Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era

Carl Anthony has given us another excellent and well-researched book; this one on the life of First Lady Nellie Taft. It is complete, and well written. It holds the reader's attention with attention to detail. I highly recommend it.

It's not far fetched for little Nellie, who's father was a confidant of one president and a friend to another, to set a goal of going to Washington in the top spot available to a woman... the wife of the president. Having recently read about Alva Vanderbilt, I chose this bio. of her contemporary. These are two very amibitious women living in a time of limited options for women. Neither bio. suggests their paths crossed, but it would seem that they should have. Both battled the odds, one to be the hostess to society, the other to the country. This is a very good book, and worth reading, but I've given 4 stars and not 5 because 1) the early life seemed bogged down in detail (I almost stopped reading it) 2) In this case, a better analysis of a husband's political agenda is appropriate in a bio of his spouse. In the 3 party campaign, TR has a compelling platform, but Taft only seems to speak to isolated issues and against one constitutional change (Taft's passion is law) that TR proposed. This could support the thesis that Taft is not interested in the job, and has it because his wife is interested in being First Lady (thereby losing it on this same account). 3) The Roosevelt (TR, Edith & Alice) relationship is too cardboard. Taft serves TR and the country very well in remote/dangerous locales (The Philippines, Cuba, Panama), and boring cabinet jobs and sings TR's praises. The author portrays TR's very public betrayal as TR not wanting to give up the presidency and his personality clashes with Nellie. I'd have liked more opinion on this. Maybe TR & the insurgents felt that Taft was unelectable or that Taft was disinterested in the issues (i.e. he just wanted to make his wife happy), and their agenda would be stalled. The low key political life of the times is amazing in contrast to today's. Taft can get nominated in a tight ballot at a convention he doesn't even attend. Campaigning is not a day and night enterprise. There doesn't seem to be any fundraising or donor pleasing, Carnegie willingly offers money. Nellie can say she never takes a drink in complete confidence of no journalistic follow up. Nellie can walk the streets of DC, just show up at hearings or even the Democratic Convention without an entourage or papparazzi. The Taft's financial situation is hazy. In the pre-While House days they presumably live on a shoestring.. but there is a lot of travel, shopping and entertaining. The Tafts leave the White House enriched by $100K, which was Taft's annual salary inclusive of White House entertainment expenses. A psychologist might have some comments about the influence of father figures among the principle characters. One being Nellie's pursuit of what her remote father could not attain. Another being the similarity in appearance of TR and Taft(note the side by side in the photo section) and its effect on their friendship, Taft's inability to criticize TR until the very end and the curious behavior of Alice. As you

I've been a history buff most of my life. In kindergarten, I could recite the U.S. Presidents. Many years later I added the Vice Presidents. Perhaps someone could name all the First Ladies. Note: some Presidents were widowers when they took office. One was a lifelong bachelor. Others remarried, before, during, or after their terms. Nellie Taft has received relatively little attention in history books. One main reason may be that her husband only served one term. A falling out with his onetime mentor (and predecessor) Theodore Roosevelt led to a split in the Republican party. Democrat Woodrow Wilson won. Taft finished third, to Roosevelt's Progressive "Bull Moose" party. That's the only time in recent years that a "third" party finished better-than third. Yet if it wasn't for Nellie Taft, her husband would have never been President. She worked hard to fulfill her longtime wish to be the wife of a President. This was at a time when women couldn't even vote. Ironically, her own position on suffrage would evolve. At first, she favored allowing only educated women-and men to vote. Nellie Taft was ahead of her time in many ways. Unlike most women, she enjoyed alcohol, smoking, and gambling. She had worked as a schoolteacher. Even after marriage and children, she oversaw a local symphony orchestra. Throughout her life, she loved to travel overseas. After the Spanish American War, the USA acquired the Phillipines Islands. William Howard Taft was appointed governor. Nellie was a great asset. She showed remarkable sensitivity in her dealings with the Filpino people. Theodore Roosevelt found her an ally in steering her husband toward the Presidency. Yet their relationship would be very shaky. Her tenure as First Lady was ground breaking. She was the first to ride with her husband in the inaugural parade. She sponsored concerts, had Japanese cherry blossoms planted in Washington, and placed African American doormen in the White House. A stroke sidelined her for a little while. Yet she supported her husband's bid to defeat Roosevelt for the Republican nomination in 1912. That year she had another first. She attended a political convention-the Democrats'. Another first came after leaving the White House. She wrote her memoirs. Her life continued to be active. It became more separate from her husband's. That was especially true after 1921. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. That was his life's goal. But she was with him during his final days. After his death in 1930, she continued a life full of travel, family, and some politics. She even varied from the Republican party on occasion. There are many photos. This is a long read, but very informative. The book is well footnoted. You may want to check out the author's other books next.

