Representative barney frank. Then later, president obama marks the fifth anniversary and talks about the economy. El entaft was more ambitious about getting to the white house than her husband, William Howard taft and was able to get him personalally involve in the politics to get him elected. She overcame an illness to get to the white house, invited top musicians to perform there, and supports causes that mattered to her. Helen taft offered the most visual treasures, the famous cherry trees. It brings tens of thousands of visitors to washington every year. Good evening, welcome to first ladies, influence and image, the life of helen taft. Her husband served in the white house from 1909 to 1913. Here to tell us about her life and legacy is biographer, louis gould. The biography is helen taft, our musical first lady. You open the book by making the case of the 20th first lady, shes the most obscure but she deserves better from history. Why is she better than being obscure . She did some things that were constructive. The cherry trees. Bringing musicians to the white house and making washington the Cultural Center of the nation. It didnt work out because of medical reasons. She had an agenda that would have made her rank well nowhere roosevelt or Lady Bird Johnson in terms of transforming washington had things go the other way. She seemed to have an agenda to get her husband to the white house. The story is she decided to visit the white house in the hayeS Administration, hey, i want to do that as well. A lot of women who thought they would like to have their husbands become president. Shes a trade between Mommy Dearest and ladimac beth. That wasnt the case. She was a much more constructive influence and a nicer lady than history has treated her. Helen taft has an interesting story. We bet many of you in the audience will be hearing it for the first time tonight. We like to involve you in our conversation. You can do that in a lot of ways. Send us a comment on facebook. We have a robust discussion with questions coming in about nellie, helen taft. And you can send us a tweet using the hash tag first ladies. And we have phone lines, of course, that you will put on to your screens and get to the calls in a few minutes as the program progresses. We have need to tell you a little bit more about her early biography. How did she get to the white house at age 16 as a guest of the president. Her father in cincinnati were friends with rutherford b. Hayes and lucy hayes. They went to the white house. She went only once, but she had not made that debut. She couldnt participate in the social activities. She was there and president hayes said it was wonderful to have the herons there. And in the taft family lor, she was supposed to have said, you know, im going to come back. Its not clear thats really what she said. But like many people, she said i want to marry a man who may become president. She came from a political family. Yes. Her phatever was the friend of Benjamin Harrison and had been involved in ohio politics on her mothers side. There had been a congressman in her background. She was quite the intellectual . She was reading darwin and goethe and other things in school. She had the ability to play the piano which she studied quite seriously. There were recordings, i wish, but doesnt seem to be. So she had a salon in cincinnati, which was very culturally rich city in those days as it is im not playing it is now, but its sort of they have seven hills so they thought of themselves a as sort of the rome of the middle west. She was from a political family and had this ambition no matter what the product of being 16 and enthralled with getting to the white house, how did she choose will taft as her mate . Well, they knew of each other. It was a small community. It was after he had gone to yale and came back to Cincinnati Law School that their lives began to intersect and they began to court. She was in the mid 20s, late for marrying in those days. And he was almost 29 by the time he gets married. So they started going out to some of the beer halls and other things in cincinnati and gradually fell in love. He was much more schmitten with her originally than she was with him. He proposed, she accepted. The woman never accepted the proposal right off. They had a lengthy courtship by our standards that sometimes lasts all weekend. But in those days, she made him wait a while. But they got married in june of 1886. You mentioned her education. We should give a little credit to her alma mater. Where did she go to college . She didnt she studied a little bit at cincinnati. But she really was almost selfeducated. Took some courses. But did not get a degree. She didnt have a degree like her husband did. How common was it for women to go to beer halls in those days. And turned around and stuff looic that. It was where young people went and young people in the 80s had the same the 1880s have the same impulses they have today. Sos where people went. They didnt date quite the way they would in the 20th century. William taft was not intending a career in politics when he proposed to nellie taft. Nellie harris. He wanted to be a lawyer and wanted to get to the Supreme Court. He would later say like any good politician he had his bowl turned upward when officers were falling into his lap. But he he definitely wanted to be chief justice of the United States from the time he learned about the law. And for those of you