency. He filed suit against US Steel, the first billion dollar company. Roosevelt had previously blessed the merger and the newspapers carried the headline “Roosevelt Fooled”. Defensive, Roosevelt never forgave Taft for filing the suit.

In March 1911, Taft mobilized 20K soldiers along the Mexican border. He was careful to give explicit instructions not to cross the border (his constitutional, judicial approach meant he did not believe he had authority to send the troops across the border and declare war). He had put country above party in not going to war. After for Americans were killed, he resisted uproar with in the GOP for war. Teddy Roosevelt attacked Taft in the press for lack of leadership. Tact pioneered dollar diplomacy. Pushed hard for free trade agreement with Canada. Taft called Congress back into session which passed the Canadian Tariff Reciprocity Act passed. But it was rejected by the Canadians after a letter from Taft to Roosevelt was leaked to the press that jested that Western Canada would become an adjunct to the United States. Once again Taft shot himself in the foot on a signature accomplishment.

Taft envisioned a series of interlocking treaties that would result in an “international Court of Judicature”. His efforts to establish unlimited arbitration treaties with France and England were eviscerated by the Senate. When he suggested the Spanish-American War might have been settled by arbitration, Roosevelt denounced Taft’s arbitration treaties in Outlook magazine. Roosevelt decided to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination. Taft viewed this election has a fight to save the constitution after TR’s fiery attacks on judicial independence as efforts to stir up popular passion of the people. Roosevelt was sounding more and more like a demagogue. Taft believed TR would win the nomination, but for the first time he put up a serious fight, passionate about defending judicial independence.

Roosevelt won more delegates in the primaries but the majority of the delegates were to be awarded by the state delegations at the convention. In control of the delegations, Taft won on the first ballot. Taft disliked the direct primary, believing it led to the election of demagogues rather than moderates. After the convention Roosevelt and his supporters started the progressive party, popularly known as the Bull Moose Party. Taft saw Roosevelt and Wilson as threats to the Constitution. His fight to defend the Constitution however was drowned out as the debate became a contest between Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” and Wilson’s “New Freedom”. A debate that was essentially over whether centralizing or decentralizing government and corporate power was best suited to taming the trust. The Jeffersonian Wilson, influenced by Louis Brandeis despised all things big government or business and thought the best way to fight the trusts was by breaking up the banks. The Hamiltonian Roosevelt argued for strong central power to regulate the trust.

On Election Day, Taft received the fewest electoral votes of any sitting president (winning only Utah and Vermont for 8 electoral votes). Taft was gracious in defeat and somewhat relieved. He was offered a position teaching law at Yale. At Yale he wrote books on popular government and was a popular professor. Before leaving office, Taft had appointed a 65 year old chief justice named White rather than the favored Charles Evans Hughes. The only explanation for his choice was that Taft hoped White might expire in time for himself to have an opportunity to be appointed. Frustratingly, White refused to expire. When Warren Harding was elected, Taft visited him in the town of Marion, Ohio. Harding asked if he would accept a position on the bench since he had declined it twice before. Taft told him it was his life’s ambition, but he could only accept the position of Chief Justice. When Justice White died without warning in 1921, Harding appointed Taft.

The Senate confirmed him the same day that Harding nominated him buy a vote of 60 to 4. He threw himself into his work with impressive zeal, dispelling the accusations of laziness that had been attributed to him during his presidency. He had a clear vision for what he hoped to accomplish in the judiciary. Taft had three goals and he achieved them all. First, he persuaded Congress to establish a judicial conference of appellate judges, led by the chief magistrate. Second he persuaded Congress to change the law, allowing the Supreme Court to focus constitutional matters instead of appeals of ordinary trials. Third, he secured funding for a Supreme Court building. This great administrator also streamlined additional procedures across the federal government, fixing a distributed and disorganized system and making it one efficient whole.

