President Taft - Abolishment of war throughout the world

[LaptopLarry330]

Theodore Roosevelt was a power-mad empire builder. I would not be surprised if he paid Leon Czolgasz (I most likely mispelled his name) to assassinate President McKinley so that he would become President. President William Howard Taft had a much more humble approach to his vision of America's role in world politics. If he were re-elected President in 1912, we would not have been embroiled in two world wars. Our nation paid a very dear price in 1912 when Woodrow Wilson was elected President.

[cyberpolice9000]

@LaptopLarry330

Taft was a good President and all, but let's not exaggerate: You can't blame Wilson for entering WWII, and I'm sure Roosevelt wouldn't have wanted McKinley dead.

[Alevuss92]

This is surprisingly good quality, or at least better than I expected.

[savicast]

I Love White People!!!!!!!1

[tecktronics1227]

@savicast what!?!



[brettdusek]

The response to the American people electing such a great president as Taft, was to put in place Woodrow Wilson, who would ruin the future our great nation.

When are we going to finally correct all the wrong that has resulted, since 1913? Let us never forget the admission by Woodrow Wilson that this was the case.

[cormacob2000]

william taft was a ok president but he was also a republican!!!

[DCnightcrawler]

@cormacob2000 So was Lincoln! Really, we must understand that the pendulum constantly swings in each direction and neither republican nor democrat leaders are consistently villains. Two of our greatest presidents were Roosevelts, one republican and the other democrat. Ronald Reagan was an FDR democrat years before he became republican.

[rar9518]

The relationship between Taft and Roosevelt is one of the most compelling in history. You have one man who didn't necessarily want to be President but certainly left his mark on the Presidency and then you have the other who ached to be President wanting it more than anything in history so much so that he would try to defeat his own hand picked successor four short years after he originally left office.

[Ltsjet]

Most of these Presidential speeches from the late 19th and early 20th Century feature people who have very different accents from the "American accent" of today. Taft is the only person who really sounds like a 21st Century American when he speaks. Not necessarily in the words he uses, but just the sound of his voice.

[2ndOfficerCHL]

@Ltsjet Taft came from a more blue-collar background than McKinley or Roosevelt, so he never picked up the sort of prissy speaking style that a lot of politicians adopted in those days.

Not to mention, what sound equipment existed was primitive back then, so most had to over-enunciate to make themselves heard to a crowd.

[lawrence142002]

The man who never wanted to be President. Taft coveted the Chief Justiceship, not the White House as his former friend TR had.

[67nairb]

@GJNCA Robert Taft was known as Mr. Republican and was staunch critic of FDR's New Deal as well as America's involvement in World War II. I thought Taft was a senator.

[UncleMikeNJ]

He didn't want to be President, but the 2 people who mattered did want him to run: Theodore Roosevelt and Helen Taft. He hated the job, and wasn't good at it. Take a look at the film of him at the White House with Wilson on Inauguration Day 1913: He's as happy to leave the office as Woodrow is to get into it. I heard he lost 100 pounds after leaving, and was much happier as Chief Justice.

[1yearyounger]

taft is a good man, and an ok president. But he wasnt corrupt and very smart.

[1yearyounger]

i like taft hes a good person, never liked presidency, but he is a good man to be around government

[startover942]

Went on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Made a great contribution at a Washington Senators game by throwing out the first pitch @ Opening Day 1910, setting forth a great American tradition. Unfortunately for the Senators, they went on to finish 66-85 that season ; 36½ games back of Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics in 7th place in the AL (PHL went on to beat the Cubs 4-1 in the World Series; sorry Cubs fans).

[phillip549]

they said it 100 years ago they say it know they will say it in a 100 years

[ChrisFrenchComedy]

William Taft was a lot happier as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

[UniteForgetLeftRight]

the last great republican is talking

[ifhgsfj]

@UniteForgetLeftRight So, Teddy Roosevelt wasn't great, I assume?

[chapeauquebec]

bitten the dust, really.

[fallenangeldemon666]

he hates pony's named ponyta.

[iwebber88]

Wow... doesn't sound as upper class as the others.

[SSArcher11]

The only great thing about Taft as his ability to stuff a bathtub.

In 1912 he ran as an incumbent and came in third. And, he finished behind a Democrat and a progressive who had become disgusted with him.

He was OK as a Supreme Court Justice, though.

[cn012891pat]

While his presidency was rather shaky he was a great supreme court justice.

[evergreenpotato]

I wish we had Taft now.

[meanlezbo]

he got stuck in the bathtub-in the white house-he was a lard ass

[LePrince1890]

Taft's Secretary of State, Philander Knox, did try to use money as a basis for diplomacy ("Dollar Diplomacy" as it was known), but it was not well known. Taft's pacifist views led him to almost support Wilson and the League of Nations in 1919-1921.

[crispy1995]

This is refreshing... many early recordings of presidents all sound exactly alike, whereas I could associate this voice with Taft's face.

[xxTwinheadedEaglexx]

There were only two great presidents in the 20th century: Taft and Clinton.