who dont know the history, William Howard taft made good on the wish, hes the only president that serve in the role of chief justice of the United States. Well learn more about the later part of his career at the white house as the program progresses. If you didnt possess the soul of a politician, how instrumental was helen in moving him in that direction. At the initial stages, she had relatively little influence. But i think because he becomes a a state judge, then he becomes solicitor general of the United States and was appointed to a court of appeals in ohio. So she watched him do that. But i think the big turning point came in early 1900 when president mckinley called in and said come to washington and he offers him a chance though go to the philippines and establish a civilian government in the philippines. And she says, take it. He said do you want to do this . She said, by all means. She said will you give my husband a fear of power and influence like he wouldnt have had any other way. Thats the decisive moment in their lives when hes in the mid 40s to moving toward being in politics and the new way. Two quote, one from each of the tafts to give you some sense of how interested the two of them were in politics. How much does this reflect their overall attitudes. From helen taft, she writes mr. Taft was all but impervious of any friendly advice which if followed would enhance the political advantage. A 1906 quote from dwrum howard taft. And he said politics when im in it makes me sick. Some of that was for public consumption. I think he pursued a political career with more zest than we sometimes realize. What nellie was saying was that she had a way to get people to push him in the direction that he wanted to go. So shes acknowledging that he moved her as much as she moved him. Google a reference to his career. And he mentioned the two that were in the law. In addition to that, take a look at the political positions that he held over his lifetime. In 1890 in 19 1892, he served as solicitor general as mr. Gould told us. He was, as we learned, governor general of the philippines. And an important part in that countrys development and our relationship with it. In 1901 to 1904, in 1904, the secretary of war, today called the secretary of defense. Then his term as president in 1909 to 1913, and then later on, 1921 to 1930, the lifes wish to become chief justice of the United States. Also the early positions, the secretary of war, governor general of the philippines, which was most helpful to his experience in the white house . I think it made him a national figure. He said im not going to run in 1908. Ella was probably too old. There was will taft from ohio, a state that mattered to republicans in those years so he became the logic of the situation. Very briefly, why does the United States have the ability to appoint the governor general of the philippine s . The result of the spanishamerican war and the treaty of paris in the summer of 1898, spain creeded the philippines to the United States and they became a possession and would remain so until 1946. Weve been taking you to Historic Heights associated with the first ladies and their lives. This is a storage chest they bought over there. It was one of the items they were able to pick up while there. Some photographs from ladies in thanks andthe philippines. They took some formal photographs here. They wrote inscriptions and gave them to mrs. Taft. This is from december 22, 1983, philippines. Those illustrate the admiration the philippine people had for the taft family, especially mrs. Taft, as she worked to make them feel integrated in the greater society, make them feel equal to the other people, invited them to parties, put on musicals and those types of things, helped with their education. They really loved the tafts. We still get people coming from the philippines and still have the connection from the taft family and things they did while there. Joining the onset, a first lady scholar. Jane cook, how important was the time in the philippines to the development of helen taft in her role as first lady echoplex very important to her development. When she returned to the United States, she met a military wife in the army who had known her in the philippines. She says, you were a queen in philippines. Here, you are a nobody. I do not think helen ever thought of herself as a nobody. When in the philippines, she was not a queen. She served her husband very well by doing those things. How unusual was it in the piece, we heard she treated the philippines equal. We were in their country. Today, we would think, why would she not . The army drew the color line, which meant, they did not associate with philippines. For them to shake hands with the filipinos and dance with them was seen as quite radical. There were elements in the military that were not thrilled with what taft was doing. He would not have been able to do this in the United States at the same time. The philippines count in part for his enduring popularity. They wanted us out as soon as possible. On twitter, they want to know more about what they thought about the philippine people and their culture when they lived there and how did it shape their view of diverse populations as a whole. It was something she, by reaching out to them, she could see the benefit of bringing the cultures together. She was using her executive social skills and management skills, she would go out