Taft’s reforms freed the court to perform its primary constitutional duty. Caseloads for the court dropped from over 500 cases a year to 200. The backlog of federal cases disappeared. Taft had a remarkable ability to forge consensus on the court and discourage justices from writing a dissent. Over 200 times he himself refused to dissent even when he disagreed with majority opinion. In 1924 in 1926 he had heart attacks. His weight was under control (280 pounds). In 1928 he was in bad shape. Aware of his own failing health and fading memory, Taft sent a letter to Herbert Hoover in 1930 resigning. One month after his resignation, he passed away at age 72.

[Jim Cullison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This crisp and concise biography of our 27th president increases the reader's appreciation for an underrated and oddly inspiring figure from a critical period in our history. Quietly principled and bereft of his predecessor's ostentatious theatrics, Taft has never enjoyed the esteem that he so painstakingly and patiently earned in cleaning up after Theodore Roosevelt's anti-constitutional presidency. Author Rosen persuasively portrays Taft as a a steady and unswerving bulwark of constitutionalism who sacrificed himself to prevent Roosevelt's bid for a third term (and quite possibly dictatorship) and to protect the Constitution he so revered. An indispensable and most timely read.

[Houston · Rating 4 out of 5]

We could use a little more Taft these days because he stood for something (defending the Constitution) even at the expense of a 2nd term & not being a popular President. Respect! He's also our heaviest President & multiple times in the book poked fun at his weight, so add jolliness to his list of positive traits.

Subscribe to my newsletter as a I read a bio of every US President this year! https://mailchi.mp/e56c7ba5f08a/ilove...

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Howard Taft is the twenty-sixth book in The American Presidents series – a biographical series chronicling the Presidents of the United States. Jeffrey Rosen wrote this particular installment and edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and Sean Wilentz.

William Howard Taft was the twenty-seventh President of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected president in 1908, the chosen successor of Theodore Roosevelt, but was defeated for re-election by Woodrow Wilson in 1912 after Roosevelt split the Republican vote by running as a third-party candidate. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice, a position in which he served until a month before his death.

Rosen does not conceal his admiration, describing him as a likable figure that preferred the law to politics. Taft was never the most admired president, but he was an intelligent man dogged by strict principles and a lack of political acumen. An excellent solicitor general and federal judge, he became a popular figure after William McKinley appointed him governor of the Philippines in 1900 where he proved a superb administrator.

Already a friend, Theodore Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of War in 1903, and he became the president's right-hand man, troubleshooter, and chosen successor. Roosevelt was not aware that Taft, who loved the law above all, believed that a President must never exercise powers beyond those specifically granted by the Constitution. Within a year of taking office, when Taft made this clear and fired Roosevelt’s more activist officials, the former president took bitter offense.

Rosen emphasizes that Taft shared Roosevelt's progressive views on conservation and trust-busting and sometimes went far beyond. Sadly, Roosevelt's hostility and Congress' delight at a president they could safely ignore made his administration a painful experience. When Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the 1912 Republican nomination, he remained America's most popular figure, but party leaders, immune to his charm, engineered Taft's renomination. Roosevelt ran anyway, and Taft finished a poor third in a three-way race, but the story had a happy ending when President Warren Harding appointed him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921 where he did an outstanding job.

All in all, William Howard Taft is a good, albeit brief biography of the twenty-seventh president and it is a good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series of presidential biographies, which I plan to read in the very near future.

[David Dunlap · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a serviceable volume in the American Presidents series, about the only man (to date) to have been both a President and the Chief Justice of the United States, William Howard Taft. The Chief Justiceship was the only position in public service that Taft ever coveted. His was a judicial temperament, well suited to the bench, but his experiences prior to that position sharpened his administrative skills. His term as President is depicted as a largely successful one, despite its position between those of more colorful and dynamic Chief Executives (Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson). The Taft who emerges from these pages is a likeable fellow: affable, friendly, self-disciplined (he successfully lost huge amounts of weight before and after his Presidency), honest and forthright (to a fault), with a lively sense of humor (often self-deprecating). But the author does not gloss over his faults: a tendency to be too thin-skinned when criticized, a strong demand for loyalty (and hatred of insubordination), and a complete inability (or was it disinterest?) in dealing with the press. He was devoted to his wife Helen ('Nellie'); she was more ambitious than he, insisting when young that she would only marry a man who would some day become President, then pushing him along the path to the White House. (Ironically, she suffered a massive stroke early into Taft's term, from which she never entirely recovered.) -- The book is interesting and shows mastery of the source material as well as a gift for precision, reduction, and explanation. It is, however, also a bit repetitive (how many times do we need to be told how much Taft loved the Constitution?). Still, this would definitely be a go-to volume for anyone seeking to know a bit more about our 27th President and tenth Chief Justice without accessing something more lengthy.

