William Howard Taft, by Paul Raymond Audibert, Paris.

Additional information on Audibert pending.

William Howard Taft, President of the United States, (1909-1913). Born Cincinnati, Ohio, September 15, 1857.
(Mr. Taft was apparently still living at the time of this compilation of engravings by Mr. Audibert. Mr. Taft died in 1930.) The following is quoted from the coverleaf of the engraving:

"Wth the exception lkof Lincoln, no President has tentered the White House under circumstances so fully to test his courage and so thoroughly to test his character as President Taft. With the exception of Lincoln, no President has been so little understood as Mr. Taft. And save Lincoln there has been no other President whose motives have been so maliciously questioned or whose contemporaries accused him of weakness because he had the courage silently to carry out his own policy.***

"When Mr. Taft as President entered the White House he had a very clear and definite purpose in view. First, it was his hope to bring the people back to sanity, to put an end to senseless agitation, to heal them in mind and spirit; secondly, to be the means of accomplishing certain constructive legislation which the country badly needed. Mr. Taft is no fatuous optimist, snugly content with the thought that this is the best of all possible worlds and everything is as it should be. He is not a pessimist, but a man need not be a pessimist to see that there are many things that can be improved and that conditons can always be made better. The President is a man of singular directness of purpose, who goes straight to his objective and to whom the tortuous or the involved is detestable."***

"Seldom has a man accomplished so much in such a short time as Mr. Taft. The legislation that has been enacted makes his administration one of the most important in recent times; but far more important is the great service he has rendered in checking agitation and in bringing the people to have a respect for and to pay obedience to law."***

"When the occasion exists, there, it is said, the man will always be found. Certainly there never seemed a time when the man was more needed for the occasion than when fortune or fate made Mr. Taft presidnet. His very defects were in his favor. He is not an all-round genius, nor does he delude himself into believing that he is. He knows his limitations. The brilliant man, the dashing audacious irresponsiible man, hungering for notoriety and sensation, would have done incredible harm. A quiet, self-contained, matter-of-fact man was needed, able to think for himself, not afraid to act as his judgment and conscience dictated, daring to be unpopular if he were able to convince himself that he was right. Already the effect of the work can be seen. The public is in a healthier frame of mind. There is still too much unrest, but it is gradually subsiding. Men are no longer tried on suspicion and convicted on rumor, but may claim a fair hearing. The cure is not yet complete, but the nerves of the American people have been restored under the skillful ministrations of William Howard Taft."--A. MAURICE LOW,in Yale Review, April 1912. Effective published copyright,©Mickey Cox 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.