William Howard Taft: An Intimate History

by Judith Icke Anderson

How could a politically unambitious man like William Howard Taft, who yearned for only one post, a seat on the Supreme Court, be chosen for ever higher national offices and ultimately win the presidency, a triumph he did not want? This book deals with the impact of Taft's numerous inner conflicts and his decision-making ability--and, in particular, on his frequent failure to make decisions at all. Here is the evolution of Taft's conflicts and extraordinary dependencies, which began in childhood, were exacerbated by certain kinds of success--all of which were peculiarly illuminated by fluctuations in his weight. We also see his marriage to Helen Herron Taft, a woman whose influence was powerful--and that is perhaps the most significant key to our understanding of Taft's career. We see for the first time how the reluctant Taft was pushed into office by his indomitable wife. Here, too, is an analysis of his unique personal relationship with Theodore Roosevelt, a tragicomic affair that, when it broke up, left Taft demoralized. Perhaps far more than most men who have achieved great public office, Taft was a product and a victim of his ties to those he loved.

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

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1981

Reviews

[Tom Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taft was just too nice a guy to be president. I really like him. I think he would be a cool guy to hang out with. That is what I liked about the book, Taft. I didn't much care for some of the approaches to Taft in this book. It is a centered primarily on his psychology. It makes some really strange assertions about him not wanting to offend people because obese people want to be liked. Or some such nonsense like that.

A really strange chapter was the one on Nellie Taft in the White house. It goes on about how she ran the social side of the White House, but then in the middle of the chapter it talks about how before any of that happened, she had a stroke and was out of commission for the first year or so of the presidency. Why was this chapter backwards chronologically? I think it would have been more interesting to talk about the stroke and the recovery and then how she entertained at the White House.

To end it all, we are only given about 10 pages for his post presidential life 3 of which he is dead. It's not like anything significant happened in those 18 years. He was only a college prof and Yale and, oh, let's see...Oh yeah! He was the freaking Chief Justice of the Supreme Court! That was a mere 4 pages of this 265 page book. Spoiler: He was the one that got Congress to pony up the money for the Supreme Court building! This book spent more ink on comical newspaper political commentary about unimportant issues than his Supreme Court years.

Recommendation: Read The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin first. Then, if you want to get into the psychology of obese people, and you haven't found a better Taft book (Taft books seem to be scarce) then read this one.

[Deedee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography includes all the highlights of William Howard Taft's life. The focus of the biography is William Howard Taft's character, as revealed by his actions and statements. This is therefore a psychological biography of the man. Pages and pages on his relationship with Teddy Roosevelt and with his wife, Nellie; quick mentions of the major acts of legislation passed during his administration (which lasted 1909-1912).

[Jay Briar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a pretty poorly written book that chose to dwell on outdated assumptions about dominant wives and obese men to explain a man's life.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my, this book was really something. My impression of the writing is that Anderson can put together solid sentences and decent paragraphs, but she can’t organize very well. At least, she couldn’t in 1981. She goes back and forth with time disjointedly and contradicts herself in this book too many times.

The idea behind this book, according to the introduction, is to apply psychoanalysis to historical figures. This is bad because 1-she’s not a trained psychologist, 2-psychoanalysis does not stand up well to scientific rigor, and 3-you can’t effectively psychoanalyze someone you’ve never met. Yet Anderson blazes ahead with confidence. What’s good about this approach is the humanizing aspect of recognizing that personal relationships and emotional dynamics beyond the political are important factors in the behaviors of historical figures. Anderson will chug along giving respectable information and drawing fairly reasonable (if over-confident) conclusions about Taft’s inner life, and then she’ll spoil it with ridiculous Freudian generalities, such as: “obese men…find it difficult to express negative or angry feelings…” or “an overweight child, medical experts generally agree, is very often the subject of strong domination, particularly by a mother who holds her child in close emotional bondage” and other such sweeping and baseless pronouncements.

Overall, not a worthless history book, but so dated and could have been organized better.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally like the concept of "psychological biography," but Anderson managed this one well. Taft emerges as a rather sympathetic (one is tempted to say "pathetic") character, a decent and honorable man, yet a largely ineffectual president.

But, unfortunately, the line I cannot NOT recall when I read about Taft is not from Anderson, but from Dave Barry (from his "Sort-of History of the US"): "Taft, our 27th president, who weighed 300 pounds and ran on a platform of reinforced concrete..."

[Dayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people have spouses that give one good advice. Some, like William Howard Taft, have spouses that push their partners into something they turns out soooo poorly.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the author gives a thorough history of Taft, it is not flattering and has a negative tone toward Taft.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

William Howard Taft was one of the more interesting Presidents to read about based upon his life experience despite his lackluster presidency. From being the man in charge of the occupied Philippines to his final days as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (and by all accounts a very good Chief Justice) he spent his life in public service. He went from being TR's best friend to enemy in the campaign splitting republican dominance and bringing about the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Overall this book does a poor job of shedding much light on the details of Taft's life. It glosses over many of the important things he did providing brief summaries. It spends an inordinate amount of time focused on Taft's eating disorders and tries to use modern obesity research to analyze his feelings at the time. The redeeming part of this book is the analysis of Taft's wife who is shown as a calculating woman that tried to further her husband's career at every moment. She is shown to be a creature of ambition and does not seem motivated out of love for her husband but a cold driving ambition for her own status. Overall I would agree with the other two star review and say this is a great example of some 1970's historiography but overall a weak biography of President Taft.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised about how readable this book was. Anderson makes no excuses for Taft's unsuccessful presidency; instead, she looks at his political and personal life--including his obesity--for explanations as to why Taft didn't do well as Chief Executive. My only complaint is that she does rush through Taft's post-presidential career, but nevertheless, this is a solid Taft bio.

[Korry Thorpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Taft is probably the only man elected president who really didn't want to be. He only did it to make Roosevelt and Mrs. Taft happy. Is it any wonder that he was a crappy president? The book is interesting and well written but I think on occasion the author reaches conclusions on Presidents Taft's motives and thoughts which I think there is insufficient evidence to support definitively. Still a good book though.

[Gene McAvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-rounded view of a well-rounded subject.
Good reading.

[Jessica (booneybear) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as horrid as I thought it would be.