Bill Taft
The Public Record
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States, serving from 1909 to 1913. A member of the Republican Party, he was known for his trust-busting policies and efforts to promote international trade. After his presidency, Taft continued to serve the nation as the 10th Chief Justice of the United States from 1921 until his death in 1930, making him the only person to have held both the presidency and the chief justiceship. His tenure as Chief Justice was marked by a commitment to judicial restraint and the rule of law.
Oct 15, 1909
I should be very glad to have the pleasure of taking you and Governor Creel, who interprets so well and who is my personal friend, into an adjoining room for just a few moments.
Oct 15, 1909
You have already met the Secretary of War and the Governor of Texas. I shall be glad to have the privilege of presenting to you the Postmaster General.
Oct 15, 1909
The people of the United States respect and honor the Mexicans, for their patriotic devotion, their will, energy, and for their steady advance in industrial development and moral happiness.
Oct 12, 1909
I want to congratulate you on having room enough in this Territory to grow.
Oct 12, 1909
A constitution is for the purpose of laying down fundamental limitations upon your legislature and your Executive.
Oct 12, 1909
You give me great courage, and give me great inspiration as I look into your eyes and see that you are deliberate men, that you are intelligent men, and that you propose to exercise your suffrage in such a way as to have a government of…
Oct 12, 1909
After that dose which your Chairman administered to me, I feel like drawing the long bow more than ever on this trip.
Oct 12, 1909
In the first place, I want to commend myself, and that is by having appointed Judge Sloan your Governor.
Oct 12, 1909
Now, that is the spirit I have found everywhere, and I am proud to be an American, and to know that such a spirit is actuating our people, because its continuance assures the greatness of our country and the making of it such that we can…
Oct 12, 1909
I am willing to admit, as I suppose you will, the truth of the statement of the Chairman, that I have not anywhere had an audience of which this is not a peer.
Oct 12, 1909
I am inclined to think that the ladies before me generally follow that course.
Oct 12, 1909
My fellow citizens, I am glad to see you because I am glad to know that the population of Arizona, which I believe will soon become a State, is of a character to deserve it.
Oct 12, 1909
The greatest Constitution that was ever made is the Constitution of the United States; and you can go through that in a very short time.
Oct 11, 1909
But jesting aside, my dear friends, there is no experience in my life more delightful than that which I have had in California.
Oct 11, 1909
The truth is that the honor of unveiling the tablet to the Rev. Father Serra was one that I had not anticipated, but which I was glad to perform.
Oct 11, 1909
I don't misconstrue it, but I know that Californians are loyal to the backbone and they are glad to welcome to the borders of their great State the representative of the Nation of which they are proud to be a part.
Oct 11, 1909
When we have any past of a picturesque character we ought not to destroy it.
Oct 11, 1909
We are in the habit, we Anglo-Saxons, of looking back to our ancestors with a smug satisfaction and thinking that no one has exactly the right to that pride of ancestry that we have.
Oct 11, 1909
Now I want to respond to what the Governor has said with respect to California.
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