The inaugural volume of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft is composed of two of his earliest books, Four Aspects of Civic Duty and Present Day Problems. Based on a series of lectures delivered at Yale in 1906, Four Aspects of Civic Duty is an attempt by then Secretary of War Taft to bring to the attention of his audience the importance of civic duty from the perspective of the university graduate, the judge on the bench, the colonial administrator, and the national executive branch of government. His remarks were drawn from his own experience, while at the same time he laid down the principles of citizenship with which all people could identify. In Present Day Problems, William Howard Taft demonstrates the depth of his knowledge and the seriousness of his reflections on a wide range of topics including Sino-American relations and the ongoing contest between capital and labor in America’s increasingly industrial socioeconomy. The problems he takes up are met head-on and discussed in a fashion likely to persuade his audience that he is well prepared to tackle the burdens of the presidency. The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, in eight volumes, will include Taft’s complete published works as well as his presidential and state addresses and selected court opinions from his days as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Vol. 1: Four Aspects Of Civic Duty & Present Day Problems (Collected Works W H Taft) (Volume 1)

History

William, Howard Taft

Americas

Ohio University Press

The second volume of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft is dedicated to the speeches and writings that displayed his thinking in the autumn of 1908 and the following winter. At this time he was campaigning for the presidency against the well-known William Jennings Bryan, and in Taft’s writings is evidence of the contrast in style between Taft and Bryan and between Taft and his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt. as well. Although uncomfortable with campaigning, he thoughtfully addresses the concerns of the day that framed the election, including race, the Philippines, and socialism.  Political Issues and Outlooks also contains speeches made after the election and leading up to his inauguration as the twenty-seventh president of the United States. Introduced by a commentary from the general series editor Professor David H. Burton, the second volume of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft is a revealing look at the machinations of United States politics at the beginning of the twentieth century and a glimpse into the mind of one of the century’s most influential political architects.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Vol. 2: Political Issues and Outlooks: Speeches Delivered Between August 1908 and February 1909 (Collected Works W H Taft) (Volume 2)

The third volume of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft imparts an appreciation of the range of the twenty-seventh president’s interests. Beginning with his inaugural address and concluding with a detailed exposition of governmental expenses and needed economies, President William Howard Taft showed himself willing to tackle the routine as well as the rarified responsibilities of executive rule. Whether he was addressing the issue of strikes and labor unions or conservation, President Taft consistently demonstrated that, in word and action, he was prepared to be a modern president. What impresses the reader of these remarks is Taft’s willingness to administer to virtually every part of the nation, thereby proving that he was not a mere figurehead but a chief executive truly concerned about problems across the country. Perhaps, as his words here indicate, Taft was not a good politician after all but a kind man who saw himself as president of all the people. As the first of two volumes directly related to Taft’s tenure as president, Presidential Addresses and State Papers documents a pivotal time in the public life of this man from Ohio. Introduced by a commentary from the general series editor Professor David H. Burton, the third volume of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft underscores the presidential stature of William Howard Taft.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Vol. 3: Presidential Addresses and State Papers (Collected Works W H Taft) (Volume 3)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

A time when panics seem far removed is the best time to prepare our financial system to withstand a storm. The most crying need this country has is a proper banking and currency system. The existing one is inadequate, and everyone who has studied the question admits it.”  William Howard Taft The interaction between President William Howard Taft and the Congress provides a window on his leadership. Volume IV of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft is devoted to his messages to the legislative branch and concerns some of the pressing issues of the day, issues that have relevance still. Oftentimes President Taft was at odds with a somewhat reactionary Congress, causing him to veto legislation that he thought unwise. For example, his commitment to the independence of elected judges led him to reject statehood for Arizona until its constitution was altered to address his objection. His messages also touched on subjects for which he led the way over the objections of Congress, such as his recommendation of a federal law to protect resident aliens against denial of their civil rights and his advocacy of free trade with Canada. In his commentary to the volume, Professor Burton points out: There is exhibited time after time concern for the American people, for men and women from different walks of life. Taft comes across less as a judge, which he had been, or the chief justice he was to become, and more as a sitting president of all the people.” Taft’s Presidential Messages to Congress provides the documentary evidence to support that claim.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Vol. 4: Presidential Messages to Congress (Collected Works W H Taft) (Volume 4)

The fifth volume of The Complete Works of William Howard Taft presents two publications Taft wrote as Kent Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale University, the position he assumed in 1913 after he was defeated in his bid for re-election as U.S. president. The first, Popular Government, was prepared for a series of lectures, but was motivated by Taft’s passion over the issue of constitutional interpretation, which had been hotly contested during the campaign. Organized around the preamble of the Constitution, the lectures and later the book were opportunities for Taft to restate his opposition to the direct democracy movement and to reveal the workings of a conservative mind. In the second, The Anti-trust Act and the Supreme Court, Taft articulates his position in the ongoing debate over the conventional nineteenth-century notion of laissez faire” and the provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Taft had pursued a policy of vigorous antitrust enforcement during his presidency. In this book he intended to demonstrate that restraint of trade was part of the common law, thereby arguing to good effect in favor of reasonable restraint of trade in his own time. Taft's careful distinction between predatory monopolistic practices and the reasonable business practices of well-behaved corporations continues to inform today's chambers of government.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Volume V: Popular Government and The Anti-trust Act and the Supreme Court (Volume 5) (Collected Works W H Taft)