horseback riding and taft ordered a band for the filipino people. They would go to a big open space and have concerts. This was really something that meant a lot to her. When she wears the filipino formal gown, she is embracing the culture. She started in the spring of 1909 before the stroke what is a a space where, on sundays, aristocracy would gather with carriages and go around and have it was the social setting for high society in the philippines. She wanted this to be a place where washington to do that. It was very popular for the first couple of times. After the stroke, she could not personally manage it, but it was one of those false starts that characterizes her career. Those of you watching us along the way know our goal this year is to teach you more, help you learn about each of the each of americas first ladies. In the series throughout this year, 20thcentury ladies. Earlier in the year, we did the first ladies beginning with martha washington. Our goal goal is to present the biography of them to help you understand more about the president S Administration and also about our country and how it changed and how the role of women changed. There is a lot to talk about. We will give you the telephone number so you can join into the conversation. We will love having your calls and questions. They have been a hallmark of the program. Also, we developed a website for this series. Each week, there is one special item attached to the first lady we do not talk about during the program. Today, if you go to the site, you will learn more about a chair she really cherished that she acquired in the philippines. Back from the philippines, talk to me about a very important relationship, maybe the most important other than William Howard taft with nellie, and that is the relationship with how did youosevelt. Wish . Flourish . That will taft and t. R. Know each other in the early 1890s. Almost in the beginning, there was not still the same rapport between edith and nellie. Nellie would say later she did not like Edith Roosevelt. There was a competition between them that pulsed through the 1890s. She said, i wish i knew more about what exactly happened, but they seem to have been to women who were at odds when they started out. You had these two men who were very close, but their intimate families, not so much. There was not a strong underpinning of the male relationship once the two women were in close proximity. It had something to do with cincinnati versus new york, with Edith Roosevelt coming from an aristocratic family. Helen taft being from cincinnati wanted to be upwardly mobile. We learned that mrs. Roosevelt had regular sessions with all the cabinet wise, which required attendance. What was the effect of those on helen taft and her own thinking about how she might approach the job as first ladies . They had weekly meetings in the White House Library once a week. Helen did attend. I think she thought they were too gossipy or the topic of conversation just bored her and was not something she really enjoyed. She made it known to the press that she would not be continuing them because they had not been successful. That was quite a slam to edith to say that publicly. She could have been more genteel on how she transitioned. If you had a dalliance with somebody who is not your husband, you heard from the white house that you better stop your there was a certain amount of gossiping that helen taft was not as hoitytoity as Edith Roosevelt. That was another source of the roosevelts wanted their mores to be on social washington. Helen taft wanted to set a standard. Edith wanted a higher moral we are going to been with kip who was watching us in atlanta. A questionlo. I have for mr. Gould. In your research on mrs. Tafti wanted to know if you are ,familiar with the miniseries back stairs in the white house,that aired in 1979. I want to ask mr. Gold, if you are familiar that was really my first awareness of mrs. Taft. Was that an accurate depiction of her . I thank you. I think it was generally accurate. It had some fictional elements in it. I do not think most historians regard it as something you should take to the bank and be very reliable. Of course,it was dramatized for television purposes. It is a useful source, but use it with caution. Theodore roosevelt asked William Howard taft to be his secretary of war. How does that affect them . Taft and nellie both loved to travel. He was on the road constantly. He became a troubleshooter diplomatically for t. R. When he would go off hunting, he would say he left taft on the lid in washington, but he and mrs. Taft traveled a lot, a story that illustrates her ambiguity about this, when she was traveling and very nearly missed the train and said, you have got to help me out. I am mrs. William howard taft, no response. I am traveling with alex roosevelt, instantaneously, they got her baggage and got her on the train. It had to be painful given the friction between the two. Taft family teased her that she was at the mercy of alice roosevelt. How common would it have been for senior Public Officials to see that much of the world . Was there a lot of traveling going on in that time . At this point, with trains and steamships, yes, it was more secretary of war was his position,but he was also called secretary of peace in the newspapers. He was really more of a peacemaker than he was focusing so much on dissent. There is a really great story about his time as