[Jonathan Mckay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rule-Follower, Wrong Job

It may be that nobody wanted to be president less than Taft.

“I love judges, and I love courts. They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God.”

Everybody knows the type: the boy who would tattle in every class, who sticks to rules even when they don’t quite fit, honest to a fault and unwilling to bend even when a bit of finesse would make life easier. That’s Taft. The book makes clear that for two men who agreed almost entirely on policy, you could hardly find personalities more different than Taft and Roosevelt. It’s no surprise their partnership broke under the strain; one thrived on combat and theater, the other on procedure and order.

On substance, Taft accomplished more than his reputation suggests. He quietly built the legislative foundations that kept Roosevelt’s program alive. The narrative shows him less as an accidental placeholder and more as the man who codified what Roosevelt improvised. But the treatment is frustratingly short. Among the pre–World War I presidents, Taft may be the one who most deserves a fuller biography precisely because he is so different from the usual presidential script.

The biggest missed opportunity is judicial. Taft’s ideals, language, and later career all point toward the courts as the real center of his life, yet the book gives that dimension little more than a brief chapter. Taft would be a great lens on the judicial branch itself—how he thought about judges, institutional design, and constitutional limits.

[Ocean G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taft is a very interesting president for many many reasons. It's too bad we only know him for being overweight (at least that's all I knew him for).

He never really wanted to be president, but always wished to be chief justice of the supreme court. So when he was elected president he approached it from a judicial (read: constitutional) point of view. He didn't care at all about politics or popularity. In a way this served him very badly. Just as generals who become president and refuse to partake in party politics tend to perform badly as a result, the same could probably be said of judges. Interesting also to see how a president who wasn't automatically campaigning for a second term wasn't praised more for it.

I guess being in between Roosevelt and Wilson doesn't help, but he is definitely someone worth reading up about.

Of course, he finally did make it to chief justice, and was a much better chief justice than president.

[Naomi Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great read with the main thesis that Taft was more suited to the bench than the Oval Office. You can glean all the interesting bits from articles Rosen has written, and there was a great Q&A he did on this book on CSPAN - you can find a lot of him talking about the book on YouTube, and it's so great how his enthusiasm for Taft and the Constitution really shines. That being said, if you want a bio on all of Taft's life, this is not the book for you. Rosen doesn't really go back to the original sources and cites Goodwin's book on Taft and Roosevelt a lot. If you're looking for more on Taft as a justice, maybe Lurie's book The Chief Justiceship of William Howard Taft, 1921-1930 would be a better fit.

[Rachel N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent, though rather short, overview of Taft's presidency and his term as chief justice of the Supreme Court. There aren't a lot of books about Taft period, probably partly because he's sandwiched between Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson who are much better known. Also not a lot actually happened during Taft's presidency. Tariffs were lowered somewhat but that is about it. The book does go on quite a bit about how Taft had to do everything according to his interpretation of the Constitution. It got to be a bit repetitive. Taft seems to have been a much better judge than president. He's responsible for getting it so the Supreme Court can pick what cases they hear and for the Supreme Court building being constructed. His wife, who I didn't really like (very pushy), did do one thing that still lives on today-accept the cherry trees that DC is now known for as a gift from Japan.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This political biography is consistent from what I remember of Jeffrey Rosen's contributions to "The New Republic:" a combination of insight and gossip. His tendency to blame all of Taft's missteps as President on his slavish devotion to the Constitution is familiar, too.

[Mellissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/3⭐️/👂🏻//Short but decent biography of Taft. It hits all the big points of his life. A pretty thorough discussion of his presidency, and the fall out with TR. The book takes you all the way to his death. (94/110) #readlist2023

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid biography of Taft. He did not come across as the most exciting President but Rosen brought him to life.

