Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

William H. Taft offers a spoonful of “Square Revision” to an over-sized child labeled “Infant Industries,” telling her that if she does not take the medicine, the “Free Trade” bug-a-boo will get her. Hanging on the wall above is a sign that states, “An ounce of revision is worth a pound of cure.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The advice of President-Elect William H. Taft to American monopolies — that a reasonable downward revision of tariff duties on imported goods would forestall the more radical adoption of free trade or virtual abolition of tariffs — was never tested. When the sixty-first Congress took its seats in March of 1909 it immediately set about a severe increase in duties. This was not expected by the electorate, generally, nor by Taft, who bore much of the criticism.

The sixth draft of a news release with handwritten edits. President Roosevelt formally accepts the Republican presidential nomination. He then reviews several campaign issues and the achievements of his administration, especially focusing on tariffs, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. He also attacks his opponents for their contrary views, especially in regard to downsizing the military and increasing public spending.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-12

Frank S. Cairns explains and details how Cuban revolutionaries receive their funding. Most of the funding is derived domestically, through wealthy Cuban donors. There are rumors that some of their funding originates from the United States but there is no proof of this.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-22

Chaplain Vattmann will be called to meet with President Roosevelt or Secretary of War Taft to discuss “religious-political” matters in Hawaii and the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10

Composite photograph showing President Theodore Roosevelt seated at his desk with Cabinet members superimposed near him. The members are identified as (left to right): Taft, Wilson, Straus, Root, Hitchcock, Cortelyou, Bonaparte, Metcalf and Shaw.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906

President Roosevelt readies his big stick, labeled “1912,” standing above the sleeping form of President Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-1912

President Taft swims in a lake labeled “My policies — T. R.” Two boys observe, the first commenting, “Sure! He’s great big — he’s got de ava de poiz [avoirdupois, “weight, heaviness”] — he can’t sink.” The second says, “Gee! He’s a regular floater.” A moon with President Roosevelt’s face rises in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1908

President Roosevelt thanks Henry L. Stimson for feedback on his speeches. Roosevelt acknowledges Stimson’s information on the arms embargo to Mexico, and says that while he received the information too late to include it in his speeches in Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas City, he will include it in an article he plans to write soon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-27

Theodore Roosevelt is glad that Hector Munro Ferguson liked the new volume. Roosevelt hopes things will come out for Russia as Ferguson believes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-08

Theodore Roosevelt has tried to convince the American people to do their duty regarding the war. However, they have been misled by many politicians and pacifists. Roosevelt suggests that Mrs. Antonio De Viti de Marco and her friends write to Jane Addams and other America pacifists to convince them that their demand for peace and ignorance of “hideous wrongdoing” is the “gravest crime against righteousness.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-06-01

President Roosevelt is driving an automobile labeled “U.S. Government,” with Secretary of War Taft seated next to him in the front and Uncle Sam in the back seat. Behind them is the aftermath of their ‘reckless driving’: a wagon labeled “Panama,” a man labeled “Cuban Revolution,” and a cow labeled “Beef.” They have just run over a man labeled “Brownsville affair” and are headed for a chicken reading “Storer.” Caption: Chauffeur Teddy, – “Anything Ahead Bill?”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907

President Roosevelt addresses a crowd at the University of California at Berkeley. He discusses the educational system of the country, as well as the importance of students leading a life of service after graduation. He highlights the accomplishments of Leonard Wood and William H. Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-14

Cartoon shows Republicans William H. Taft and his opponent Theodore Roosevelt shaking hands. Roosevelt grimaces as he leans against a table, bringing plates, cups, and food tumbling to the floor. His fork flies into the air, but he continues to clutch his knife as if it were a weapon. He wears a badge identifying him as a “Republican Club life member.” A ham on the table is labeled “Patronage.” Taft smiles as he holds a straight razor behind his back. A picture of the Coliseum in Chicago hangs on the wall, a reference to the 1912 site of the Republican Party Convention. A cemetery identified as “hatchet burying ground” is visible through the window. Roosevelt divided the Republican Party in 1912 by running against Taft under the Progressive Party.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Theodre Roosevelt was dining alone at Chicago’s Blackstone Hotel on May 27, 1918 when Taft, by chance staying at that hotel, spotted his former friend and approached with hand outstretched. When they embraced and, indeed, buried the hatchet, diners in the room cheered.

Uncle Sam, in the guise of the hero Siegfried, sits on the shore of a river, surrounded by President Roosevelt, Republican presidential candidate William H. Taft, and Republican vice presidential candidate James H. Sherman dressed as Rhine Maidens. They try to coax Uncle Sam into giving them the ring, which symbolizes the power of the presidency. In the background, William Jennings Bryan, Democratic candidate for the presidency, as Brunhilde, Siegfried’s lover in the opera, awakens to see the Republicans warning Uncle Sam of the doom that will follow if he does not turn over the presidency. To the right, standing close to the river bank, an American eagle holds a music book in his hand marked “Bird Motif–O-Say Can You See.” The words of this motif are intended to wake up Bryan to what is happening between Roosevelt and Taft while he sleeps.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Published a month before election day in 1908. Another cartoon in the series in Life Magazine, The Teddysey, depicting Roosevelt’s life and career via mythological allusions. The series later was collected in book form. 

Former President Roosevelt, dressed in tattered overalls, makes a threatening gesture toward President Taft, who is dressed in the period costume of a pampered, affluent child. An elegantly clad Columbia leads Taft into a doorway guarded by Uncle Sam.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Published in Life Magazine one month before the 1912 election in which Roosevelt, as Progressive Party candidate, challenged the incumbent President Taft.

President Woodrow Wilson emerges from the “River of Doubt” carrying clothes labeled “Popularity,” “Leadership,” and “Progressivism.” Former President Theodore Roosevelt is unclothed in the river and appears to be throwing a tantrum, while William H. Taft looks on. Caption: Willie: Goody, goody! you stole mine, Mr. Smarty, an’ kept ’em seven years!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1916

Roosevelt and Taft stand at the head of an elephant (representing the G.O.P) saddled with two chairs. While the president’s chair has a sign on it noting that it is reserved, the vice president’s chair is vacant. Roosevelt pulls on the elephant’s trunk attempting to move it while Taft looks on. Charles Evans Hughes sits in the window of a building labeled “Governor’s Office, Albany.” Timothy L. Woodruff holds a ladder through a street floor window with a sign on it reading “It might taper down to Tim.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1908-01-30

William H. Taft, on the left, stands with his head in the cone of a Dictaphone, speaking with arms extended. The Dictaphone is mounted on a table labeled “records for campaign use.” On the right side is Theodore Roosevelt, with his big stick propped up nearby, who is listening through a telephone to the Dictaphone.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1908-08-05

This vignette cartoon depicts ways to protect President William H. Taft from the weather, the public, and from poisoning and other possible assassination methods. The “Reason,” the cartoon states, is Vice President J. S. Sherman. Caption: The only high protection that Puck stands for.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This theme-and-variations cartoon in Puck, at this time a rough monthly standard feature, appeared a month after the election of William H. Taft to the presidency and almost three months before his inauguration.

President Roosevelt, wearing a William H. Taft campaign button and carrying a miniature White House, declares to William Loeb that Washington, D.C., is indeed the place for them. Roosevelt’s bulldog Pete follows along at his feet. A teddy bear exclaims, “Just gaze at the improvements since June! My!” while a biplane circles the Capitol.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-1908