The William Howard Taft Presidency (American Presidency Series) Review

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The William Howard Taft Presidency (American Presidency Series) ReviewNot much has been written about William Howard Taft's Presidency, especially in its own right. When one thinks of the turn of the century, attention turns naturally to the energetic, trust-busting, roustabout populism of that denizen of Mount Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt, or to the crucial years of Woodrow Wilson and his stewardship during the First World War. Considering the critical leadership (and high historical appreciation) of those two Presidents, it becomes very easy to gloss over or misunderstand Taft's own years in the White House, especially since he is lost in the middle of two seminal two-term Presidents.
This is not to say that Taft was a spectacularly effective, or even critically important, President. There is a reason that he has been consigned to the metaphorical dust heap of history. What Gould finally addresses, evenhandedly, are the inner workings and struggles of Taft in an office he was never truly suited to inhabit. Here, one gets a sense of looking over Taft's shoulder as he attempts to shun the image of Roosevelt's iconic grappling of presidential power. Let's face it: just as John Adams, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson were unfairly crushed in popular opinion by the shadow of their predecessors, so Taft could never hope to succeed following TR. Gould covers that crucial point and also elaborates on a number of critical mistakes that Taft made that hurt his cause. In fact, Taft's presidency reads as a manual of all the things NOT to do in order to succeed in the White House: lose the public image battle (WHT's love of golf as his recreational habit simultaneously portrays him as "elitist" and exposes him to unflattering photographs highlighting his weight, further contrasting him with TR), issue confusing contradictions of public policy decisions, hire unqualified people to handle your crucial departments, and add a healthy dose of bad luck and controversial economic decisions to the mix.
The bottom line about the book is: this is THE book to read about WHT AND also essential for anybody interested in the era. Not only does Taft's foreign policy decisions foreshadow WWI and Latin American troubles of the 20th Century, but Gould always highlights, correctly, how Taft's presidency led to the modern Republican party. By reneging on his promise to extend TR's progressive agenda, he caused a schism in the GOP that expelled the more progressive and moderate members of the party into independent and Democratic causes. As a result, the Republican party maintained its approval of laissez-faire economics and dissaproval of union power, at the expense of its more progressive social policy base. As a result, the Democratic party ascended to the major party of power for most of the 20th Century until the 1970s. Until Nixon, the Republicans were only able to elect Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and Eisenhower to the Oval Office. In that way, Taft influenced 20th Century politics in his most pervasive way. At 215 pages, it is an easy read, and Gould pentrates the inner workings of this deceptively simple time in ways that keeps the reader engaged throughout the narrative.
For those of you who are trying to read a biography of every president, this is the one to read for Taft.The William Howard Taft Presidency (American Presidency Series) OverviewThe only president to later serve as chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft remarked in the 1920s that "I don't remember that I ever was President." Historians have agreed, and Taft is usually portrayed, when written about at all, as nothing more than a failed chief executive. In this provocative new study, the first treatment of the Taft presidency in four decades, Lewis L. Gould presents a compelling assessment of Taft's accomplishments and setbacks in office. Rich in human interest and fresh analysis of the events of Taft's four years in Washington, Gould's book shows why Taft's presidency is very much worth remembering on its own terms.Gould argues that Taft wanted to be president and had an ambitious agenda when he took power in March 1909. Approaching his duties more as a judge than as a charismatic executive in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt, Taft soon found himself out of step with public opinion. Gould shows how the Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy squandered Taft's political capital and prepared the ground for Democratic victories in the elections of 1910 and 1912. His seamless narrative provides innovative treatments of these crucial episodes to make Taft's presidency more understandable than in any previous account. On Canadian Reciprocity, Dollar Diplomacy, and international arbitration, Gould's well-researched work goes beyond earlier stale clichés about Taft's administration to link his tenure to the evolution of the modern presidency. Taft emerges as a hard-working but flawed executive who lacked the excitement of Theodore Roosevelt or the inspiration of Woodrow Wilson. The break with Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 doomed the Taft presidency, and Gould supplies an evenhanded analysis of the erosion of their once warm friendship. At bottom, the two men clashed about the nature of presidential power, and Gould traces with insight how this personal and ideological rupture influenced the future of the Republican party and the course of American politics. In Gould's skilled hands, this neglected presidency again comes alive. Leaving the White House in 1913, Taft wrote that "the people of the United States did not owe me another election." What his presidency deserved is the lively and wise appraisal of his record in office contained in this superb book.This book is part of the American Presidency Series.

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