The First 100 Days: William Howard Taft
Theodore Roosevelt had served almost three and a half years of McKinley's second term as President, following McKinley's assassination. On the night of his own election in 1904, Roosevelt publicly declared he would not run for re-election in 1908. This was a pledge that Roosevelt soon regretted, but he was a man of his word and kept that pledge. Roosevelt wanted to hand-pick his successor and believed that the best man for the job was William Howard Taft. Taft had been the Secretary of War in Roosevelt's cabinet. He had never run for public office, and the job he really wanted was a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States, preferably as Chief Justice. It has been said that it was Taft's wife Helen who most wanted him to be President. Roosevelt used his control of the Republican party machinery to get his heir apparent nominated as the Republican Party candidate for President in 1908. At the 1908 Republican National Convention in Chicago in June, there was no serious opposition to Taft and he won the nomination on the first ballot.
Taft won the election for the presidency by a comfortable margin. Taft defeated his opponent William Jennings Bryan by a margin of 321 electoral votes to 162. According to White House usher Ike Hoover, Taft came often to see Roosevelt during the campaign, but seldom between the election and Inauguration Day, March 4, 1909. A winter storm had coated Washington streets with ice, so Taft was inaugurated within the Senate Chamber rather than outside the Capitol. In his inaugural address, Taft paid homage to Roosevelt, but said that he intended to be his own man as president. He said that he had been honored to have been "one of the advisers of my distinguished predecessor" and to have had a part "in the reforms he has initiated. I should be untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of the party platform on which I was elected if I did not make the maintenance and enforcement of those reforms a most important feature of my administration". He also talked about the need for reduction of the 1897 Dingley Tariff, for antitrust reform, and for continued advancement of the Philippines toward full self-government. After Taft's inauguration, Roosevelt left office for a year-long hunting trip to Africa. He regretted leaving the presidency.
Taft and Roosevelt had discussed which cabinet officers of Roosevelt's that Taft would keep, namely Agriculture Secretary James Wilson and Postmaster General George von Lengerke Meyer, who became Secretary of the Navy. Taft appointed Philander Knox, who had served under McKinley and Roosevelt as Attorney General, as the new Secretary of State, and Franklin MacVeagh as Treasury Secretary.
Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did have a close relationship with the press. He did not make himself available for interviews or photo opportunities as often as Roosevelt had. Another difference between the two men was that Taft had a passion for the rule of law, something that Roosevelt saw as secondary to expediency.
One of Taft's first priorities was to restructure the State Department. He said, "it is organized on the basis of the needs of the government in 1800 instead of 1900." He organized it into geographical divisions, including desks for the Far East, Latin America and Western Europe. He began the department's first in-service training program. Appointees to foreign service posts were required to spend a month in Washington for training before going to their posts. Taft and Secretary of State Knox had a good relationship, and Taft followed Knox's advice on both foreign and domestic matters. The two agreed on major foreign policy goals. They both believed that the U.S. should not interfere in European affairs, and would use force if necessary to enforce the Monroe Doctrine in the Americas. The Panama Canal was under construction throughout Taft's term, and its completion was important to United States foreign policy in the Caribbean and in Central America. Taft used American diplomats and consuls abroad to further trade. He viewed trade and nations having common economic interests as a means of promoting world peace.
Taft and his Secretary of State, Philander Knox believed in what was known as "Dollar Diplomacy" with Latin America. They felt that U.S. investment in the regions would be mutually beneficial, while keeping European influence away from areas subject to the Monroe Doctrine. Exports rose sharply during Taft's administration, but many Latin American nations resented becoming financially dependenton the United States.
When Taft became president, Mexico experiencing some political turmoil. Longtime dictator Porfirio Díaz faced opposition from Francisco Madero. On a number of occasions, Mexican rebels crossed the U.S. border to obtain horses and weapons. To present this from continuing, Taft ordered the army to the border for maneuvers. Taft supported Díaz and met with him at El Paso, Texas, and at at Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. This was the first meeting between leaders of the two nations and was also the first time that an American president visited Mexico. On the day of the summit, Frederick Russell Burnham and a Texas Ranger captured and disarmed an assassin holding a palm pistol only a few feet of the two presidents. A revolution arose in Mexico that continued for another ten years, but Taft refused to involve American troops into the fight.
