The sad part about the Roosevelt saga...is that the number one choice for McKinley for VP was Elihu Root.
If you ever pull up the bio on the guy....he was probably one of the capable executives that ever existed....bright...very capable. If he had been VP...you would have had a very focused period, and a lot less executive orders. Taft would have been there in 1912, and likely entered WW I by spring of 2015, and the war would have ended earlier.
and if Reagan had insisted on his pal Paul Laxalt for VP we would have been spared the Bush-GOPe ascendancy.
You think Taft would have entered WW1 earlier?