Posted on 08/28/2003 2:20:58 PM PDT by nicollo
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640, USA.
Press Release
William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 19091913 Michael L. Bromley ISBN: 0-7864-1475-8
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. Michael L. Bromley is a writer of political and social commentary and automotive history. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
All rights reserved.
by
447pp. 86 photographs, statistics, notes, glossaries, appendices, bibliography, index $49.95 illustrated case binding (7 x 10) 2003
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, Tafts speech to the Automobile Club of America and a glossary of terms and names.
"Taft is simply a bully fellow," declared one. "He is the kind of a man you love."
"You bet he is," replied the other. "But by the way, are you going to vote for him next time?"
"Vote for him? Vote for him?" exclaimed the first, "Id rather see him in hell first."
My guess is that most people felt or feel that way about Taft, to the degree that they're aware of him. He won't make many lists of the greatest Presidents, but if people know more about him they might like or respect him.
This may be a good time for your book to come out. Ken Burns's Horatio's Drive will make much interest in early motoring.
Have you considered dressing up like Taft and making public appearances? The author of a biography of Warren G. Harding's wife, Florence Kling Harding, dresses up just like her and goes on stage. It's helped the sales of the book, but mostly he just gives people the creeps!
It's gonna start all kinds of debates in the automotive historian community over who actually made the first x-country drive. Many made the claim. I wonder what brought Burns to Horatio.
Anyway, that's great news! I'm trying to get a Nat. Archives symposium on early automobiles. This will be a great impulse towards it!
I don't think I'll dress up like Taft yet. I'm putting together an appearance at the Beverly Historical Society in Mass. They claim to have a good Taft impersonator. I told them I'd only appear with him if he agrees to play gold. They told me he probably doesn't play golf. I said that's perfect, for all his effort, neither did Taft!
Remember how a "The Onion" article was taken seriously in China? Here's another, much smaller, example I ran into while doing some internet searches on Taft. On this GoogleGroups thraad, someone posted a screed about not winning the Bancroft prize for his biography of W.H. Taft. It was obscene, questioning, basically, who he needed to fellate (that a word?) to win the prize. Others on the group took offense at the post. One guy sympathized and said his own book was unnappreciated. Finally someone noted that it was an Onion article ( here)!
It wasn't funny in the GoogleGroups thread when I first read it, but at the original article, it's hilarious!
BTW, how'd you get such a tame title? Have you considered these:
Backseat Driver in Chief: How William Howard Taft Built a Highway System and Drove His Chauffeurs Crazy.
Wide Load: the William Howard "Tubby" Taft Story
Objects in the Oval Office are Even Larger than They Appear.
Talkin' Direct Election of Senators Blues: the Freewheeling, Freeloading William Howard Taft
Road Hog: How One Forgotten President's Craving for Barbecued Ribs Created the Interstate Highway System
Another Roadside Attraction: How William Howard Taft put America in the Passing Lane
Fast, Furious and 400 Pounds: America's First Motoring President
Passing Wind in the White House, or Mr. Taft's Wild Ride
You Can Touch My Steering Wheel, You Can Honk My Horn, But Keep Your Mitts Off My Handlebar Moustache
Doughnuts, not Doughboys: Taft's Peaceful Presidency
Not Just a Dazed Possum in the Headlights of History: Taft's Freewheeling Highway Policy
Dead Possum in the Middle of the Road: Taft's 1912 Campaign
Go, Go Daddio! How William Howard Taft made "On the Road" and "Route 66" Possible
Don't Even Think of Kicking His Spare Tire: Why America Should Think Better of William Howard Taft
Slippery When Wet: Three American Presidents and their Lies about Transportation Policy
Weighing Station: All Tafts Pull Over for a Serious Discussion of Early 20th Century Highway Policy
Safe At Any Weight: How an SUV-sized President Built America's Highway Network
Too Close to the Center Line? How Highway Policy Could Have Saved William Howard Taft and America
If the Flivver's a Rockin' Don't Come a Knockin': The Driving Passions of Americas Progresive-Era Presidents
You asked, I'm curious about Taft and income tax, though. How responsible was he for it? You're gonna have to read the book... Taft was not responsibile for the income tax; he was reponsible for the 16th Amendment. Wilson enacted the personal income tax.
In short, Taft's deal was this: when progressives teamed up with Democrats to vote up an income tax in 1909, Taft cut it short by offering instead a corporation excise tax (based on income) and the 16th amendment. His goals were twofold: to cut short any personal income tax, and to make sure that if any income tax were enacted, it would not cause a constitutional or political crisis, as happened in the income tax of 1894/5 and the Pollock decision.
Some kind of income tax was on the way. There was no way to avoid it. By 1909, the tariff had proved itself incapable to fund the government (it accounted for about half the budget by then), and, politically, it had run its course. The only way to cut, or even maintain, the tariff was to adopt some "other" tax, as Taft said in his Inaugural Address. During the debates in Congress that "other" included income, inheritance, excise and even stamp taxes.
Scenic Sounds, indeed, the 16th amendment was ratified under Taft. I love the rants that it was never properly ratified, or that Taft was not constitutionally qualified for the presidency because he was born in a territory, etc. It's all great fun, and entirely ludicrous.
Interesting Taft site here. Sounds like Aldrich made a lot of unnecessary problems for Taft.
Glad you like my alternate titles. I spent years watching the old David Letterman show, and I must have picked something up from all those wasted hours.
Some good Tax Quotes. I can't say that I agree with all of them, but they're good for a laugh or a think. Unfortunately, quotations have to be pretty short to fit in the tag line.
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