Taft chose not to follow the traditional practice of rewarding wealthy supporters with key ambassadorial posts. He replaced the ambassador to France, Henry White, whom Taft knew and disliked from his visits to Europe. White's ousting caused other career State Department employees to fear that their jobs might be lost. Taft also wanted to replace the Roosevelt-appointed ambassador in London, Whitelaw Reid. Reid was the owner of the New-York Tribune and had backed Taft during the campaign, and both William and Nellie Taft enjoyed his company, causing Taft to reconsider this decision and leave Reid in place until his death in 1912.
Immediately after his inauguration, Taft called a special session of Congress to convene on March 15, 1909 for the purpose of revising the tariff schedules. Rates at the time were being set in accordance with the 1897 Dingley Act. The rates under this bill were the highest in U.S. history. Congress held hearings on tariff reform in late 1908, and sponsored the resulting legislation. The bill reduced tariffs only slightly, and when it passed the House in April 1909 and reached the Senate, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Nelson W. Aldrich, attached numerous amendments, all of which raised rates. Progressives such as Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, urged Taft to veto the bill. A conference committee reconciled the two bills, and both houses passed the compromise, which Taft signed into law on August 6, 1909. Taft preferred the House bill because it contained more substantial rate reductions, but he worried that a veto would cause too much division within his party. The Payne-Aldrich tariff disappointed progressive Republicans, and led to more disharmony in the Republican Party, giving the Democrats with a major campaign issue for the 1910 congressional elections. The wounds inflicted during the tariff debate grew as Taft's term continued.
During the beginning of Taft's presidency, an issue was festering that would become one of the major items of contention that would injure Taft's friendship with Roosevelt. Roosevelt was an ardent conservationist. The Chief Forester of the United States was Gifford Pinchot, a good friend of Roosevelt's. Taft agreed with the need for conservation, but felt it should be accomplished by legislation rather than by executive order. Taft chose former Seattle mayor Richard A. Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior. Roosevelt was surprised at the appointment because he believed that Taft had promised to keep James R. Garfield (son of the former president) in this position. Garfield's views accorded with those of Roosevelt.
Roosevelt had withdrawn a large amount of land from the public domain, including some land in Alaska that was rich in coal. In 1902, Clarence Cunningham, an Idaho entrepreneur, had found coal deposits in Alaska, and made mining claims, and the government investigated their legality. At the time Ballinger was head of the General Land Office. A special agent for the Land Office, Louis Glavis, investigated the Cunningham claims, and when Secretary Ballinger in 1909 approved them, Glavis broke governmental protocol by complaining to Pinchot about the decision. In September 1909, Glavis made his allegations public in a magazine article, which claimed that Ballinger had acted as an attorney for Cunningham between his two periods of government service. He said that this violated conflict of interest rules forbidding a former government official from advocacy on a matter he had been responsible for. On September 13, 1909 Taft dismissed Glavis from government service, relying on a report from Attorney General George W. Wickersham.
In January 1910, Pinchot wrote to Iowa Senator Dolliver alleging that the Forestry Service had prevented Taft from approving a fraudulent claim on public lands. As a result, Pinchot was fired. He sailed for Europe to complain to Roosevelt. A congressional investigation followed, which cleared Ballinger by majority vote, but the administration was embarrassed when Glavis' attorney, Louis D. Brandeis, proved that Wickersham's report to the president had been backdated, something Taft later admitted. The whole incident caused progressives and Roosevelt supporters to feel that Taft had turned his back on Roosevelt's environmental agenda.
Taft had announced in his inaugural address that he would not appoint African Americans to federal jobs, such as postmaster, where this would cause racial friction. Taft also removed a number of African-American office holders in the South, and made few appointments from that demographic in the North.