secretary of war when helen is given a tapestry by the empress of japan, and she really wants to keep it. Taft says, legally, we need to give it back to the smithsonian. She said, i am a private citizen. She takes it to roosevelt and wants it that badly. Roosevelt says, you are a you are as in. Private citizen. That shows the difference between taft and roosevelt. Taft very much wanted to honor the law and roosevelt would push the envelope a little bit. That is a good way to illustrate the difference between them. That became a fundamental difference between them and the way they view the presidency. Roosevelt said if it was not forbidden, we can do it. Taft said it had to be explicitly allowed before we can do it. The two views of the presidency re very different that they were very vivid that they had. Had. A real study in leadership. On to facebook, holly wants to know how mrs. Taft got the nickname, nellie. Good question. She hada number of brothers and sisters. It was just one of those family names. Her husband refers to her as his since theirlie. Daughter was also named helen did she call him will or mr. Taft . Will. Once people knew him well, he was called will. He was not bill or Something Like that. Almost nobody called Theodore Eddy who knew him well. Next is john in houston. What is your question . Caller i love this show so much. I know the president in order. Two questions. Of the more modern first ladies of the 20th century, who were the more noteworthy after, abigail and dolly, and were any of the first ladies in the 20th century noteworthy, too . My second question is, what was the inspiration for the cherry tree . Thank you. The first question is easy. Eleanor roosevelt by far became a delegate to the United Nations so in the post first lady career, she and Lady Bird Johnson, there are others, but those would be two. We will show video of it for later on. Next is a call from leroy in monticello,kentucky. Hello. Caller great program. I enjoyed this so much. I was looking forward to it last week. I did not get to watch it. I have got a question for ms. Family, the taft president tafts wife, were they , bornagainople christians . Did they know jesus and study the bible . What was the religion and how important was it . She grew up in an episcopal church. He was a unitarian. At that time, the difference was mostly about the trinity or not the trinity. Unitarians did not embrace the trinity. There is a story i read of a minister in the more traditional tradition who went over to the white house and talked to taft and he came away feeling confident in his traditional religious beliefs. It was important to them. They were not evangelical in but it wastion. Definitely something that was part of them. Taft was nominated to be president of yield in 1900 and he decided not to do it. He wrote his brother a sentence that if it had come out at the time, he would never have been president. He said he does not believe in the divinity of jesus christ. It never became known. A campaign of 1980, he was of campaign of 1880, 1908,he was attacked for being unitarian and having been friendly to the catholics in the philippines. T. R. And taft were cautious about how they handled their religious views. Let me move on to calvin in georgia. I apologize, somerville, alabama. Caller i was going to ask you about the connection taft had with other first ladies that came from ohio, especially lucy hayes. We talked a little bit about that earlier. They were very friendly with the hayes family and they did entertain her at the white house. She did spend some time. Later on she was there almost every weekend. I thinks way overdrawn. She was only there, according to the hayes diary, only once. She makes the decision she will not run for reelection and has the opportunity to anoint his successor. How does it become William Howard taft . It is quite a complex issue, which i will try to nail down in a couple of sentences. He will outlive taft. He is also a corporate lawyer, which was not going to be the appeal he wanted in 1908. He looked over the republican party, who was the most sympathetic available candidate, and here was will taft from ohio, secretary of war, well known because of the philippines, interested in the position so roosevelt begins to convince himself he and taft agree on more than they in fact agreed on. This kind of courtship where both invest each other with the qualities they want to have. Later on, they find out they had fromwhat deluded themselves. 1906 to 1908,roosevelt becomes a staunch backer of taft. We have many biographers that talk about helen tafts very serious lobbying of Theodore Roosevelt to select her husband and because of his known attitudes about politics and the desire for the Supreme Court role, may be it indicated he was a bit more hesitant. Because of her known attitudes, mr. Taft was such a poor politician. I urged him to display a little bit more enthusiasm on his own account. She is working both sides. How influential was she . Think about it. If your wife thinks you can be president , that is a big boost that she has that confidence in you. She did meet with Theodore Roosevelt on two occasions to talk about this. He wanted to offer taft a position on the Supreme Court. He wants to remain as your secretary of war. Roosevelt did not see the passion in taft. There are other men who want this. You need to be more aggressive. He did some campaigning for congressional