[Briana Gadke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great insight into a misrepresented president. I enjoyed the humor and contextualization over common misconceptions.

[Ed Womack · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you want to become Chief Justice but your family pushes you into becoming president...

Anyone in the public eye who possesses some noticeable aberration will likely have to endure references to it seemingly for all eternity. On the subject of obesity, popular culture and the media have sometimes sunk to almost cruel depths. At least William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, apparently had a sense of humor about his greatly fluctuating weight. Yet one wonders how he would appreciate, nearly a century after his death, appearing in current presidential trivia, probably apocryphally, as "the only president to get stuck in the White House bathtub." More appropriately, in rare moments when popular culture attempts to educate rather then entertain with trite irrelevancies, he occasionally appears as "the only president to become a Supreme Court Chief Justice." Taft's presidential rankings have remained fairly unremarkable, neither spectacular nor outright rotten, but his post-presidency judicial accomplishments make him one of the most important people ever to hold a Supreme Court seat. More than anything, he wanted to serve on the bench. Circumstances and some persistent and insistent family members steered him toward the White House, a place he claims to have never truly cared to occupy. His obstinate dedication to the constitution, along with his more strict literal interpretation of its contents, naturally accompanied him to the nation's highest office, but it served him better in court. The twenty-sixth volume of "The American Presidents Series" aptly depicts Taft as a "Judicial President and Presidential Chief Justice." In other words, he brought the sensibilities of the judiciary to the presidency and the sensibilities of a president to the judiciary. Ultimately, the book finds him far more effective as a justice than as a president, though it also argues that some of his presidential accomplishments go unrecognized, likely due to the ominous shadow of his predecessor, friend, mentor, rival and eventual bitter enemy, Theodore Roosevelt.

By the time of Taft's presidency, the days of presidents born in log cabins had long vanished. His Unitarian father, Alphonso, had earned a Yale Law degree and had served as a delegate to the first Republican convention in 1856. The family lived in a Cincinnati, Ohio house with servants and shelves full of law books. Born in 1857, Taft felt immense pressure to succeed from his accomplished father. Despite a tendency to procrastinate, he graduated second in his class from Yale in 1878 and then graduated from Cincinnati Law School in 1880. Expectations persisted while working in his father's law office, but his well connected father earned the young Taft an appointment as county prosecutor. Privilege then led to further privilege when a member of Congress suggested that president Arthur appoint the 24 year old Taft to internal revenue collector. He accepted but detested partisan politics so much that he resigned in 1883. After a mob burned down a Cincinnati courthouse in 1884, Taft developed a deep fear of mob violence and "popular passions." As an assistant solicitor, he impressed a future Ohio governor who would later lend support. He also met Nellie Herron who auspiciously claimed that she wanted to marry a future president. Her own well connected family had visited the Hayes White House. Following a typical melodramatic Victorian courtship, including a refusal to Taft's proposal followed by a begrudging consent, the couple married in 1886. Nellie pushed Taft to pursue politics and disapproved of his judicial ambitions. Nonetheless, in 1887 he acquired his father's seat on the Ohio Supreme Court and then found himself elected for an additional five years. As the book points out, the seat remained "the only elected office he would hold until the presidency."