Taft's policies served to increase the conflict between the conservative wing of the Republican Party, with which Taft often supported, and the progressive wing, who preferred Roosevelt. Roosevelt returned home, disappointed over what his successor had done. He challenged Taft for renomination in 1912. Taft used his control of the party machinery to win the Republican nomination, and Roosevelt bolted the party. The split left Taft with little chance of re-election, leading to the election of Woodrow Wilson as President. After leaving office, Taft returned to Yale as a professor. In 1921, President Warren Harding appointed Taft as chief justice, the job he really wanted. Chief Justice Taft presided over the court until February 1930, when he resigned due to poor health. He died the following month.
Taft won the election for the presidency by a comfortable margin. Taft defeated his opponent William Jennings Bryan by a margin of 321 electoral votes to 162. According to White House usher Ike Hoover, Taft came often to see Roosevelt during the campaign, but seldom between the election and Inauguration Day, March 4, 1909. A winter storm had coated Washington streets with ice, so Taft was inaugurated within the Senate Chamber rather than outside the Capitol. In his inaugural address, Taft paid homage to Roosevelt, but said that he intended to be his own man as president. He said that he had been honored to have been "one of the advisers of my distinguished predecessor" and to have had a part "in the reforms he has initiated. I should be untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of the party platform on which I was elected if I did not make the maintenance and enforcement of those reforms a most important feature of my administration". He also talked about the need for reduction of the 1897 Dingley Tariff, for antitrust reform, and for continued advancement of the Philippines toward full self-government. After Taft's inauguration, Roosevelt left office for a year-long hunting trip to Africa. He regretted leaving the presidency.
Taft and Roosevelt had discussed which cabinet officers of Roosevelt's that Taft would keep, namely Agriculture Secretary James Wilson and Postmaster General George von Lengerke Meyer, who became Secretary of the Navy. Taft appointed Philander Knox, who had served under McKinley and Roosevelt as Attorney General, as the new Secretary of State, and Franklin MacVeagh as Treasury Secretary.
Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did have a close relationship with the press. He did not make himself available for interviews or photo opportunities as often as Roosevelt had. Another difference between the two men was that Taft had a passion for the rule of law, something that Roosevelt saw as secondary to expediency.
One of Taft's first priorities was to restructure the State Department. He said, "it is organized on the basis of the needs of the government in 1800 instead of 1900." He organized it into geographical divisions, including desks for the Far East, Latin America and Western Europe. He began the department's first in-service training program. Appointees to foreign service posts were required to spend a month in Washington for training before going to their posts. Taft and Secretary of State Knox had a good relationship, and Taft followed Knox's advice on both foreign and domestic matters. The two agreed on major foreign policy goals. They both believed that the U.S. should not interfere in European affairs, and would use force if necessary to enforce the Monroe Doctrine in the Americas. The Panama Canal was under construction throughout Taft's term, and its completion was important to United States foreign policy in the Caribbean and in Central America. Taft used American diplomats and consuls abroad to further trade. He viewed trade and nations having common economic interests as a means of promoting world peace.
Taft and his Secretary of State, Philander Knox believed in what was known as "Dollar Diplomacy" with Latin America. They felt that U.S. investment in the regions would be mutually beneficial, while keeping European influence away from areas subject to the Monroe Doctrine. Exports rose sharply during Taft's administration, but many Latin American nations resented becoming financially dependenton the United States.
When Taft became president, Mexico experiencing some political turmoil. Longtime dictator Porfirio Díaz faced opposition from Francisco Madero. On a number of occasions, Mexican rebels crossed the U.S. border to obtain horses and weapons. To present this from continuing, Taft ordered the army to the border for maneuvers. Taft supported Díaz and met with him at El Paso, Texas, and at at Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. This was the first meeting between leaders of the two nations and was also the first time that an American president visited Mexico. On the day of the summit, Frederick Russell Burnham and a Texas Ranger captured and disarmed an assassin holding a palm pistol only a few feet of the two presidents. A revolution arose in Mexico that continued for another ten years, but Taft refused to involve American troops into the fight.