candidates in 1906 to prove that he could campaign. Does she meet personally with Theodore Roosevelt to make the case . In the fall of 1906 taft is out on the road and she does have a luncheon with the president and he says, go by one of the windows and chat for a while. Taft and tr both believed that she had misinterpreted what he was trying to say. You need to be more aggressive. He was not threatening to support governor hughes. He did not like Charles Evans it was very unlikely he would have ever supported hughes. Helen was so sensitive to any variation that she interpreted this warning as a threat that he might support the soontobe governor of new york. What was the election like . How did it all turn out . They held on to the house and senate in 1906they suffered some losses. Basically, taft came out of it he would getrunner. A first ballot nomination in 1908. How much did he win by . In the general election . He beat William Jennings bryant 361 i forget offhand. It was a pretty decisive it was not as big as roosevelt over alton parker in 1904, butit was big enough for all practical purposes. Bryant carried the south. Taft did very well. There are several parts of the story, things did not often break very well for her. One of those was inaugurationday itself. There was a blizzard. It made the ceremony go indoors. That was Ronald Reagans inauguration as well. We have a video about the inauguration. March 4, 1909, mrs. Taft got to realize her dream that she became the first first lady to ride back from the capitol to the white house with her husband. These are some of the souvenirs from the inauguration. These are a couple of programs from the inauguration ceremony. A little dance card from the inaugural ball. Here is an invitation to the inaugural ball that would have gone out to different folks. It would come along with tickets and the place for you to park. We have quite a few of these things in our collection. This is a bible that was used for swearing in of William Howard taft when he was inaugurated in 1909. It was also used when he took the oath of office of chief justice. This is an interesting artifact as it represents the culmination of those two high points in his career. The inauguration was the realization of her biggest sheams. Hadpushed her husband through a lot of different positions and even though there was a blizzard, a snowstorm, the ceremonies had to be pushed into the capitol building, this was one of the biggest days in her life. What are some of the stories you would like to tell the public about Inauguration Day . Theodore roosevelt said, i knew it would be a cold day when then he went off to the train station and oyster bay. She went back to the white house it was the night before that was significant for the roosevelt and taft relationship. Tr had invited the tafts to mrs. Taft later. Said in her memoirs that neither mrs. Roosevelt or her would have agreed to it. It was a very awkward evening. Taft, four years later, he said to his friend, you were there for that funeral in 1909 and we do not want to do that again. Already,there was a great deal of tension between the roosevelts and the tafts the day before he was inaugurated. One of our viewers on facebook says, i detect a smug look on her face in that picture. What do we know about her emotions . She made this decision to get into the car. I had a secret elation in doing something that no other woman had done. This was her proudest moment, riding in that car. Being by her husbands side. She set a precedent. First ladies who followed her it wasone that since. Definitely something she was excited about. She did have a fashion emergency the night before. Her hat caught on fire. She had to trim down the feathers. Had. S called a merry widow it was very popular. That was the high point of her time as first lady. It was almost all downhill after that. She had a very busy two months and we will learn about her approach to the white house. About her transition with Edith Roosevelt, that contributed to the management of the one Family Moving out and the other family you have referred tothe oil and water of these two women. What about that transitioncontributed to the friction between them . There was no mechanism for the transition in those days. There hadnt been a transition from one first lady to another in that way before for almost 20 or 25 years. They were making it up as they went along. Helen was eager to get started. She talked about changing who the footmen would be at the white house door. Edith had a gentleman who was white to greet people. Helen wanted africanamericans. Mrs. Roosevelt bridled at that. Nelliewanted to change the had other changes she wanted to make right away. Lets get started. Edith, thinking, i will be first lady until march 3, said, not so fast. Wait a while. There began to be, you need to take over. The roosevelt people said, wait a minute, what is going on . What about the appointments being made . Ite friendship began to erode. Really started to erode when taft wrote tr a letter saying, you and my brother charlie are responsible forking the president. Making me president. Charles was a newspaper owner and tr was infuriated by that talked about it for the next two or three years. Itft writes a thank you note. Started the doom of his presidency. In the parlance of today, Edith Roosevelt and helen taft lets go tofs. Horace in philadelphia. Caller i have been watching the series from the