William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft PDF Author: Jeffrey Rosen
Publisher: Times Books
ISBN: 1250293693
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
The only man to serve as president and chief justice, who approached every decision in constitutional terms, defending the Founders’ vision against new populist threats to American democracy William Howard Taft never wanted to be president and yearned instead to serve as chief justice of the United States. But despite his ambivalence about politics, the former federal judge found success in the executive branch as governor of the Philippines and secretary of war, and he won a resounding victory in the presidential election of 1908 as Theodore Roosevelt’s handpicked successor. In this provocative assessment, Jeffrey Rosen reveals Taft’s crucial role in shaping how America balances populism against the rule of law. Taft approached each decision as president by asking whether it comported with the Constitution, seeking to put Roosevelt’s activist executive orders on firm legal grounds. But unlike Roosevelt, who thought the president could do anything the Constitution didn’t forbid, Taft insisted he could do only what the Constitution explicitly allowed. This led to a dramatic breach with Roosevelt in the historic election of 1912, which Taft viewed as a crusade to defend the Constitution against the demagogic populism of Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Nine years later, Taft achieved his lifelong dream when President Warren Harding appointed him chief justice, and during his years on the Court he promoted consensus among the justices and transformed the judiciary into a modern, fully equal branch. Though he had chafed in the White House as a judicial president, he thrived as a presidential chief justice.

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft PDF Author: Jeffrey Rosen
Publisher: Times Books
ISBN: 1250293693
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
The only man to serve as president and chief justice, who approached every decision in constitutional terms, defending the Founders’ vision against new populist threats to American democracy William Howard Taft never wanted to be president and yearned instead to serve as chief justice of the United States. But despite his ambivalence about politics, the former federal judge found success in the executive branch as governor of the Philippines and secretary of war, and he won a resounding victory in the presidential election of 1908 as Theodore Roosevelt’s handpicked successor. In this provocative assessment, Jeffrey Rosen reveals Taft’s crucial role in shaping how America balances populism against the rule of law. Taft approached each decision as president by asking whether it comported with the Constitution, seeking to put Roosevelt’s activist executive orders on firm legal grounds. But unlike Roosevelt, who thought the president could do anything the Constitution didn’t forbid, Taft insisted he could do only what the Constitution explicitly allowed. This led to a dramatic breach with Roosevelt in the historic election of 1912, which Taft viewed as a crusade to defend the Constitution against the demagogic populism of Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Nine years later, Taft achieved his lifelong dream when President Warren Harding appointed him chief justice, and during his years on the Court he promoted consensus among the justices and transformed the judiciary into a modern, fully equal branch. Though he had chafed in the White House as a judicial president, he thrived as a presidential chief justice.

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft PDF Author: Kieran Doherty
Publisher: Children's Press(CT)
ISBN: 9780516229676
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
Lawyer William Howard Taft was a state judge at 30 years of age and a federal judge at the age of 34. He served as secretary of war to President Theodore Roosevelt, a close friend, then followed Roosevelt to the White House in 1909. Taft took strong action against abuses in big business and encouraged government reform, but he lost the confidence of Republicans who supported Roosevelt and battled with Congress. In 1912, Roosevelt ran against Taft for the presidency, dividing Republicans and helping to elect Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Eight years later, Taft achieved a life-long ambition, becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Book jacket.

William Howard Taft, American

William Howard Taft, American PDF Author: Robert Lee Dunn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Judges
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description


William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft PDF Author: David Henry Burton
Publisher: St. Joseph's University Press
ISBN: 9780916101503
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
All this is spelled out in William Howard Taft: Confident Peacemaker, a landmark study, relying on historical analysis and supplemented by critical documentation."--BOOK JACKET.

William Howard Taft and the Philippines

William Howard Taft and the Philippines PDF Author: Adam D. Burns
Publisher: Legacies of War
ISBN: 9781621905691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
"Adam Burns explores the American imperial venture in the Philippines through the lens of a single individual: William Howard Taft. Taft held a number of positions (head of the second Philippine Commission, first US civil governor of the islands, US Secretary of War, and US president) which mark him out from others in the period as an individual of unparalleled influence over US-Philippine policy during its formative years. Although initially a skeptic of imperialism, Taft came to believe that the best course for US-Philippine relations was a permanent imperial bond much like the relationship between Great Britain and Canada or Australia at the time. Based largely on personal correspondence and other primary documentation, this books researches in great depth Taft and his views on empire-building from 1900 to 1921, when Taft was appointed to the Supreme Court"--

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft PDF Author: Jeffrey Rosen
Publisher: Times Books
ISBN: 0805069542
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Highlights the life and accomplishments of the twenty-seventh president of the United States, also the only man in history to hold the top job in two of the three branches of United States government.

The William Howard Taft Presidency

The William Howard Taft Presidency PDF Author: Lewis L. Gould
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700616748
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
The 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 clichs 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.

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft PDF Author: Jonathan Lurie
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139502174
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
In this biographical study of the only American ever to have been both President and Chief Justice of the United States, Jonathan Lurie reassesses William Howard Taft's multiple careers, which culminated in Taft's election to the presidency in 1908 as the chosen successor to Theodore Roosevelt. By 1912, however, the relationship between Taft and Roosevelt had ruptured. Lurie re-examines the Taft–Roosevelt friendship and concludes that it rested on flimsy ground. He also places Taft in a progressive context, taking Taft's own self-description as 'a believer in progressive conservatism' as the starting point. At the end of his biography, Lurie concludes that this label is accurate when applied to Taft.

William Howard Taft, American

William Howard Taft, American PDF Author: Robert Lee Dunn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The Presidency of William Howard Taft

The Presidency of William Howard Taft PDF Author: Paolo Enrico Coletta
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Analyzes Taft's domestic and foreign policies and the nature and extent of his leadership as president.