Taft chose not to follow the traditional practice of rewarding wealthy supporters with key ambassadorial posts. He replaced the ambassador to France, Henry White, whom Taft knew and disliked from his visits to Europe. White's ousting caused other career State Department employees to fear that their jobs might be lost. Taft also wanted to replace the Roosevelt-appointed ambassador in London, Whitelaw Reid. Reid was the owner of the New-York Tribune and had backed Taft during the campaign, and both William and Nellie Taft enjoyed his company, causing Taft to reconsider this decision and leave Reid in place until his death in 1912.
Immediately after his inauguration, Taft called a special session of Congress to convene on March 15, 1909 for the purpose of revising the tariff schedules. Rates at the time were being set in accordance with the 1897 Dingley Act. The rates under this bill were the highest in U.S. history. Congress held hearings on tariff reform in late 1908, and sponsored the resulting legislation. The bill reduced tariffs only slightly, and when it passed the House in April 1909 and reached the Senate, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Nelson W. Aldrich, attached numerous amendments, all of which raised rates. Progressives such as Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, urged Taft to veto the bill. A conference committee reconciled the two bills, and both houses passed the compromise, which Taft signed into law on August 6, 1909. Taft preferred the House bill because it contained more substantial rate reductions, but he worried that a veto would cause too much division within his party. The Payne-Aldrich tariff disappointed progressive Republicans, and led to more disharmony in the Republican Party, giving the Democrats with a major campaign issue for the 1910 congressional elections. The wounds inflicted during the tariff debate grew as Taft's term continued.
During the beginning of Taft's presidency, an issue was festering that would become one of the major items of contention that would injure Taft's friendship with Roosevelt. Roosevelt was an ardent conservationist. The Chief Forester of the United States was Gifford Pinchot, a good friend of Roosevelt's. Taft agreed with the need for conservation, but felt it should be accomplished by legislation rather than by executive order. Taft chose former Seattle mayor Richard A. Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior. Roosevelt was surprised at the appointment because he believed that Taft had promised to keep James R. Garfield (son of the former president) in this position. Garfield's views accorded with those of Roosevelt.
Roosevelt had withdrawn a large amount of land from the public domain, including some land in Alaska that was rich in coal. In 1902, Clarence Cunningham, an Idaho entrepreneur, had found coal deposits in Alaska, and made mining claims, and the government investigated their legality. At the time Ballinger was head of the General Land Office. A special agent for the Land Office, Louis Glavis, investigated the Cunningham claims, and when Secretary Ballinger in 1909 approved them, Glavis broke governmental protocol by complaining to Pinchot about the decision. In September 1909, Glavis made his allegations public in a magazine article, which claimed that Ballinger had acted as an attorney for Cunningham between his two periods of government service. He said that this violated conflict of interest rules forbidding a former government official from advocacy on a matter he had been responsible for. On September 13, 1909 Taft dismissed Glavis from government service, relying on a report from Attorney General George W. Wickersham.
In January 1910, Pinchot wrote to Iowa Senator Dolliver alleging that the Forestry Service had prevented Taft from approving a fraudulent claim on public lands. As a result, Pinchot was fired. He sailed for Europe to complain to Roosevelt. A congressional investigation followed, which cleared Ballinger by majority vote, but the administration was embarrassed when Glavis' attorney, Louis D. Brandeis, proved that Wickersham's report to the president had been backdated, something Taft later admitted. The whole incident caused progressives and Roosevelt supporters to feel that Taft had turned his back on Roosevelt's environmental agenda.
Taft had announced in his inaugural address that he would not appoint African Americans to federal jobs, such as postmaster, where this would cause racial friction. Taft also removed a number of African-American office holders in the South, and made few appointments from that demographic in the North.
Taft's policies served to increase the conflict between the conservative wing of the Republican Party, with which Taft often supported, and the progressive wing, who preferred Roosevelt. Roosevelt returned home, disappointed over what his successor had done. He challenged Taft for renomination in 1912. Taft used his control of the party machinery to win the Republican nomination, and Roosevelt bolted the party. The split left Taft with little chance of re-election, leading to the election of Woodrow Wilson as President. After leaving office, Taft returned to Yale as a professor. In 1921, President Warren Harding appointed Taft as chief justice, the job he really wanted. Chief Justice Taft presided over the court until February 1930, when he resigned due to poor health. He died the following month.