As a state justice, Taft ruled against labor strikers and even considered the military killing some members of a mob "necessary." To continue his streak, President Harrison nominated Taft solicitor general of the United States after he had showed interest in a Supreme Court seat in 1889. Nellie couldn't contain her excitement as the family relocated to the nation's capitol. Between 1890 and 1892, Taft won sixteen out of eighteen cases and initiated the "confessing error" tradition that continues to the present. His successes led to significant relationships with Harrison, the attorney general and Theodore Roosevelt. Much to Nellie's dismay, in 1892 he returned to Ohio as a 6th circuit judge and also became a law school dean. In 1898, he decided a price-fixing case against six companies that revived the Sherman Antitrust Act. It rested upon malicious intent and the distinction between legal and illegal trusts. It made national news. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld his decision in 1899. Then Taft received a shocking message in 1900: President McKinley wanted him to oversee the Philippines because Taft didn't approve of annexation. In return, McKinley promised a Supreme Court seat "if the opportunity comes." Giving into his family's presidential hopes, Taft resigned the court seat and they arrived in Manila the same year. After U.S. authorities declared the insurrection over, Taft became "governor general" and didn't consider the Filipinos capable of self-government, so he withheld the rights to bear arms and trial by jury. He sat between the anti-imperialists who thought the U.S. had deprived Filipinos of their natural, God given rights and the nationalists who considered the U.S. "divinely entitled to govern." His moderation paid off and, despite everything, he became popular with the Filipinos.

Anticipating future developments, Vice President Roosevelt wrote an article praising Taft's leadership in the Philippines and called him "presidential." After McKinley's tragic death, Roosevelt, now president, offered Taft Supreme Court seats in 1901 and 1903, but Taft felt dutybound to the Philippines and declined. Roosevelt then offered Taft Secretary of War, claiming he could run the Philippines from Washington. Taft's family convinced him to accept and they departed from the Philippines in late 1903. He visited Panama in 1904 to oversee the canal, stumped for Roosevelt in 1904 and became provisional governor of Cuba in 1906 to quell an uprising. Taft and Roosevelt became close allies and Roosevelt, keeping his promise not to run again, helped secure Taft's 1908 Republican nomination for president. Running as a moderate who avoided extremism, he defeated William Jennings Bryan 321 to 162 electoral votes despite Bryan's considerably superior oratory skills. The election utilized sound recordings for the first time and the "openly segregationist" Democrats fared poorly on these recordings compared to Taft's support of enforcing the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Taft's public perception as the successor to Roosevelt's policies likely provided the largest boost to his victory. True to his political ideals, he promised to "preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States." Nobody could foresee the very unexpected consequences that would arise from his stubborn insistence to hold on to that promise.

Taft's "disinterested" constitutional stance toward the presidency kept him from interfering in, taking part in or even attempting to influence the workings of congress. He offered only "suggestions" and let congress debate and decide the rest. By not always considering the political consequences of his decisions, he left a growing trail of alienation and anger in his wake. Even Roosevelt had avoided the excessively polarizing tariff, but Taft waltzed right into the muck and managed to turn Roosevelt's $57 million deficit into a $3 million surplus by 1912, but at an enormous cost. After signing the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Bill, Republicans split over its alleged concessions to corporations. Its tariff reductions, not as large as some had hoped, also left a revenue gap, which some proposed to fill with an income tax. This laid the foundation for the future transformation of funding the U.S. government by free trade and income tax rather than by tariffs. Taft further outraged Republican progressives with some ill chosen words about the bill in speeches. He also visited Porfirio Diaz in Mexico, the first president to visit that country, had the White House's Oval Office built and nursed Nellie back to health after she suffered a stroke. He had also surpassed his predecessor and "mentor" on acres of land marked for conservation and arguably on anti-trust cases, including regulating railroad rates with the 1910 Mann-Elkins bill and bringing suits against Standard Oil, the Tobacco trust and, most famously, the seemingly impregnable U.S. Steel. Regardless, a defiant insistence to rule of law, no matter the fallout, would lead to a rancorous and permanent break with Roosevelt.