On May 31, 2000, I read Carl Anthony's excellent biography of Florence Harding, wife of President Harding. When I saw this book I decided to read it, based on my good experience with his Harding book, even though the subject did not seem to be nearly as interesting as was Harding--since there were rumors that Florence Harding had some sinister role in her husband's death. But I enjoyed this book much. It is superbly researched and since Nellie Taft was very much caught up in her husband's career, it is exceptionally interesting. Nellie never liked Teddy Roosevelt's wife, and she told her husband in 1908 that TR would turn on him--as of course he did. The book is written from the Taft viewpoint and so Nellie comes out looking pretty good--though she was imperious and quite demanding and gave her husband a hard time often. In her youth she had a goal: to marry a man who'd become President. And while Taft's goal was to become Chief Justice, he attained his wife's goal before he attained his own. (But attained both!) Even the account of Nellie's life after her husband died in 1930 is full of interest. She had a rather detached view toward her son, Robert Taft, and his presidential ambitions in 1940, and lived till 22 May 1943. This was a much better book than I expected and held my interest thoroughly.

I read Carl Sferrazza Anthony's biography of Florence Harding a few years ago and thought it was terrific. Mrs. Harding deserved a full-fledged biography, given her push to make her husband president and the scandals that followed. I was less interested in Nellie Taft and wondered if this woman warranted 411 pages of text. Mr. Anthony proved that it was worth it. The initial chapters of this book are narratively slow. The Taft/Herron courtship as described by the author bogs down in style and I'm not a fan of his calling his subjects "Will" and "Nellie". (I can't imagine a biographical author of Lincoln referring to them as "Abe" and "Mary") However, once President and Mrs. Taft are married Mr. Anthony's writing finds its groove. By the way, previous to this book, the one bit of recognizable knowledge about Mrs. Taft was that she was the First Lady who secured the cherry trees for Washington, D.C. Carl Anthony gives us a detailed look into Mrs. Taft....her ambitions for her husband, her dislike of the Roosevelts, her love of champagne, automobiles and travel. Always independent, Nellie Taft became accustomed to a life of accommodation, based on her husband's political choices, her health, but also one of (often) unusual distance from her parents, siblings and children. Having fought so long to make sure that Theodore Roosevelt wouldn't gain a third term as president, she lived long enough to see another Roosevelt do just that. This is an important book about a woman who was more of an inspiration almost one hundred years ago than we might otherwise have remembered and a woman who has largely been forgotten until Mr. Anthony's book. It is ironic that I finished the book on the day that Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation from the Supreme Court. Carl Anthony mentions Mrs. O'Connor on the very last page of his book as the Supreme Court justice spoke at the seventy-fifth anniversary of Nellie Taft's first planting of the cherry trees at the Tidal Basin. It would have been fun to gauge Mrs. Taft's reaction to that ceremony had she been alive. I'm sure she would have noted that a woman had made it onto the Supreme Court, that great position of distinction that her husband, as Chief Justice, had finally attained. Then she would have retired to a good game of bridge and a glass or two of champagne.