beginning. I have a question i wanted to ask. I am a little embarrassed to ask. In ae are they buried . Strange sense it helps us to realize that they once lived and that they are not just bits of information on paper and books and old magazines. I would like to know their resting places if you can get to it we will tell you right now. Arlington national cemetery. She is the first first lady to be buried there. The only other is jacqueline kennedy. Is that right . I want to spend a little bit more time understanding the personality and what she brought to the role of the white house. You mentioned earlier that she was very intellectual and that even though she did not go to college, she was selfeducated. How important was this in shaping the role of first lady. She wanted to make washington the Cultural Center of the United States. This made people in new york very uneasy. There were some newspaper columns saying, what do you want washington at the time did not have a symphony orchestra, did not have an opera. She wanted to bring those musical things here. She also wanted to have the city , generally, embody american values. This was a very ambitious agenda. That was partly what it was about, making the beautification of the city with the cherry trees. That was all part of her vision of what washington could be. She hit the ground running and she also started going to see congress in visiting the Supreme Court, advising taft on the cabinet. One of the biographers that i read described her as outspoken, abrupt, and determined. Would you agree with those descriptions . She could be quite blunt. When she was a young teenager visiting the white house and saw the magic of it and had the idea that she could one day be there, she felt she had the skills to you see her as a young woman creating the salon groups in cincinnati where they bring friends together and had yet trickle performances and discussions about books. She was determined to bring what she had at her skill set and use it to bring people together socially in washington. She had been president of the cincinnati symphony. She had run an orchestra, hiring the conductors in the 1890s. She had executive qualities. When taft proposed somebody for the cabinet, she said to him, he is quite impossible, i cannot imagine why you ever suggested him. That was the end of that mark is watching us in minneapolis. Caller i have some questions. Can you tell us what helen tafts thoughts were on can you tell us what she felt about black men being able to vote and her not being able to vote during her time . A very timely question. That is the next thing on my list. Some people have suggested that she disdained racism, as evidenced by her time in the philippines. Would you agree with that sheterization . Definitely seemed openit is hard for me to know precisely what she thought about segregation in the south. Through her actions, she brought africanamericans in as employees at the white house. That is the best testimony that we have about her attitudes towards raceshe also as servants . That is true. She uses the language of the term colored. She was a woman of her time period. When it comes to suffrage questions for women, she was not sure that america was quite ready for women to vote because they were not politically active. They were not public minded enough. Using the language of the day, on Edith Roosevelt, we referenced your scholarship on the fact that Edith Roosevelt used racist terms about african we have got a lot of nellie haft writings. I did not find the same use of words, some of the other unfortunate things that Edith Roosevelt said. They did not go as far as Woodrow Wilson in instituting it in the government, but taft hoped to develop the republican iarty in the south. Thinkhelen taft was not a crusader for racial justice, but she was not a bigot either. Fell within that broad range of where American Society was, whereEdith Roosevelt was further out on the edge. They also grew up postcivil they did not live through it. So worry they were the post war baby boomer generation. Edith and helen were born in the same year, 1861. Jennifer wants to go back to that overnight stay. Was it a preview of todays outgoing president hosting the incoming president for coffee on the day of . Not so much. If it was an initiative that tr started, it flopped. The tradition of the transition would evolve in the 20th century. We cannot look at tr and taft as it reallyul precedent. Was a case in which they didnt even think through the transition. Earlier you referenced she was more modern and her approach to things like enjoying alcohol and playing cards. We have a photograph of her at the card table. She smoked, she drank, and she played cards. How much did that connect her with the public at large . She played bridge for money and she would win 10 or so. If you put it into todays currency, she was winning about 200 or 300 in purchasing power. If that had come out that she was playing cards, it would have been another political difficulty. What would helen like to drink . Taft would have said, anything so that wasl in it. Her. Did Edith Roosevelt drink alcohol . Her father was an alcoholic. Alcoholism runs through the roosevelt family. Fdr and tr were the only two that really escaped the effects of alcoholism entirely. Edith roosevelt was not thrilled with the idea of champagne and other things that helen taft in very much each day. Other reason for the rift