Chapter 9 Part 4 Taft Pages

Terms Gifford Pinchot William Howard Taft Payne-Aldrich Tariff Bull Moose Party Woodrow Wilson

Taft Yale Law School Circuit Ct. Judge Taught Law at Yale Civilian governor of the Philippines Sec. of War President Supreme Court Chief Justice

Taft

Election of 1908 TR chose not to run Hand-Picked Taft as his successor Helped to campaign for Taft Democratic candidate: Wm. Jennings Bryan (3 rd time Presidential candidate)

Taft’s Campaign Slogan: Vote for Taft this time. You can vote for Bryan anytime. Taft Won TR left the country for 2 years believing the country was in good hands Safari with son, World tour with wife

Taft in office Not as popular as TR Did not use Bully Pulpit Many said TAFT stood for Take Advice from Teddy Taft wanted to show he was his own man

He decided to tackle the Tariff TR stayed away from the Tariff issue Progressive Republicans wanted a lower one BUT Conservative Reps liked a high tariff TR was afraid of splitting the party

The Payne-Aldrich Tariff Taft asked congress for a lower tariff The Payne-Aldrich tariff reported out of the House as a lower tariff BUT 600 changes were made to it in the Senate and it was even higher than before! Made Taft look foolish

Taft and Trusts Taft busted twice as many trusts as TR Unlike TR he believed all trusts were bad Busted 90 trusts in his 4-year term But Teddy still colled the Trust Buster

Taft and Conservation The Problem Progressives wanted to conserve land and resources for the public Conservatives wanted the government to make the land available for sale to businessmen who wanted to develop it

Ballanger named Sec of the Interior Ballanger was a wealthy lawyer Made 1 million acres of land available for development A minor official in the department protested and was fired by Ballanger Pinchot testified against Ballanger in front of the Senate Taft fired Pinchot!

TR returned! Was unhappy with Taft over Tariff, Conservation, Trusts. TR decided to run again in 1912 Conservative Republicans backed Taft Progressive Republicans backed TR

In the Meantime Republicans fighting each other in the House The Speaker was a conservative and backed by Taft The Progressives stripped him of power with the help of Democrats

Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a progressive Democrat Believed all trusts were bad Was President of Princeton Reform Governor of New Jersey

Ugly campaign Taft called TR a radical Egotist TR called Taft a Fathead and said he had a brain the size of a guinea pig Wilson rose above it

Election of 1912 Note split in Rep. Party and split in progressive vote Wilson (Dem)435 Taft (Conservative Rep)8 TR (Progressive Rep)88 –Bull Moose Party Debs (socialist)0