Former President Taft's Forgotten World War I Involvement

William Howard Taft
27th President of the United States

Before his presidency, William Howard Taft had been an invaluable public servant. He had served President Theodore Roosevelt exceedingly well as governor-general of the Philippines and as Secretary of War during his second administration. With help from Roosevelt, but also with much work on his own, Taft secured the Republican nomination in 1908, then triumphed over his Democratic opponent William Jennings Bryan. Taft was a quiet, competent president, who kept the nation out of war (notably the Mexican Revolution) and improved relations with Canada.  

Roosevelt, however, felt that Taft's approach had been insufficiently activist and concluded that he alone could lead the nation in the right direction. Taft did not view the presidency as a "Bully Pulpit" for urging support for a progressive program. Roosevelt recklessly decided to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination. After Taft prevailed, at a bitterly contested national convention, Roosevelt refused to accept defeat. Putting personal pride over the party of which he had been a member his whole life, Roosevelt formed a new third party, thereby ensuring that Wilson would win the election.  

Taft's enormous skills and experience, nevertheless, subsequently kept him  involved in the affairs of  the nation after he left office. Here, it must be pointed out that the cartoonish portrayal of him, then and now—granted he was America's stoutest president—is very misleading. He was always ambitious, highly energized, and productive in any pursuit he chose to follow. After leaving office, he lived in New Haven and taught at Yale. He gave dozens of major speeches; he wrote articles and books; and he established himself as a bipartisan senior statesman. Then came war.

Inevitably, like Roosevelt, his voice would be heard during the run-up to America's involvement in the war; and, unlike Roosevelt, he would be trusted enough by President Wilson to hold an appointive position in the wartime government and be welcomed as a supporter and advisor. Below are some of the numerous ways Taft made his views known or contributed to the war effort. The tragedy of the war had deeply concerned Taft from its outbreak. In September 1914, he wrote to a friend, "I never expected to live to see such a disaster to the human race."

League to Enforce the Peace, 1915
President Taft Center

1.  The League to Enforce Peace

In 1915, as the European war expanded into a World War,  both former presidents Roosevelt and Taft encouraged the formation of an international organization to agree upon the arbitration of disputes and to guarantee the territorial integrity of its members by maintaining military forces sufficient to defeat those of any non-member. Many notable Americans enlisted in the effort, and they elected William Howard Taft as their first president. The group remained consistent advocates for an international approach to avoiding war up to the group's dissolution in 1923.

2.  The Preparedness Movement

He supported the national movement to prepare for hostilities if America was drawn into the war after the Lusitania sinking. In March 1917, Taft demonstrated his personal commitment to the effort by joining the Connecticut State Guard. Although he continually advocated peace, he strongly favored conscription once the United States entered the conflict, pleading publicly that the United States not fight a "finicky" war. He feared the war would be long but was for fighting it out to a finish, given what he viewed as "Germany's brutality."

Taft Sees His Youngest Son Charles Off to War

3.  The American Red Cross

Taft served as a chairman of the American Red Cross's executive committee, contributing to humanitarian efforts during the war. On behalf of the organization, in 1916, Taft made an appeal to the State Department to ask the British government to allow humanitarian aid to pass to the Central Powers.

4.  The Legal Argument for America's Declaration of War

Two months after Congress declared war, the former president made a speech at Union College explaining the legal justification for calling the nation to war. It served as a rallying call for Americans to support the war effort, while concluding that significant sacrifices would be needed before the war could be won.  A text of the full speech can be found HERE.  

5.  The Covenanter

In the summer of 1919,  the League to Enforce Peace published a book of essays, The Covenanter: An American Exposition of the Covenant of the League of Nations, modeled on the Federalist Papers. It delivered a copy to every member of Congress.  Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell, former Attorney-General George W. Wickersham, and former President Taft were the co-authors. The former president was the co-author of this collection of essays modeled on the Federalist Papers

6. The National War Labor Board

During the First World War, he accepted an invitation from President Wilson to serve as co-chairman of the National War Labor Board, a role in which he often sided with labor against management. Although it opposed the disruption of war production by strikes, it supported an eight-hour day for workers, equal pay for women, and the right to organize unions and bargain collectively. Its most memorable action was advising President Wilson to temporarily nationalize Western Union's vast telegram line network for the duration of the war to avoid a strike.

A Pro-Labor Poster from the War

7.  The League of Nations

After the Armistice, Taft actively supported Woodrow Wilson's attempts to persuade Congress to agree that United States should join the League of Nations.

When Chief Justice Edward White died in 1921, President Warren Harding named Taft as the next chief justice. Although Taft was not a great president, he is considered an outstanding chief justice. He served until his death in 1930.

Sources:   Portions of this article was adapted from  political biographer Walter Stahr's website HERE. (Mr. Stahr has a biography in preparation on President Taft.); Supreme Court sources; Spartacus; Wikipedia; Library of Congress