Volume VI of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft follows the career of William Howard Taft upon his leaving the White House. It consists of two short publications from 1914 and 1915. The first, The President and His Powers, is based on a series of lectures delivered at Columbia University and draws on Taft’s experience in the presidency and the executive branch. It speaks particularly to the nature of executive power and its place in the American system and is rooted in his disagreement with Theodore Roosevelt regarding presidential power. Taft believed all presidential power must be traced to some specific grant of power or be necessary to its exercise, while Roosevelt saw the presidency as a position of “steward of the people” limited only by some express provision of the Constitution. The second, The United States and Peace, reflects Taft’s interest in foreign policy, which was intensified by his years as governor of the Philippines and as secretary of war, as well as by his presidency. Originally four lectures delivered in 1914, The United States and Peace discusses the Monroe Doctrine, the threat to peace presented by incidents of violence to foreigners in the United States, the maintenance of peace through international arbitration, and the trend toward federation in international affairs. Taft hoped to see the latter result in the establishment of an independent judiciary to resolve international disputes. Taft’s reasoned arguments, supplemented by the commentaries of Professors McWilliams and Gerrity, will stimulate interest among historians, lawmakers, political activists, and the general public.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Vol. 6: The President and His Powers and The United States and Peace (Collected Works W H Taft) (Volume 6)

Eager to turn the congressional election of 1918 into a confirmation of his foreign policy, President Woodrow Wilson was criticized for abandoning the spirit of the popular slogan “Politics adjourned!” His predecessor, William Howard Taft, found Wilson difficult to deal with and took issue with his version of the League of Nations, which Taft felt was inferior to the model proposed by the League to Enforce Peace. Rather than join the massive Republican opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, however, Taft instead supported Wilson’s controversial decision to travel to Paris as the head of the American peace delegation, and he defended the critical tenth article in the covenant, which detractors saw as a surrender of American sovereignty. He also counseled Wilson to insert a clause concerning the Monroe Doctrine that would pacify the Senate’s group of “reservationists,” whose votes were essential to approval of the treaty.Volume VII in The Collected Works of William Howard Taft consists of the Taft Papers on League of Nations originally published in 1920. This is a collection ofTaft’s speeches, newspaper articles, and complementary documents that reflect his consistent support for a league of nations and, eventually, for the Covenant of the League of Nations emanating from the Paris Peace Conference. Although the failure of the treaty and its League of Nations can probably be laid at the feet of an obstinate Wilson and a wily Henry Cabot Lodge, William Howard Taft can be credited with rising above partisanship to emerge as the League’s most consistent supporter.As in the rest of the Collected Works, Taft Papers on League of Nations provides a window on the machinations surrounding some of the most significant decisions of the era.

The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, Vol. 7: Taft Papers On League Of Nations (Collected Works W H Taft) (Volume 7)

Four Aspects Of Civic Duty

BiblioLife

Excerpt from Our Chief Magistrate: And His PowersThe six chapters included in this book were originally delivered by Mr. Taft at Columbia University, during the winter session of 1915-16, as the Blumenthal Lectures, under the general title: "The Presidency, Its Powers, Duties, Responsibilities and Limitations." With this title, in accordance with the usual custom, they were also presently announced by the Columbia University Press as a forthcoming publication.Since a similar title had already been given to a course of three lectures delivered by Mr. Taft at the University of Virginia, in the academic year 1914-15, the publication of which had been undertaken by Charles Scribner's Sons, the title of this volume has been changed, at the author's suggestion, to its present form.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Our Chief Magistrate: And His Powers (Classic Reprint)

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Forgotten Books

Excerpt from Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its PerilsI came to Yale to assume my duties as Kent Professor of Law near the end of the school year, when it was not practical to add my courses of constitutional law to the then curriculum. It was Suggested, therefore, that during the spring term, I prepare and deliver a course of lectures on some questions of modern government. This I did, making my text the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. In explaining the meaning of We, the people, used to describe the source of political power, I thought it relevant and important to discuss the proposed changes from our republican form of government to a more direct, democratic government, and this led me to consider the initiative, the referendum and the recall, and also the direct primary, which, while not necessarily involved with the other issues, properly suggested itself for consideration with them.Under the clause of the preamble to form a more perfect union, I considered very brieﬂy the historical issue between those who favored the broad construction of the Federal powers under the Constitution, and those who took the States'About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils (Classic Reprint)

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