[44032]

I think he sounded like Lowell Thomas.

I also like what eh ahs to say. it speaks to many generations.

[HwoarangtheBoomerang]

Mission accomplished.

[GHLIII]

He was a splendid Chief Justice -- just as his mother said, "President? No. His is a legal mind."

[Simba92]

Well said, Mr. President

[ichliebeBill4leben94]

What are some comparing and contrasting facts on Theodore Roosevelt and Tafts views on presidential power?

[calimar28]

This man was a conservative. Real conservatives are against war. Neocons are for war.

[marcostar57]

Oh..sounds like Taft was/would be "soft" on communism, fascism, terrorism, or whatever "ism" that threatens us. And I don't think the modern GOP would like him because he wasn't a chicken-hawk!

His philosophy toward war & peace sounds more like a Green-party leftie..ha!

[Staszu13]

Considering how the party has changed in all this time (a century after all) in which there were no Communists, fascists, angry Arabs etc yet, you have to wonder what the proper definition of a conservative is these days.

[67nairb]

William Howard Taft was man who had many friends and very few enemies.

[Hangar1318]

@67nairb and a big belly

[67nairb]

@Hangar1318 The fattest president in American history.

[MegaObserver1]

@67nairb The weird thing is that after he was defeated in 1912, Taft started watching his weight and lost over 100 pounds over the his first few years as an ex-President. His doctors told him if he didn't, he'd be dead soon. Taft lived for 18 years after he lost the Presidency.

[67nairb]

@MegaObserver1 When William Taft entered the White House in 1909, workman brought in his bathtub that was so big four men could sit in it. Infact there is photograph in a book I have of four workmen doing just that; ammusingly sitting in his tub and smiling at the camera. Taft certainly was a tub himself.Taft's immense size was often the butt of all jokes in the press. He was often described as a battleship and bison.

[jerzy862]

@67nairb having enemies isnt always a bad thing. it means you stood up for something.

[67nairb]

@jerzy862 True. But in Taft's case having few enemies was a good thing.

[67nairb]

@jerzy862 Speaking of enemies, do you think our present president has gained himself even more enemies because of his policies?

[jerzy862]

@67nairb Its too early to tell. Of course a president will always have some enemies. Does Obama have more than average? Time will tell. Personally I dont agree with everything hes done but I still beleive alot of what he wants to do has been held back by an uncooperative congress as well as other forces such as the millitary-industrial complex and the Fed. I cant seem to shake the sinking feeling that he may end up like JFK. Hopefully not.

[tyyyylenol]

not a great president?? did i really just hear that... taft was a true patriot of america... he understood that government should be as little as possible.. he stood for the people of this United States and not the Corporate elite... if you actually research robert taft like both of you didnt i assume.. you would find that this man was one of the greatest presidents we have ever had

[Debatewithme]

@tyyyylenol If you understand why the federal reserve's power over the financial functioning of the united states economy is so dangerous you might become curious as to how this structually changing power went from the United States legislature to a private entity...If you put some effort into researching how this shift of power from the people(Congress) to the private bank came to be I think you might reassess your view of this man.

[assas1n101]

@tyyyylenol first of all ur officially retarded for calling him "robert taft" since his name was clearly william taft. and second of all wtf r u talking about??? ur completely ignoring the fact that under taft women could not vote and blacks had no rights and due to presidents like taft who didnt act on those issues they persisted well into the 20th century. read a book.

[jshec28]

@tyyyylenol too bad Robert Taft was never president ;)

[44t56]

@tyyyylenol It's WILLIAM Taft, not Robert

[ElJulioso]

@tyyyylenol I have read much the opposite, actually. I've read that Taft was more than willing to sell America out to the corporate elite. Here's one of my sources:

"The unrelenting, cigar-smoking Pecora unearthed the fact that President Taft had met secretly with the Rockefeller and Morgan representatives in 1911 and promised them he wouldn’t enforce the ban on bank securities affiliates." - from The Trouble with Billionaires, page 50

[xexixk]

@ElJulioso You are correct that is what caused the rift between him and Theodore Roosevelt and when TR failed to win the Republican nomination he ran as a third part candiate in 1912. Here is a 1912 speech by TR that is eerrily relevant to things going on today:  /watch?v=Ixi3fwGvLsw

[0602nan]

@tyyyylenol its william taft... not robert

[confuser69]

Dumb presidential propaganda.. He didn't write this.. he's simply reading what someone else wrote for him.. So where is his mind?  Creating a new Federal Government which limits and controls the reality of citizenship among the masses.. Remember, as he reads this, 6000 immigrants flood into Ellis Island every day. New racist values hold Eugenics as a new science to determine human worth. Pre WW-I . Sponsor of the birth of national socialism. Hitler is a teenager. Nietzsche says god is dead.

[67nairb]

William Howard Taft was not a great president, but he was certainly the most loved and sought after.

