PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 07/31/1908 - HFSID 30788

WILLIAM H. TAFT
William H. Taft signs a typed letter acknowledging a letter.
Typed Letter Signed: "Wm H Taft" as Republican candidate for President, ¾p, 5¼x8¼. On his imprinted personal Cincinnati, Ohio letterhead, but written from Hot Springs, Va., 1908 July 31. To Hamilton Holt, Esq., The Independent, New York, N.Y. In full: "I have your letter of July 29th, and shall try to do what I can to give you a short statement sometime during this month." The month before he signed this letter, Taft had been nominated for President at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. William Howard Taft (1857-1930) had previously served as Secretary of War (1904-1908) under Theodore Roosevelt, who had hand-picked Taft as his successor. The Republicans ratified TR's choice at the convention, and the Republican platform supported Roosevelt's policies. As Taft began to move away from these policies, especially in the areas of the tariff and environmental issues, the more progressive members of the Party became upset and urged Roosevelt to run for another term. Both Taft and Roosevelt vied for the Presidential nomination at the 1912 convention, and when Taft won the nomination, TR's supporters left the convention to form the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party, with Roosevelt as their candidate. With the Republican vote split, Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson won the November general election; Roosevelt came in second and Taft finished third, the only time an incumbent President had finished third in a national election. Taft, whose lifelong ambition had been to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, would later serve as Chief Justice from 1921-1930. Lightly creased with folds, vertical fold at the "W", light horizontal fold though lower portion of signature. Pinholes at blank left margin to left of text. Slightly soiled. Overall, fine condition.