Islands of Civility: Ike and Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. was a conservative Republican who represented Ohio in the United States Senate and briefly served as Senate Majority Leader. He was the oldest son of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1913 and along with his brother, Charles Phelps Taft II, he co-founded the law partnership of Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Taft served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1921 to 1931 and in the Ohio Senate from 1931 to 1933. Though he lost re-election in 1932, he remained a powerful force in state and local politics.
Taft wished to follow in his father's footsteps and serve as his nation's president. He first sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1940 but lost to Wendell Willkie. Taft was regarded as a strong contender, but his outspoken support of a non-interventionist foreign policy, and his opposition to the New Deal in domestic policy caused many moderate Republicans to reject his candidacy. At the 1940 Republican Convention, Willkie, once a Democrat, and a corporate executive who had never run for political office, came from behind to beat Taft and several other candidates for the nomination.
Taft came into intra-party conflict with Thomas E. Dewey, then a New York District Attorney, who had become nationally famous for successfully prosecuting several prominent organized-crime figures, including New York mob boss "Lucky" Luciano. Taft felt that Dewey was not conservative or consistent enough in his principles for the Republican Party, while Dewey thought Taft to be too conservative for the good of the party.
In the 1944 presidential campaign Taft was not a candidate. He supported Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, a fellow conservative, for the nomination. Bricker was defeated by Dewey, who had become the Governor of New York in 1943. Dewey named Bricker as his running mate, but the ticket would go on to lose in the general election.
In 1948, Taft made a second try for the nomination but once again he was defeated by his archrival, Dewey, who led the GOP's moderate/liberal wing. In the 1948 presidential election, Dewey was defeated by the Democratic presidential candidate, Harry S. Truman.
In January 1952, everyone in both parties wanted popular General Dwight Eisenhower to be their candidate; everyone except Taft. He publicly stated that those seeking the drafting of General Dwight Eisenhower were wrong to chose an inexperienced interventionist. He even tried to reach out to southern Democratic voters in his 1952 campaign. It was his third and final try for the nomination and it was also his strongest effort.
Taft had the solid backing of the party's conservative wing. Former US Representative Howard Buffett of Nebraska, the father of billionaire Warren Buffett, served as one of his campaign managers. As Eisenhower appeared to be hesitant to enter the race, it looked as if Taft would win the nomination. However, when Dewey and other moderates were able to convince Eisenhower, the most popular general of World War II, to run for the nomination, Taft faced a challenger too popular to defeat. Eisenhower ran because of his fear that Taft's non-interventionist views in foreign policy, might benefit the Soviet Union in the Cold War, especially Taft's opposition to NATO.
The fight between Taft and Eisenhower for the nomination was one of the closest and most bitter in party history. When the Republican Convention opened in Chicago in July 1952, Taft and Eisenhower were neck-and-neck in delegate votes. The two campaigns fought over delegate slots in several Southern states, including Texas, where the state chairman, Orville Bullington, was committed to Taft. Taft angrily denied having stolen any delegate votes, but the convention voted to support Eisenhower in the delegate battle, and the Texans voted 33–5 for Eisenhower as a result. In addition, several uncommitted state delegations, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, agreed to support Eisenhower. This decided the nomination in Eisenhower's favor.
Despite his bitterness at his narrow defeat and his belief that the nomination had been unfairly stolen by the Eisenhower forces (including Dewey), Taft issued a brief statement after the convention conveying his congratulations and support to Eisenhower.
As the election approached, Eisenhower worried that Taft and his supporters would do nothing during the campaign and that as a result Eisenhower might lose the election. In September 1952, Taft finally agreed to meet with Eisenhower, at Morningside Heights in New York City. There a peace was brokered. The two men discovered that they agreed on most domestic issues; their disagreements were mainly about foreign policy.
Following Eisenhower's election and the Republican takeover of Congress, the two former adversaries became friends. Political differences and bitterness were set aside for the good of the nation, in order to pursue the goals they had in common. Taft served as Senate Majority Leader in 1953, and he strongly supported Eisenhower's domestic proposals. He even tried to curb the excesses of red-baiting US Senator Joseph McCarthy, though he had little success on this front. By April of 1953, Eisenhower and Taft were friends and golfing companions. Taft was now publicly praising his former adversary. It seemed that since Taft was noo longer burdened by presidential ambitions, he had become less partisan, less abrasive, and more conciliatory. He was now widely regarded as the most powerful man in Congress.
On May 26, 1953, Taft delivered his final speech, in which he presciently warned of the dangers of America's emerging Cold War foreign policy, specifically against US military involvement in Southeast Asia, which would later become the Vietnam War. Some historians have speculated that Taft may have sowed the seeds that grew into Eisenhower's subsequent warnings about "the military-industrial complex." In his final speech, Taft said:
"I have never felt that we should send American soldiers to the Continent of Asia, which, of course, included China proper and Indo-China, simply because we are so outnumbered in fighting a land war on the Continent of Asia that it would bring about complete exhaustion even if we were able to win. So today, as since 1947 in Europe and 1950 in Asia, we are really trying to arm the world against Communist Russia, or at least furnish all the assistance which can be of use to them in opposing Communism. Is this policy of uniting the free world against Communism in time of peace going to be a practical long-term policy? I have always been a skeptic on the subject of the military practicability of NATO. I have always felt that we should not attempt to fight Russia on the ground on the Continent of Europe any more than we should attempt to fight China on the Continent of Asia."
