PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/20/1918 - HFSID 174831

WILLIAM H. TAFT
William H. Taft sends a typed letter tentatively setting up a time to see a friend the first part of July.
Typed Letter Signed: "Wm H Taft", 1p, 7x9. Pointe-a-Pic, P.Q., Canada, 1918 August 20.To Hon. John B. Winslow, Chief Justice of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.In full: "I have your letter of August 16th. I think I can agree to be with you on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd of July - perhaps more than one day, but don't count on more than one of those three. You don't have to fix your program now, and it is a little uncertain what the exigencies of my service on the National War Labor Board might require. I would like to have the latitude of the three days. I have a classmate and intimate and dear friend in La Crosse, who is President of the National Park of that city. I shall stay with him while in La Crosse." Taft has handwritten his classmate's name: "His name is/George W. Burton". Taft wrote this letter from his summer home in Pointe-a-Pic, Quebec, 45 miles from the Canada-Maine border.JOHN B. WINSLOW served as Chief Justice of Wisconsin from 1907-1920, dying in office on July 13, 1920. On June 30, 1921, Taft was sworn in as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, serving until he retired in 1930. From an article by lawyer Joseph A. Ranney published in the "Wisconsin Lawyer", Internet publication of the State Bar of Wisconsin: "Winslow's reputation was such that Presidents Taft and Wilson seriously considered appointing him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Winslow was not appointed partly because President Taft and [Wisconsin Senator Robert] LaFollette were not friendly in 1910 [Taft appointed three Associate Justices in 1910], and partly because he was perceived as a regional candidate and the Midwest already had its share of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court." GEORGE W. BURTON was one of Taft's classmates at Yale. President Taft had been in LaCrosse in 1909 to deliver the keynote address at the dedication of the new YMCA. Burton was the building committee chairman. Lightly creased. Fine condition.