PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 02/10/1906 - HFSID 27320

WILLIAM H. TAFT
William Taft answers a letter saying that he will not be staying with a private family but in the hotel while in Chicago and he may not be able to send his speech early as he has not started it yet.
Typed Letter Signed: "Wm H. Taft" as Secretary of War, 1p, 5½x9. Washington, D.C., 1906 February 10. To Robert Patterson, Esq., ("My dear Mr. Patterson") Washington, D.C. In full: "I have your kind note of February sixth. I rather think I shall put up at the ANNEX in Chicago. Mrs. McCagg has pressed me to come out there, but I shall be so busy for the short time I am in Chicago that I ought not to inflict myself on any private family. I shall send you a copy of my speech just as soon as I can get it ready, but as I have not begun it yet, the prospect of my getting it much in advance of my visit is quite remote. I thank you for the clipping from the Chicago Tribune with reference to the action of the real estate board. Very sincerely yours," William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was Governor of the Philippines (1901-1904), Secretary of War (1904-1909), 27th of the United States (1909-1913) and Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (1921-1930). His bruising convention battle with former ally and patron Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 split the Republican Party, allowing the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Taft as President was caught in the middle between progressives and conservatives and constrained by a more limited view of Presidential powers than TR had possessed, but historians tend to view his term of office more positively than did most of his contemporaries. His skills as Chief Justice are widely recognized. Fold creases not at signature. Otherwise, fine condition.