In early 1953, Taft began to feel pain in his hips, and after a painful golf outing with President Eisenhower in April 1953 he entered Walter Reed Hospital for initial tests which led physicians to suspect a tumor or arthritis. On May 26 he was admitted to Holmes Hospital in Cincinnati for more extensive tests. The physicians there discovered malignant nodules on his forehead and abdomen. On June 7, he entered New York Hospital for more tests and treatment; to keep the news that he might have cancer a secret he registered under the assumed name "Howard Roberts, Jr." His physicians there agreed with the diagnosis of cancer. After his death, an autopsy determined that Taft had been stricken with pancreatic cancer, which had quickly reached metastasis and spread throughout his body.
On June 10, 1953, Taft held a press conference in which he transferred his duties as Senate Majority Leader to Senator William F. Knowland of California. He did not resign his Senate seat and told reporters that he expected to recover and return to work. However, his condition rapidly worsened, and Taft returned to New York Hospital for surgery on July 4 during a Senate recess. He died at New York Hospital on July 31, following a final brain hemorrhage just hours after his wife's final visit. On August 3, 1953, a memorial service was held in the rotunda; in addition to his family the service was attended by Eisenhower, Vice-President Nixon, the cabinet, members of the Supreme Court, and Taft's congressional colleagues. Following the service his body was flown to Cincinnati, where he was buried in a private ceremony at Indian Hill Episcopal Church Cemetery.
Eisenhower's relationship with Knowland was not possessed of the same degree of civility and mutual respect that he had come to have with his former adversary Taft. Eisenhower wrote that Knowland "means to be helpful and loyal, but he is cumbersome" and described the Senator's foreign policy views, particularly on Red China, as "simplistic." In his diaries, Eisenhower had a more critical assessments of Knowland, who he said "has no foreign policy, except to develop high blood pressure whenever he mentions 'Red China'. In his case, there seems to be no final answer to the question, 'How stupid can you get?'"
Taft and Eisenhower left a legacy of how two former adversaries were able to leave past political grudges in the past, and work together in an atmosphere of civility and mutual respect for larger national goals, as well as how to disagree agreeably, and how not to let policy disagreements become personal.
Taft wished to follow in his father's footsteps and serve as his nation's president. He first sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1940 but lost to Wendell Willkie. Taft was regarded as a strong contender, but his outspoken support of a non-interventionist foreign policy, and his opposition to the New Deal in domestic policy caused many moderate Republicans to reject his candidacy. At the 1940 Republican Convention, Willkie, once a Democrat, and a corporate executive who had never run for political office, came from behind to beat Taft and several other candidates for the nomination.
Taft came into intra-party conflict with Thomas E. Dewey, then a New York District Attorney, who had become nationally famous for successfully prosecuting several prominent organized-crime figures, including New York mob boss "Lucky" Luciano. Taft felt that Dewey was not conservative or consistent enough in his principles for the Republican Party, while Dewey thought Taft to be too conservative for the good of the party.
In the 1944 presidential campaign Taft was not a candidate. He supported Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, a fellow conservative, for the nomination. Bricker was defeated by Dewey, who had become the Governor of New York in 1943. Dewey named Bricker as his running mate, but the ticket would go on to lose in the general election.
In 1948, Taft made a second try for the nomination but once again he was defeated by his archrival, Dewey, who led the GOP's moderate/liberal wing. In the 1948 presidential election, Dewey was defeated by the Democratic presidential candidate, Harry S. Truman.
In January 1952, everyone in both parties wanted popular General Dwight Eisenhower to be their candidate; everyone except Taft. He publicly stated that those seeking the drafting of General Dwight Eisenhower were wrong to chose an inexperienced interventionist. He even tried to reach out to southern Democratic voters in his 1952 campaign. It was his third and final try for the nomination and it was also his strongest effort.
Taft had the solid backing of the party's conservative wing. Former US Representative Howard Buffett of Nebraska, the father of billionaire Warren Buffett, served as one of his campaign managers. As Eisenhower appeared to be hesitant to enter the race, it looked as if Taft would win the nomination. However, when Dewey and other moderates were able to convince Eisenhower, the most popular general of World War II, to run for the nomination, Taft faced a challenger too popular to defeat. Eisenhower ran because of his fear that Taft's non-interventionist views in foreign policy, might benefit the Soviet Union in the Cold War, especially Taft's opposition to NATO.