How Taft eventually managed to anger Roosevelt into rebellion remains a fairly complex tale, the book contains the gritty details, but it stemmed from Taft's dismissal of Gifford Pinchot, a longtime Roosevelt ally. Taft's Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, had argued that Roosevelt had broken the law by conserving land without congressional approval. Taft agreed on the grounds that the president could only do what the constitution explicitly authorized. When Ballinger tried to release conserved land for development in Alaska, Pinchot convinced Louis Glavis of the General Land Offices to accuse Ballinger of a conflict of interest. Taft fired Glavis for insubordination, but Taft admitted to backdating a memo relating to the case, which didn't lead to any charges but it looked extremely suspicious to the progressive press. When Pinchot accused Taft of firing Glavis without "knowing all of the facts," Taft fired Pinchot, also for insubordination. This, along with Taft's public claim that J.P. Morgan had "duped" Roosevelt in 1907, drove a now furious Roosevelt to withdraw all support for Taft. When Taft resisted war pressure against Mexico, preferring to "speak softly and carry a free trade agreement," Roosevelt accused him of weak leadership. Another foible followed in 1911 when a letter from Taft to Roosevelt appeared in the press. It claimed that a treaty then in consideration would make Canada an "adjunct" to the U.S. Canada actually withdrew from the treaty in protest. Taft further infuriated Roosevelt by proclaiming that the the U.S. should have settled the Spanish War, the same war that made Roosevelt a war hero, by diplomacy. Roosevelt continued to write invectives against Taft in the press.

The acrid feud bubbled over when Taft overwhelmingly won the Republican nomination over Roosevelt on the first ballot in 1912. Roosevelt and his followers walked out of the convention and formed the Progressive or "Bull Moose" party. To Taft's horror, the new party attacked judicial independence and thought that plebiscites should have the power to overturn court decisions. Taft claimed to defend the constitution, but he remained largely invisible throughout the campaign. Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" and Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" dominated the limelight, especially following an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Roosevelt. Taft ended up receiving the fewest votes of any incumbent president in history, while Roosevelt received the highest ever for a third party candidate. The sprawling Republican split allowed Wilson a stunning victory of 435 electoral votes to Roosevelt's 88 and Taft's very measly 8. To some, Taft seemed relieved at the loss. He accepted a Yale professorship and vetoed and signed legislation up until the very morning of Wilson's inauguration. He also lost a considerable amount of weight and wrote books and articles about the dangers of progressivism and direct democracy, preferring "thoughtful deliberation" and "considered public opinion" over "populist whim." Not until 1921 would he finally obtain his most desired post, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. President Harding, after some hesitation, nominated Taft as the first, and so far the only, president to hold the post. Taft excelled in the judiciary and became an important foundational figure for the modern Supreme Court. Not surprisingly, he ran the Supreme Court like a president, though he once said "I don't remember I ever was president." He reformed the court's rules and helped fund a new building called "The Temple of Justice." He claimed to have no race prejudice, but he upheld a segregated school decision in 1927 and cited Plessy v. Ferguson as a precedent, so his legacy on racial justice seems more mixed. Declining health led to his retirement in 1930 and he died only a month later.

A short epilogue, written in 2018, claims that Taft's constitutionalist and anti-populist stance "looks increasingly appealing." The presidency, especially following FDR, has become more and more "a steward of the people" and a race for popularity and mass appeal. Taft, claims the book, would have loathed "tweeting presidents and representatives" that inflame passions and prevents a more sober reflection upon issues. As he once said, "the shorter the time the people have to think, the better for the demagogue." Though desiring a more educated electorate while simultaneously shunning popularity makes for a double edged sword embedded in a Catch-22. Taft's general lack of political acumen and unshakable holding to principles no matter the outcome will likely condemn him to the "middling" presidents for some time. Yet he also provides a window into another perspective on government, one that looks exceedingly unfamiliar today, that of constitutionalism and a strict separation of powers. As the influence of social media, arguably a populist bulwark, rises and the "the court of public opinion" encroaches more into people's personal affairs, Taft's "rule of law" might provide a deflection from a potentially different kind of demagoguery. Though few winds seem to blow in that direction currently, they may someday help balance the popularity and shaming contest that now seems to encompass public, political, and increasingly personal, life. Despite his obvious faults, Taft offers an alternate view of government and governing, one worth at least assessing. The highly readable and fascinating twenty-sixth volume of "The American Presidents Series" presents a very fair picture of Taft and helps to reanimate this mostly forgotten, but nonetheless important, president and justice.

[Bill Sleeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Jeffrey Rosen is an experienced historian of the Supreme Court and its denizens – both past and present. In William Howard Taft a part of the American Presidents seriesfrom Times Books Rosen has crafted from the available sources (copiously referenced … thank you Professor Rosen) a remarkable short and readable biography of Taft’s career. Most importantly though is the skill with which Rosen explores Taft’s constitutional worldview and how that contributed to his, often underestimated, success. While there are other more detailed works on Taft this is an ideal book for someone who wants to understand his contributions in a quick and accessible work.


