William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft
Author :
Publisher : Times Books
Total Pages : 206
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781250293695
ISBN-13 : 1250293693
Rating : 4/5 (95 Downloads)

Book Synopsis William Howard Taft by : Jeffrey Rosen

Download or read book William Howard Taft written by Jeffrey Rosen and published by Times Books. This book was released on 2018-03-20 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only man to serve as president and chief justice, who approached every decision in constitutional terms, defending the Founders’ vision against new populist threats to American democracy William Howard Taft never wanted to be president and yearned instead to serve as chief justice of the United States. But despite his ambivalence about politics, the former federal judge found success in the executive branch as governor of the Philippines and secretary of war, and he won a resounding victory in the presidential election of 1908 as Theodore Roosevelt’s handpicked successor. In this provocative assessment, Jeffrey Rosen reveals Taft’s crucial role in shaping how America balances populism against the rule of law. Taft approached each decision as president by asking whether it comported with the Constitution, seeking to put Roosevelt’s activist executive orders on firm legal grounds. But unlike Roosevelt, who thought the president could do anything the Constitution didn’t forbid, Taft insisted he could do only what the Constitution explicitly allowed. This led to a dramatic breach with Roosevelt in the historic election of 1912, which Taft viewed as a crusade to defend the Constitution against the demagogic populism of Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Nine years later, Taft achieved his lifelong dream when President Warren Harding appointed him chief justice, and during his years on the Court he promoted consensus among the justices and transformed the judiciary into a modern, fully equal branch. Though he had chafed in the White House as a judicial president, he thrived as a presidential chief justice.


William Howard Taft Related Books

The American President
Language: en
Pages: 903
Authors: William E. Leuchtenburg
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-11-19 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The American President is an enthralling account of American presidential actions from the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 to Bill Clinton's last nigh
William Howard Taft
Language: en
Pages: 206
Authors: Jeffrey Rosen
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-03-20 - Publisher: Times Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The only man to serve as president and chief justice, who approached every decision in constitutional terms, defending the Founders’ vision against new populi
Andrew Johnson
Language: en
Pages: 188
Authors: Annette Gordon-Reed
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-01-18 - Publisher: Macmillan

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian recounts the tale of the unwanted president who ran afoul of Congress over Reconstruction and was nearly removed from office
Martin Van Buren
Language: en
Pages: 208
Authors: Edward L. Widmer
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-01-05 - Publisher: Macmillan

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The first president born after America's independence ushers in a new era of no-holds-barred democracy The first "professional politician" to become president,
Ulysses S. Grant
Language: en
Pages: 206
Authors: Josiah Bunting
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004-09-08 - Publisher: Macmillan

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Publisher Description