[Abridged] Presidential Histories 27.) William Howard Taft 1909-1913
In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft were such great friends, TR personally campaigned for Taft to succeed him to the presidency. Four years later, that relationship was so irrevocably damaged that TR split the GOP in half to deny Taft's reelection.
There's no way around, Taft's presidency was made by Roosevelt, and then it was unmade by Roosevelt. But there's far more to Taft's legacy than just his four years in the White House.
Follow along as Taft pursues a career in the judiciary, gets dragged into politics by President William McKinley, is tasked with rebuilding the Philippines in the midst of a bloody and horrific insurgency, gets put in the White House by his bff Theodore Roosevelt, gets kicked out of the White House by his former bff Theodore Roosevelt, and then becomes the only person in U.S. history to serve as both president of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Bibliography
1. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen
2. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
3. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole
4. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
5. Warren G Harding – John W. Dean