The fight between Taft and Eisenhower for the nomination was one of the closest and most bitter in party history. When the Republican Convention opened in Chicago in July 1952, Taft and Eisenhower were neck-and-neck in delegate votes. The two campaigns fought over delegate slots in several Southern states, including Texas, where the state chairman, Orville Bullington, was committed to Taft. Taft angrily denied having stolen any delegate votes, but the convention voted to support Eisenhower in the delegate battle, and the Texans voted 33–5 for Eisenhower as a result. In addition, several uncommitted state delegations, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, agreed to support Eisenhower. This decided the nomination in Eisenhower's favor.
Despite his bitterness at his narrow defeat and his belief that the nomination had been unfairly stolen by the Eisenhower forces (including Dewey), Taft issued a brief statement after the convention conveying his congratulations and support to Eisenhower.
As the election approached, Eisenhower worried that Taft and his supporters would do nothing during the campaign and that as a result Eisenhower might lose the election. In September 1952, Taft finally agreed to meet with Eisenhower, at Morningside Heights in New York City. There a peace was brokered. The two men discovered that they agreed on most domestic issues; their disagreements were mainly about foreign policy.
Following Eisenhower's election and the Republican takeover of Congress, the two former adversaries became friends. Political differences and bitterness were set aside for the good of the nation, in order to pursue the goals they had in common. Taft served as Senate Majority Leader in 1953, and he strongly supported Eisenhower's domestic proposals. He even tried to curb the excesses of red-baiting US Senator Joseph McCarthy, though he had little success on this front. By April of 1953, Eisenhower and Taft were friends and golfing companions. Taft was now publicly praising his former adversary. It seemed that since Taft was noo longer burdened by presidential ambitions, he had become less partisan, less abrasive, and more conciliatory. He was now widely regarded as the most powerful man in Congress.
On May 26, 1953, Taft delivered his final speech, in which he presciently warned of the dangers of America's emerging Cold War foreign policy, specifically against US military involvement in Southeast Asia, which would later become the Vietnam War. Some historians have speculated that Taft may have sowed the seeds that grew into Eisenhower's subsequent warnings about "the military-industrial complex." In his final speech, Taft said:
"I have never felt that we should send American soldiers to the Continent of Asia, which, of course, included China proper and Indo-China, simply because we are so outnumbered in fighting a land war on the Continent of Asia that it would bring about complete exhaustion even if we were able to win. So today, as since 1947 in Europe and 1950 in Asia, we are really trying to arm the world against Communist Russia, or at least furnish all the assistance which can be of use to them in opposing Communism. Is this policy of uniting the free world against Communism in time of peace going to be a practical long-term policy? I have always been a skeptic on the subject of the military practicability of NATO. I have always felt that we should not attempt to fight Russia on the ground on the Continent of Europe any more than we should attempt to fight China on the Continent of Asia."
In early 1953, Taft began to feel pain in his hips, and after a painful golf outing with President Eisenhower in April 1953 he entered Walter Reed Hospital for initial tests which led physicians to suspect a tumor or arthritis. On May 26 he was admitted to Holmes Hospital in Cincinnati for more extensive tests. The physicians there discovered malignant nodules on his forehead and abdomen. On June 7, he entered New York Hospital for more tests and treatment; to keep the news that he might have cancer a secret he registered under the assumed name "Howard Roberts, Jr." His physicians there agreed with the diagnosis of cancer. After his death, an autopsy determined that Taft had been stricken with pancreatic cancer, which had quickly reached metastasis and spread throughout his body.
On June 10, 1953, Taft held a press conference in which he transferred his duties as Senate Majority Leader to Senator William F. Knowland of California. He did not resign his Senate seat and told reporters that he expected to recover and return to work. However, his condition rapidly worsened, and Taft returned to New York Hospital for surgery on July 4 during a Senate recess. He died at New York Hospital on July 31, following a final brain hemorrhage just hours after his wife's final visit. On August 3, 1953, a memorial service was held in the rotunda; in addition to his family the service was attended by Eisenhower, Vice-President Nixon, the cabinet, members of the Supreme Court, and Taft's congressional colleagues. Following the service his body was flown to Cincinnati, where he was buried in a private ceremony at Indian Hill Episcopal Church Cemetery.
Eisenhower's relationship with Knowland was not possessed of the same degree of civility and mutual respect that he had come to have with his former adversary Taft. Eisenhower wrote that Knowland "means to be helpful and loyal, but he is cumbersome" and described the Senator's foreign policy views, particularly on Red China, as "simplistic." In his diaries, Eisenhower had a more critical assessments of Knowland, who he said "has no foreign policy, except to develop high blood pressure whenever he mentions 'Red China'. In his case, there seems to be no final answer to the question, 'How stupid can you get?'"
Taft and Eisenhower left a legacy of how two former adversaries were able to leave past political grudges in the past, and work together in an atmosphere of civility and mutual respect for larger national goals, as well as how to disagree agreeably, and how not to let policy disagreements become personal.