By 1910, most Americans were wistfully recalling "the good old days" of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, especially when they compared his colorful personality to the dispassionate William Howard Taft. Roosevelt had chosen Taft to be his successor in the 1908 elections, believing him to be a leader with "a scorn of all that is base and mean, a hearty sympathy with the oppressed … [and possessed of a] kindly generosity of nature which makes him feel that all his countrymen are in very truth his friends and brothers." He hoped Taft would further progressive reform in the U.S.
Taft actually yearned to be a judge, but his wife Helen had higher aspirations and convinced him to listen to Roosevelt. Bowing to his wife’s wishes, Taft accepted the president’s support. Hearing that Taft would willingly ride in to the presidency on his coattails, Roosevelt recommended the amiable man and actively campaigned for him.
Almost immediately upon Taft’s election, Roosevelt set out in grand style for adventure. Accompanied by journalists and a film crew, he departed for Africa to hunt big game, taking with him a spirit and flamboyance that the public sorely missed in the president’s office. Gone now were the energy and the candor that had captivated Americans. Colorful comments such as "No statesman has been a saint and no tyrant without some color of virtue," and stories of Roosevelt’s antics as an advocate of the "strenuous life" had once entertained America’s newspaper readers on a regular basis. Now these stories were replaced with society columns detailing the president’s favorite phonograph recordings, which Taft and his wife listened to on the south portico of the White House, and articles on developments in tariff revision and the new president’s golf scores. In fact, the biggest news stories usually dealt with Helen Herron Taft’s flawless social events and international entertaining. As one of her many social coups, Mrs. Taft managed to convince the mayor of Tokyo to donate three thousand cherry trees to be planted along the Potomac River in the nation’s capital. Unfortunately, Helen Taft suffered a stroke in 1909 and was forced to forgo much of the entertaining she had done in her initial year as first lady.
The public looked instead to other events as newsworthy. They followed the daily adventures of such inspired millionaires as the railroad director W. G. McAdoo and automobile manufacturer Henry Ford. They were enthralled by international explorers and national acquisitions. Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911. The following year, Arizona and New Mexico became the forty-seventh and forty-eighth states to enter the union.
Public Attention Wanes
Even Taft himself seemed to sense the public’s disapproval of his demeanor when, on election day, he observed a Washington, D.C. snow-storm outside his window and commented wryly that, "Even the elements do protest."
Taft’s conservative presidency seemed a disappointment to most Americans. They had enjoyed watching the antics of the outspoken "bull moose," Theodore Roosevelt. Now they preferred to follow Roosevelt’s travels in Africa rather than attend to their new leader.
Taft was so pale a character in comparison to Roosevelt that even though he busted trusts more readily than his predecessor, the public paid little attention to his efforts. So it was barely noticed when Taft pushed two pieces of legislation through Congress that wouldn’t become law until Wilson’s tenure as president. These laws strengthened earlier trust legislation: The Federal Trade Commission Act, passed in September 1914, established the Federal Trade Commission to oversee fair competition and eliminate monopolies; the Clayton Antitrust Act, which took effect just three weeks later, outlawed mergers and business practices that would eliminate competition. It also declared that labor unions and farm organizations did not restrain trade.
Taft’s own colleagues criticized and disapproved of his efforts to work with the Old Guard. The Old Guard was made up of powerful business and banking leaders, who attempted to control legislation so that it would favor them, and of politicians who supported this pro-big business policy. Taft was too conservative in the minds of those who had rallied around Roosevelt. The former president had been a spokesman for the Progressive movement, which supported government reforms that would help American workers earn better wages, and have better working and living conditions by eliminating some of the power wielded by the big businesses.
Gifford Pinchot, head of the Forestry Service and a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, wrote, "I knew the fire had gone out of it…. Washington was a dead town. Its leader was gone, and in his place a man whose fundamental desire was to keep out of trouble." In the end, Pinchot may have been involved in the only fiery moment in Taft’s presidency when the conservationist accused Secretary of the Department of Interior, Richard A. Ballinger of abandoning Roosevelt’s conservation policies. The charge was made after Pinchot discovered that a private syndicate was developing coal properties in Alaska with Ballinger’s permission. This was a direct blow to Roosevelt’s earlier conservation efforts. Incurring the wrath of liberal Republicans, including Roosevelt, Taft supported Ballinger and fired Pinchot.
