Book release today: William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Administration

McFarland Publishers Co. ^ | Aug 28, 2003 | Michael L. Bromley

[nicollo]

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640, USA.

Press Release

William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909–1913

by

Michael L. Bromley

ISBN: 0-7864-1475-8
447pp. 86 photographs, statistics, notes, glossaries, appendices, bibliography, index $49.95 illustrated case binding (7 x 10) 2003

William Howard Taft declared, “I am sure the automobile coming in as a toy of the wealthier class is going to prove the most useful of them all to all classes, rich and poor.” Unlike his predecessors, who made public their disdain for the automobile, Taft saw the automobile industry as a great source of wealth for this country. The first president to acquire a car in office (Congress granted him three automobiles), Taft is responsible for there being a White House garage in 1909.

This is a look at the Taft presidency, his cars, his relationship to the automobile and the role of the automobile in the politics of his day. Appendices provide information on the White House garage and stable, Taft’s speech to the Automobile Club of America and a glossary of terms and names.

Michael L. Bromley is a writer of political and social commentary and automotive history. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

All rights reserved.

[nicollo]

Yeah, I've been off. Crunch time is the months before publication, dealing with proofs, indexes, etc. My time on or off FR is a directly related to work or play. FR gets my in-between time! It was work through June, and play all Summer.

Hope you're well, and thanks!

[nicollo]

That's awful good of you, and I'd like nothing more than to sign a copy for you. If you'd like, you can purchase directly from me at my website http://www.stretching-it.com/taft/taft_intro.htm , but I'm not supposed to say that on FR...

I'd be honored to pen a thanks to the great and fun Miss Marple!

[nicollo]

No documentaries yet, but I'm not gonna let this one by without one. C-Spans' Presidents series needs a good updating as far as its treatment of Taft. I'm gonna knock on their door.

Thanks!

[nicollo]

When your daughter turns 13 you'll know why I won't answer this question...

The problem is that she is and she knows it. But who knows, God may strike her down from her mother's looks to mine, humbling the poor child by age 17. From where things are now, we're all in big trouble. The child is gorgeous.

[nicollo]

Thanks for checkin' in! Hope you're well.

[ohioWfan]

Wow! This is GREAT!

This Ohio citizen is PROUD of you! :o)

[ohioWfan]

Can I get an autographed copy too?

[The Raven]

First you're on Modern Marvels--now a book!!!

[nicollo]

Thanks, oWf! I'd sure love to sign a copy to you, and to your son. I made a dedication in the book to those out there fighting to protect the American Founding.

You can get to me directly at my website, http://www.stretching-it.com/taft/taft_intro.htm

[Common Tator]

I gotta have your book It is going to be a great read.

So much of the 20th century and much of today has its roots in the Roosevelt/Taft situation.

Gaining a perspective on that formative era is a great help in understanding today. As Truman used to say, the only thing new under the political sun is the history you don't know. Yesterday, today and tomorrow will continute to be influenced by forces set in motion by Teddy and controlled by William Howard Taft.

To all the lurkers who want to really understand ... Buy this book .... read it and think about it.

[ohioWfan]

I will do that! And I will get a copy for Eric as well (thanks for thinking of him!).

[nicollo]

First you're on Modern Marvels--now a book!!!

It was my first book that got me on Modern Marvels -- Stretching It: The Story of the Limousine.

That project got me in to this one on Taft. I knew very little about Taft, other than the same-olds of his weight and conservativism (an insult in current education). Preparing the chapter on presidential cars I discovered that Taft had the first cars at the White House.

Turns out this was no small matter, and it was in defiance to the PC-ism of the day, especially as defined by Theodore Roosevelt. Once I saw that putting automobiles into the White House was no passive act, everything about Taft changed. I hope to have re-built his history with this book.

Thanks for joining!

[nicollo]

CT, you're dead-on, as usual. And I thank you.

Modern America was defined during this period. The history of it has been written by New Deal historians and their post-WWII partisans, so what of the progressives became FDR is honored and what opposed it is trash. I'm trying to establish Taft as an important actor in the American experiment, and the father of modern conservativism and constitutionalism.

I will hope for and be honored by your reaction to the book. (And I damned well know to expect an honest and full opinion! Lol!)

Thank you.

[nicollo]

Folks, many thanks for your thoughts and encouragement.

Nicollo's off to some errands for a bit. Meanwhile, thanks to all!

[aristeides]

Teddy Roosevelt didn't use automobiles? That seems odd. Why wouldn't he have?

[Rome2000]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786414758/qid=1062110585/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-3009909-9441745?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[kassie]

Congratulations !!

[nicollo]

Roosevelt avoided automobiles like a political plague. The machines were un-PC. It's hard to put in terms of today's egalitarianism, but imagine if the President of the United States didn't use a computer because only rich people use computers. That's about what Roosevelt did with automobiles. One of his contemporaries, one Woodrow "Would Run" Wilson said in 1906,

Nothing has spread socialistic feeling in this country more than the automobile. They are a picture of the arrogance of wealth, with all its independence and carelessness.

Tedddy Roosevelt neither said nor did anything to refute that statement. His avoidance of the machines, in fact, reinforced it. Taft defied it.

There is no mistake that following Taft's entry to the White House, dragging automobiles along with him, automobile production jumped 100%. The incredible success of Henry Ford's Model T followed soon after.

I go into this in the book... lol. Hope you'll check it out.

[nicollo]

Kassie, it's up to you now to see if it's any good. Hopefully your copy will arrive soon.

Rome2000 -- yep, it's been up at Amazon ever since we got an ISBN some time ago. Hoping for a jump in the rankings, though... Thanks for looking into it.

[dwd1]

A visionary, a Supreme Court Justice, and President of the US.... No wonder his namesakes can easily be found...

People of Ohio... You should be proud!!!