PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 06/04/1891 - HFSID 35483

WILLIAM H. TAFT
The 33-year-old Taft talks about his father two weeks after his death.
Typed Letter Signed: "Wm H. Taft" as Solicitor General, 1½p, separate sheets, 8x10. Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General, Washington, D.C., 1891 June 4. To Clarence H. Kelsey, Esq., New York. In full: "Your very kind letter of condolence was received upon my return this morning. I recall the pleasure which father had in meeting you, and the interest which he took in your career. I felt sure that I should have your sympathy in the loss. He had lived to a green old age, and his death, after his long illness, came not with the shock which it would have given had it come earlier in his life. Nevertheless the sundering of the sweet tie which bound us all to him has much of pain in it. He enjoyed his last years much, because he was so sympathetic with his children as to be able to live again in their lives. I am profoundly grateful that he was spared to such an age, because I know how much pleasure he took in living his life over again in that of his family. He has left a great legacy to us in the sweet memory of his loving fatherly care for us and ours, as well as in the honorable name which we are so proud to cherish. Mrs. Taft came out to Cincinnati to the funeral, and I left her there for the summer. How much of the time I shall be able to spend with her I do not know. My duties here are pressing, and the absence of a month has put me so far behind as to make it very hard for me to spend any time away from Washington during the summer. I wish that I could get up to the convention at New Haven, but I fear it will be impossible. Give my love to all the fellows you see there, and express to them the regret I have in not being able to join you." To the typed "Yours sincerely", Taft has added: "and affectionately/in the Bones". Taft's father, ALPHONSO TAFT, born in 1810, had died on May 21, 1891 at the age of 80. He had served as Judge of the Cincinnati Superior Court (1865-1872) and was Grant's Secretary of War (1876) and Attorney General (1876-1877). He had once said that the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was greater than the presidency. WILLIAM H. TAFT served as President from 1909-1913 and got his wish when President Harding appointed him Chief Justice in 1921, a post he held until he resigned shortly before his death in 1930. CLARENCE H. KELSEY was Taft's classmate at Yale. Taft regrets not being able to attend the coming convention at Yale in New Haven. Folds, one vertical touches "Wm". Fine condition.