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Robert Alphonso Taft, Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953), son of President William Howard Taft, was a leading Republican Senator (1938–53) and known as "Mr. Republican". He was a leader of the Conservative Coalition, working with other Northern Republicans and some Southern Democrats to control Congress on most domestic issues (aside from civil rights, which the conservative Republicans supported while the Boll Weevils opposed). Little major legislation passed the Senate against his objections. His crowning achievement was writing and passing the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 over President Truman's veto. It balanced the interests of unions, management and the...

At the 1952 GOP Convention, the outcome of the nomination battle been Sen Robert Taft of Ohio and General of the Army Dwight D Eisenhower would turn on whose delegates would be seated from three Southern states — Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. In this memorable speech, Taft ally Sen Everett Dirksen deployed all of his renowned eloquence for 30 minutes - apparently without notes or teleprompter! - to make the case for the Taft delegates ( and to take a famous swipe at NY Gov Tom Dewey, who was managing the Eisenhower floor campaign, but had “led us down to...

Reenactment: to repeat the actions of an earlier event or incident ---Merriam-Webster Dictionary. If looks could kill, Thomas Dewey might have been dead before he could have been nominated for president in 1948. At least according to a supposed reenactment on last night's episode of Race for the White House about the 1948 Truman vs Dewey presidential race.The reenactment portrayed Senator Robert Taft walking by Dewey and giving him a death stare before he continued on. You can see Taft's deadly glare at the 11:00 mark of the video below. The problem is for there to be an accurate reenactment there...

…Why did I vote against the Atlantic Pact? I wanted to vote for it-at least I wanted to vote to let Russia know that if she attacked western Europe, the United States would be in the war. I believe that would be a deterrent to war… We issued just this warning in the Monroe Doctrine, and though we were a much less powerful nation, it prevented aggression against Central and South America. That was only a President’s message to Congress, and there were no treaty obligations, and no arms for other nations. But it was one of the most effective...

The Robert Taft Republicans Return - Isolationism has never served the interests of America, or the GOP. 'We'll be lucky to get 80 Republicans out of 230." That's an astute GOP congressman's best guess for how his caucus now stands on the vote to authorize military force against Syria. At town hall meetings in their districts, the congressman reports, House Republicans are hearing "an isolationist message." It's not America's war. The evidence that the Assad regime used chemical weapons is ambiguous, maybe cooked. There isn't a compelling national interest to intervene. "Let Allah sort it out." We'd be coming in...

Syria's butcher Bashir Assad could end up toppling British Prime Minister David Cameron and not the other way around, while also giving Russia a big boost back on to the Great Power stage and green lighting Tehran's most ambitious and sparky plans in its mountain tunnel complexes. Along the way he has exposed President Obama as feckless and fearful. The president and his team are scrambling to remind lawmakers of what the Commander-in-Chief ought to have long ago argued to the country: When the good guys blink, the bad guys notice. Lots and lots of blinking. Most of the people...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Monday that Republicans can win in New England and on the West Coast if they’re willing to drop a “we need to bomb everybody tomorrow” foreign policy. “I think one of the problems we face, as a Republican party, is that we’re behind the eight-ball to begin with,” Paul said on CBS’ “This Morning.” “We’re not winning the West Coast. We’re not winning New England. Maybe we need to embrace more Ron Paul Republicans, more libertarian Republicans. … It means people who are little bit less aggressive on foreign policy. They believe in defending the...

On February 1, 1944, two unlikely allies in the United States Senate—Robert Wagner (D-New York) and Robert Taft (R-Ohio)—introduced a resolution that caused shockwaves around the globe. Their initiative advocated American support for “free and unlimited entry of Jews into Palestine for the creation of a Jewish commonwealth.” This was a bold move and one that put the Roosevelt administration on the spot. Nearly five years earlier, the British government had released a White Paper on the issue of Palestine—one that largely abandoned the Jewish people in that region. Since the 1917 Balfour Declaration and during the period of the...

Many of you know that I help organize the Duncan Hunter "meetup" group(s). I decided to peek in at the "competition" and found it very interesting that Ron Paul supporters are being urged to attend the MoveOn.org rally.... http://ronpaul.meetup.com/1/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3421862 I post this because I know there are a lot of folks on FR that support Ron Paul.. I just wonder if you are participating in this effort.. or what you think about this whole business of catering to MoveOn.org .... quote from an active Ron Paul supporter Somebody posted a thread concerning moveon, and letting their members know about Ron...

Robert A. Taft More than "Mr. Republican" In 1947, Republican Senator Robert A. Taft was at the peak of his power, commanding a coalition of conservative Republicans and southern Democrats to thwart President Harry S. Truman's domestic agenda. Taft's most impressive achievement came in June. The labor-restricting Taft-Hartley Act survived Truman's veto and won Taft the admiration of the press corps. Yet he did not seek the highest political office in the Senate; indeed, the title "majority leader" would not precede his name until 1953. Taft finally accepted the role only after he deemed his ultimate goal–the presidency–to be...

Interview with Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft of the Pontifical Oriental Institute February 4, 2004 By John L. Allen, Jr. Rome Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is scheduled to travel to Moscow Feb. 16-20, 2004 for a meeting with the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexy II. In anticipation of Kasper's trip, NCR Rome correspondent, John L. Allen Jr. sat down with Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Taft, a pioneer in Eastern liturgical studies and a veteran of East/West dialogues, is one of the leading experts on Orthodoxy in the Catholic Church....

La., 12 other states agree to raise high school standards By BEN FELLER AP education writer WASHINGTON -- A coalition of 13 states confirmed plans Sunday to require tougher high school courses and diploma requirements, changes that could affect about one in three students. The announcement is the most tangible sign that the nation's governors, gathered in the capital for a summit on improving high schools, want to see that progress quickly. The participating states have committed to making their core high school classes and tests more rigorous, and to match their graduation standards with the expectations of employers and...

South Dakota U.S. Senate Race Races of the Week: Thune vs. Daschle by John Gizzi Posted Jun 7, 2004 The last time a Senate leader of either party went down to defeat in his home state was in 1952, when Majority Leader Ernest McFarland (D-Ariz.) lost re-election in a spectacular race against a young merchant named Barry Goldwater. McFarland was perceived as too much a part of "the mess in Washington," by Arizona voters, who were willing to jettison his political clout in favor of a fresh candidate with very different ideas. Now, in what is shaping up as the...