Two quotes from President and Chief Justice Taft that I have not read before but that I think are worth sharing.

When discussing the habits of his predecessor in the White House and Roosevelt’s reliance on executive orders to get his way Taft said:

“The best way of getting rid of a legal limitation that interferes with progress…is to change the law, and not rely upon the Executive himself to ignore the statutes and follow a law unto himself.”

Self-deprecating humor is often a way to put others at ease when faced with their own discomforts – Taft understood this and often used his size (although as Rosen and Doris Kearns Goodwin both point out Taft was never as large as the stories about him claimed) to disarm others. Upon being offered the Kent Professorship of Law at Yale Rosen tells his readers that Taft responded with:

“…that he was afraid that a Chair would not be adequate, but that if he [the President of Yale] would provide a Sofa of Law, it might be all right.”

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Taft by Jeffrey Rosen gave me a lot of respect for the man. He reminded me a lot of Grover Cleavland. While their politics were different in a lot of respects I came away with an appreciation of both as being very principled and constitutionally minded. Taft wasn't a great orator, he wasn't even a great president when it comes to unifying the country through vision or leadership, but he was a faithful statesman and a good judge. This may be Rosen's own bias, he usually writes books covering the Supreme Court (where Taft served as chief justice in the twilight of his life) and so he focused on the judicial aspects of Taft's life and career. Though I think this is exactly the way Taft would have wanted to be seen. He was a lawyer first and foremost and a politician second. I appreciated the time that was given to separating the differences between him and Roosevelt while at the same time showing how Taft was very much a progressive. The big difference was that Taft wanted to use constitutional means to change things while Roosevelt just used the power of executive order to get everything done. You can basically tell which style has won out as there have been basically zero presidents in my lifetime as constitutionally committed to legislation as Taft was. Respect.
I also appreciated Rosen's myth-busting about Taft's weight and I appreciated the bit about Taft himself having a self-deprecating style of humor. I was equally caught off-guard by his anger. All of this is to say that Rosen does a good job at examining the man as well as the policies he shaped.
All in all, great one volume biography on Taft. The American Presidents and their Times series is hit or miss in my experience, but this is a good one.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read many of the biographies in the American Presidents series, I was eager to read the latest edition on William Howard Taft.

While it may have been the last of the originally planned entries it is, in my opinion, one of the best. Newcomers to this series should know that each biography is written to inform. They are each designed to provide enough information to satisfy the curious general reader while offering context for further exploration by the serious student of presidential history.

Constitutional scholar Jeffrey Rosen presents a compelling argument as to why Americans should appreciate William Howard Taft. It is a refreshing assessment which aims to rescue the man from the trivialities surrounding his weight and wrest him out of the shadows of his predecessor and successor.

Rosen hits his target by reminding Americans that Taft, more than any president since, truly kept faith with the Framer's vision of the role of an American president. Of course, this was ultimately what did Taft in. But in Rosen's expert hands, the Taft who emerges is a principled man worthy of admiration and a far better, more effective president than many believe.

As the author argues, President Taft tried to keep the presidency within its constitutional boundaries while Chief Justice Taft, more than any justice since John Marshall, ensured that the judicial branch was every bit a co-equal and respected branch among the three federal branches.

Rosen's book, while brief, fills a dearth of biographies on Taft. It ought to serve as the starting point for a much larger, more thorough, and long-overdue study of the life and contributions of this great American.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free Kindle copy of William Howard Taft by Jeffrey Rosen courtesy of Net Galley  and Henry Holt and Company, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I have read a number of biographies on American Presidents, but this is the first devoted to William Howard Taft that I have read. It is the first book by Jeffrey Rosen that I have read.

This book is part of the American President's series and compares favorably to the other one that I read about Ulysess S. Grant. These books are not intended to be indepth biographies, but ones that hit the highlights with some background. This approach makes for a fairly quick read and appeals to those who do not want an indepth detailed account of a President's life.

