The Importance of Race in American Politics

Today’s episode is all about William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. The only person on our nation’s history to serve both as Commander-In-Chief and as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Taft is one of those people in history with the sad fate of having his name forever recalled…alongside someone else’s.  But really, what did you expect would happen to the man Theodore Roosevelt picked to be his successor.  As we’ll soon see, with friends like these…..

Today we will hear from two experts, Dr. Christopher McKnight Nichols and Dan Okert, on Taft’s life and era, and how he dealt with the racial issues of his day. Together they highlighted two critical themes: 

• The national conversation about race no longer focused predominately on African Americans and Native Americans, but turned toward Eastern European and Asian immigrants as well.
• The role of science in racial thinking

To learn more about our guests, read show notes, and more, visit pastpromisepresidency.com!