William H. Taft

President: William H. Taft (September 15, 1857 - March 8, 1930)

Term: March 4, 1909 - March 4, 1913

Background: Taft was born on September 15, 1857 near Cincinnati, Ohio. Taft's father, Alphonso Taft, served as Secretary of War under Ulysses S. Grant. Taft attended Woodward High School and then attended Yale College. He graduated second of his class out of 121 students. After Yale, he attended Cincinnati Law School. While there, he worked on the newspaper, The Cincinnati Commercial. Some of his early political positions were Fifth United States Solicitor General, First Civil Governor of the Philippines, 42nd Secretary of War, First Provisional Governor of Cuba, and Tenth Chief Justice to the United States.

Political Party: Republican

Vice-President:

 James S. Sherman (1909-1912)

 None (1912-1913)

Major Domestic Policy: The main reason that Taft was elected was because of the support he received from Roosevelt after he decided not to run for a third term. It was easy to beat William Jennings Bryan because the Republicans had majority over Congress. Despite the support, many controversies surrounded his term. Almost immediately, Representative Payne proposed a low tariff, but by the time the revision done by Congress were done, the tariff had rose many rates. Instead of vetoing it, Taft passed it and called it, "one of the best tariffs passed by the Republicans." Even though Taft's term was surrounded by controversy, he continued to crack down on big business and break up trusts. He passed the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, which gave more power to the ICC and prevented new rates.

Major Foreign Policy: There were no major foreign events during Taft's presidency. Europe wasn't far from a major war, but there were no major events there. Therefore, Taft focused on domestic issues. Taft did practice Dollar Diplomacy, which was a foreign policy adopted by the United States to further its aims in East Asia and Latin America through economic power and loans granted to other countries.

Major Supreme Court Cases:

 Standard Oil Co. of NJ vs. United States (1909): The Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil violated the Sherman Act, but the Sherman Act was amended so that only "unreasonable" contracts would violate the law.

 ICC b. Illinois Central Railroad Company (1909): The Supreme Court ruled that they would only review cases where orders violated the Constitution.

 Coyle vs. Smith (1910): The Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma had the right to locate its seat of government, or it's capital, and that Congress has no right to regulate that.

 Gompers vs. Buck's Stove & Range Company (1910): The Supreme Court refused to reexamine the validity of an injunction made by Samuel Gompers against certain companies because a lower court issued the injunction. However, the convictions were reversed when the lower court treated the case as criminal, when it was actually civil.

 Bailey vs. Alabama (1910): The Supreme Court ruled that an Alabama law that convicted Bailey after he quit his job and did not return the $15 in advance that he received was a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Intellectual and Social Developments:

 First automobile assembly line is built by Henry Ford

 NAACP is formed in 1910

 Women are allowed to vote in Western states

 WWI brings about an end to European migration

 Urban liberalism is common

Taft's Legacy: Taft did not have the political experience and skills to hide his personal conflicts. He also could not compare to the presidency of Roosevelt. He was an overall kind person who sought acceptance, but he had a bit of a temper. He didn't have adequate leadership and did not take the initiative on many issues. He had very few accomplishments during his term in office.

The Tafts had two sons and one daughter. They were

Robert Alphonso Taft (September 8, 1889 - July 31, 1953) lawyer, US Senator ; married Martha Wheaton Bowers; four sons.

Helen Herron Taft Manning (August 1, 1891 - February 21, 1987) professor of history , Dean at Bryn Mawr College; married Frederick Johnson Manning; two daughters.

Charles Phelps Taft II (September 20, 1897 - June 24, 1983) lawyer, mayor of Cinncinati; married Eleanor Kellogg Chase; 5 daughters , 2 sons

Theodore Roosevelt, Geo politician 1901-1909 Republican

Foreign Policy

1. Believed that Americans were superior people destined for supremacy in economic and political

affairs. In order for this to happen, Americans had to strive for greatness, cultivate mental fitness,

build military force, and prepare to fight.

2. International relation expert: understood that U.S. can not rule every portion of the globe through

military or economic reforms. Believed in a balance of power among the industrial nations

through negotiation rather than war. Such a balance would enable each imperial power to safe

guard its key interest and contribute to world peace and progress.

3. Had little patience with claims to sovereignty of small countries or the human rights of weak

people. In his eyes, the peoples of Latin America, Asia (with the exception of Japan) and Africa

as racially inferior and incapable of self-government or industrial progress.

4. Wanted to dominant Western Hemisphere. Warned European powers from interfering in U.S.

interest (Monroe Doctrine).

William Howard Taft, Dollar Diplomat 1909-1913 Republican

Foreign Policy

1. Had experience in dealing with imperialist rivals such as Japan as Roosevelt's secretary of war,

but lacked Roosevelt's grasp of balance of power politics and capacity for leadership in foreign

affairs.

2. Taft's secretary of state, Philander Knox lacked diplomatic expertise. His conduct of foreign

policy focused on expanding opportunities for corporate investment overseas (Dollar Diplomacy).

3. Taft believed that U.S. investments would effectively substitute "dollars for bullets," and thus

offer a more peaceful and less coercive way of maintaining stability and order. No need to flex

military muscle to show off U.S. power like Roosevelt.

4. Try to expand American economic activities in China which encroached on the Japanese sphere of

influence which angered them so they signed a friendship treaty with Russia to exclude U.S. goods

from Manchurian markets.

Woodrow Wilson, Struggling Idealist 1913-1921 Democrat

Foreign Policy

1. policy in the Caribbean similar to predecessors, sent troops to put down a revolution in Haiti,

troops occupied area for 21 years. Dominican Republic (who shared the island of Hispaniola with

the Haitians) refused to accept a treaty making them a protectorate of the U.S. Wilson, forced

them to accept the rule of a U.S. military government.

2. To stop German influence in the Danish West Indies, he purchased the islands from Denmark,

renamed it the Virgin Islands, and added it to the U.S. Caribbean Empire.

3. He intervened militarily in the Caribbean more often than any American president before him.

4. Showed a concern for morality and justice in foreign affairs. Troubled by a foreign policy that

ignored a less powerful nation's right to determine its own future. This ideas and beliefs stems

from his dealings with Mexico. He wanted U.S. foreign policy to advance democratic ideals

and institutions in Mexico. On the one hand, he wanted Mexico to be successful in its efforts to

become self-governing, on the other hand, not trusting Mexico to find its way through its own

revolution, he felt compelled to show them the way. His repeated changes in strategy seemed to

indicate a lack of skill and decisiveness in foreign affairs at first.

5. Wilson recognized something that Roosevelt or Taft had not: that more and more peoples of

the world were determined to control their own destinies. The U.S. under Wilson was looking

for a way to support these peoples' democratic aspirations while safeguarding its own economic

interests.