I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in American President biographies, but is not interested in a detailed narrative.

[William Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another of The American Presidents Series edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and Sean Wilentz. I cannot emphasize enough how informative and enjoyable this series is. I highly recommend it to all readers.
William Howard Taft was our 27th President. He served a single term. He is probably more well known as the only President to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or that he was a large man weighing over 240 pounds through most of his life and over 300 pounds while President. He is rated in the middle of the pack as President and much higher as Chief Justice. Author Jeffrey Rosen paints a more positive picture of Taft. Rosen points out that Taft did accomplish most of the promises he made in his inaugural address. He made the executive branch more efficient and improved the functioning of the federal judiciary. He continued to improve the administration of justice while he served as Chief.
Taft's background and training was as a lawyer. His father was a lawyer and a judge and Taft approached life from a legal perspective. He did not intend to be an elected official and coveted the position of Chief Justice throughout his life, even while serving as President. He remarked to a friend that he was in the sad position of having to appoint another man to the position that he would more like to hold. Rosen points out that Taft was an honest man to the point of isolating many and he did not cater to anyone for public approval. Taft viewed the presidency from a constitutional perspective. He believed that the president could do only those things allowed in the constitution. He was not like his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, a populist who believed that he could do anything not limited by the constitution. Roosevelt ruled by executive order. Taft sought to place those orders on a legal constitutional foundation. For Taft the presidents power came from the constitution. Roosevelt saw presidential power as coming from the people. Taft asked Congress to pass legislation to validate many of those orders. Taft also saw each branch as separate. He recommended legislation but did not lobby for any bill. His role was to implement and execute what the congress passed. He also worked hard to strengthen the independence of the federal judiciary. Taft found himself at odds with members of his Republican Party. One of the telling quotes from the book, "...[I]t seems to me to be impossible to be a strict party man and serve the whole country impartially" (Rosen p., 88). As mentioned previously, Taft was not a populist. He wrote in "Liberty Under Law, " "One of the great difficulties of carrying on popular government is getting into the heads of intelligent voters what the real facts are and what reasonable deductions should be made from them" (Rosen p., 132). Taft as Chief Justice is responsible for the Supreme Court building. He did not live to see it finished but he got Congress to fund its construction.
If a reader wants a greater understanding of our presidents, I highly recommend The American President series. I know I now have a better understanding of President William Howard Taft.

[Adrian R · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 This book was great!

TL;DR for such a short book you would not believe how much information there is inside of it which I was surprised by. There are a lot of reviews that say the same as I am about to state but this biography focuses more about Taft being someone who preferred Law over Politics and he was more prominent on the Supreme Court as a Supreme Court Justice rather than the president.

I really liked the way the author included a lot of information in a book that is only 138 pages long which is very impressive, he knot not only talked about all the good that William Howard has done such as turning an 89 Million dollar deficit into a 11 Million Dollar Surplus which on a side note is crazy and I applaud Taft for doing that, passing legislation which meant that the Supreme Court didn't have to deal with a lot of irrelevant cases that didn't really matter and were trivial, helping the country of Philippines out and it's citizens, and most importantly being a strict constructionist when it came to the idea of always putting the constitution first and making sure that everything that he did as president was within the power that the constitution granted him and protecting the liberty and Property of the people. He also enhanced free trade in the United States by taking a big bite out of the monopolies (No Pun Intended) by making sure that different types of taxes would be separated and that direct tax would only be accounted for federal tax if there was a crisis coming up such as a preparation for a civil war. Despite there being many great things about the 27th President I liked the fact that the author mentioned a lot of things that many people don't say about Taft when pointing out the negatives such as him having a short temper and firing people who he thought were disloyal to him.

To conclude, despite this book being very short it has gave me a lot of information than some of the books that I have read this year which have been way longer. This is definitely worth a read especially because there aren't that many books about William Howard Taft and like mentioned before although this focuses more on him being a supreme court judge at the beginning and towards the end of the book there is still some decent writing about him when he was president which I found fascinating!