between them. Colleen is in ohio. What is your question . My great uncle used to be the personal secretary of president my grandmother used to go with him and meet the president and mrs. Taft. They became really good friends. Which was your relative . Charles was his personal secretary. He was the last and most he helped secretary. Him get the nomination in 1912. His papers are at yale. We will have more and more connections. Julieu for your call. Is in ashburn, virginia. Can you hear me . I wanted to ask, helen was such a vibrant first lady. I wanted to know what is her transition from being a first lady to being kind of a private figure in terms of being married to a Supreme Court justice. How did that work for her . She had eight years of transition. Taft became a professor of itnstitutional law at yale. Was really quite nice for mrs. Taft becauseon those days, you could get on a train and go to new york, go to the theater, have a nice meal and get back in time for dinner at night. She enjoyed that part of it after the pressures of the white house. Of course, they went back to washington and the role of the chief justice was very much less social than had been the president. They also differed over prohibition. Chief justice taft wanted it enforced and mrs. Taft, not so much. Hishe was a very large man. Highest weight was what . 350 pounds. He had neglected his health. He had not been to a dentist in a couple of decades. There were many stories about in fact chief justice fuller said the president got on. He streetcar the other day a lot of jokes were going around at the time. A lot of opportunity for commentary and satire. How did mrs. Taft feel about his weight . This was the source of some marital tension. There was a story of him at a Cabinet Meeting and they had a bowl of fruit and he picked one off until the bowl was completely empty. He did not find the presidency very enjoyable. I think he ate to forget. The white house needed an extra large bathtub to accommodate the president. That they had to put it in and it happened on the inauguration is one of those stories it was not done in the way they talked about. He was a big baby. When he was seven weeks old, his mother could not put nursery gowns on him that had belts. But he was a very good dancer, far better than tr. Taft was very light on his feet. What was her relationship like with the press . She seemed to have a Good Relationship with the press. This is exactly the position i think my husband should have. One of the reporters commented that she would be an intellectual, cultural, all in one package. What a great opportunity for america to have helen in the white house. The only time edith was quoted was when there was a performance of hansel and she said how much she loved fairytales. Otherwise she didnt leave the new woman should only be in the newspaper when you were born, married and when you die. She had to be persuaded to have photographs, eventually. Helen taft was quite willing to share her opinions on lots of issues with the press. She did not give interviews. She did not speak out on every issue, but if they asked, she got out and about. The American Public was wildly enthusiastic about the Young Roosevelt family. What did the public think about the taft family was olderwhen they came to the white house. Robert was already at yale, soon to be at harvard law school. Her daughter was at bryn mawr. Charles was at the taft school that tafts brother ran in so they were not as charming and exciting as little theirn and archie with ponies and taking him upstairs in the white house and all the pranks that they did. We promised you more about the Cherry Blossoms. When helen taft became first lady, she had the cherry trees planted around the tidal basin. The tidal basin was a mess. Peoplewas a speedway. Raised their carriages at a top speed of 15 miles an hour. There was nothing to draw people or to make it a beautiful place for people to gather and enjoy nature. Helen taft wanted to change that. One of the first things she did when she became first lady was to ask for trees to be planted. They were requested from nurseries in pennsylvania. The japanese heard about her interest and they decided to give 2000 trees to the United States from the city of tokyo to the city of washington as a gift honoring the american support of 2000n. Treesarrived in january of 1910 and everyone was shocked that they were very tall and infested with bugs. President taft made the decision that they would have to be burned. The japanese were very accommodating and understanding and sent 3000 trees, which we still have a. Few of those around the basin. This is the north section of the tidal basin. Many of the original trees had been planted. The older ones have gnarly trunks and overarching branches. This is where helen taft would have planted the first Cherry Blossom tree. The Cherry Blossom trees would not be here if it were not for many peoplehile were enchanted with all things japanese in the 19th century,it was due to her that the trees are here today. Permanently transforming the capital city. What else do we need to know about this story . Taft was not projapanese in his foreignpolicy. He was tilted more towards tr had been more pro of this was a by the japanese a test by the japanese government. Taft would say, your mothers work is making it better than it has ever been. It was a very
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.