T.R. and Will : A Friendship That Split the Republican Party

by William Manners

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151910812
• ISBN13: 9780151910816
• Release Date: January 1969
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace* Co
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Friendship Turned Tragic

"TR & Will" is in the nature of a dual biography of these two presidential friends turned bitter enemies, over about a thirty year period from 1890 to TR's death in 1919. Both arrived in Washington in 1890, TR as a member of the Civil Service Commission and Taft to serve as Solicitor General. Taft accepted his position as a supposed stepping stone to the U. S. Supreme Court. As TR rose to the Presidency, he would be instrumental in guiding Taft to either executive or judicial office. While Taft longed for the reflective life of the judiciary, his wife, Helen, lived for life in the White House. It was TR who sent Taft on a diplomatic mission to Asia with Alice Roosevelt and appointed him to the posts of Governor General of the Philippines and Secretary of War. In 1902, TR offered Taft a Supreme Court appointment but Taft, at Helen's urging, declined, citing his obligation to the Philippine assignment. In 1906, an enhanced offer was extended with the added promise that, if the Chief Justiceship would become vacant during TR's term, Taft would be elevated to that position. The offer was, again, declined because, as son Charlie Taft said, "Ma wants him to wait and be President." TR's election night, 1905, statement that he would never "be a candidate for or accept another nomination" started a race to succeed him in 1908. The three leading candidates were Elihu Root, whose corporate ties made him unelectable, Charles Evans Hughes, whom TR disliked, and Taft. Upon selecting Taft, TR proceeded to work for his election, at times more vigorously than did Taft himself.With the commencement of the transfer of power, wariness entered the relationship. Although TR stayed true to his word, the Tafts remained worried that the convention, on its own initiative, would nominate TR. When the Roosevelt demonstration outlasted Taft's, the signs seemed ominous until the roll call completed the hand over of the GOP to Taft.Throughout the 1908 campaign, TR's dissatisfaction with Taft grew, but nevertheless, the Tafts were White House guests of the Roosevelts on the eve of the Inauguration. The Inauguration Day blizzard was claimed by Roosevelt, "I knew there'd be a blizzard when I went out" and by Taft "You're wrong, it is my storm. I always said it would be a cold day when I got to be President of the United States."Throughout Taft's administration, TR remained the 800 pound gorilla whose approval Taft always desired, but never totally achieved. While on an African safari, TR received disturbing rumors of policy and personnel changes made by Taft. During his regal tour of Europe, the TR tide role as Taft watched with helplessness and trepidation.Upon his triumphant return to the states, TR adopted a gradually more aggressive posture toward Taft leading to their rivalry for the 1912 nomination. After TR won the primaries but lost in the convention due to, in the minds of TR and his supporters, dishonorable tactics, an acrimonious split occurred as