[lildwayne21]

William Howard Taft didn't even want to become President to begin with. He was Roosevelt's handpicked successor. That probably explains why he wasn't a great President. Roosevelt expected him to carry on his legacy

[67nairb]

Taft may not have been a great president but he certainly wasn't a terrible one. There was no corruption or scandals in his administration. What Taft really wanted was a seat in the U.S. Supreme Court which was finally appointed to him in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding who's administration was defintely tainted by corruption.

[javierlipnica]

greetings with life love to all!! Taft is owesome in his act to copy his willingness to dimsntle all war ,and the active laws of honorable Taft Must bne inforce must !!

Javier Lipnica

Trion Life Lover

[4freespeech]

This poor man HATED being president,

and to make things worse,

HE GOT STUCK IN THE WHITE HOUSE

BATHTUB, and they had to call firemen

to get him out.

[Dahrol]

Not to mention all the butter it took. LOL!

[eman626]

Poor man indeed. Im so glad he became Chief Justice and follow his dream.

[whoo689]

Even in 1909 people used that STUPID, god-awful term "abolishment"? Isn't the proper word supposed to "abolition"??  I thought this transition from abolition to "abolishment" was just a modern thing because of idiots screwing up the English language. the hell?

[whoo689]

This is Taft's voice?? Oh, come on! He couldn't possibly have such a bland one.

[beatlefied70]

damn, from Benjamin Harrison to this the recording quality improved drastically.

[ryanyunck]

Nothing can stop a Hungry Taft.

[realitiesupremebeing]

the words sound high sounding but it

didn't take did it? so we must go on but it can be different listen to what I have to say.

[UncleMikeNJ]

Taft sounds like Eisenhower.

[popeaustini]

eerily similar to eisenhower, good observation

[jiggareactmilitant]

Definitely agree, I never would have imagined Taft to sound like a 5 star general. In fact this is the voice I would most likely associate with Teddy Roosevelt.

[UShistoryX2]

Teddy Roosevelt sounded like a screeching owl.

[Albukhshi]

falcetto or maybe a high C note is a more accurate term, but yeah ;-)

[crosbymalkin07]

He sounds like Wilford Brimley.

[AllenbysEyes]

Yes, he sounds very modern compared to his contemporaries. Thank you very much for posting.

[oldgael]

Either this is a campaign speech, or Taft must have really hated McKinley.

[bittergunowner12]

I think many people realize that, I'm sure his family is furious.

[bittergunowner12]

Ironically enough Taft was Secretary of War before becoming President.

[nickakdag]

I wonder if Taft had any idea the 20th century to follow would be the most devastating in terms of casualties in the history of the world? Not to mention the deadly clash of civilizations that George W. has ensured we will have in the 21st. Taft was great, but his son, Robert A. Taft was the greatest of libertarian/conservative icons.

[bittergunowner12]

Wow. good speech, to bad his decedent was a scumbag *I'm a Republican btw* he was actually very progressive despite what some historians might say, he helped it more than hurt it.

[pipeorganloverNJP]

His accent sounds more modern than others during his time. I mean, like Theodore Roosevelt or William McKinley. Is this actually a recording or is someone more recent reading it?

[austenbosten]

He's from Ohio, and many Ohioans (except the ones' with the Appalachian dialect) have the Standard Midwestern Dialect, or General American (which is the clearest of American dialect). Most people think that all past presidents' have the Mid-Atlantic Dialect (Franklin D Roosevelt) but although a popular dialect among politicians; it is simply not true.

[Mephis1967]

I wasn't sure which Robert Taft you were referring to...thanks

[Mephis1967]

Please, elaborate if you can.

[hauntedmythcaves]

Not one of the best presidents, but certainly not one of the worst. Although he dissapointed many progressives, he actually helped with progressive reform.

[scotpens]

And for being the fattest U.S. President!

[PapagenoJuan]

Yeah he is fat.

So is Rosie O Donnell.

whats your point

[tonydtiger05]

yes yes yes make it all sound good...make it sound so american...such the nationalist...however truth be told...taft was a freemason...and tafts grandfather was co-founder of the skull n bones secret society...does n e one research?????????

[DireWeevil]

Not long after this, the First World War began to rage. When you think about it, WWI set the stage for WWII and WWII for Korea, and Vietnam. It really is a damn shame no one listened to the man.

[scotpens]

And Europe stumbled into the First World War because a tangle of international treaties and alliances caused a series of relatively minor incidents to escalate into a continent-wide powderkeg. World War I was the Seinfeld war -- it was really about nothing!

[startover942]

William Howard Taft was the second president whose # (27) is actually a cubic root (3x3x3). Martin Van Buren was the first as our 8th president (2x2x2). Can't count George W. as that would go on forever.

Good grief, I so need to get a life.

[maharal7]

Where did you find this? What was the occasion of the speech? Good to see Taft referenced for something other than his girth!

[kolonelklunt]

Humans will always be at war as there will always be enough humans unwilling to look at themselves or inside themselves and who will look to their neighbour onto whom they can cast their shadow.

[ssgcook81]

So said a man 100 yrs ago when the thought of global dominance rested in the minds of insane dictators and warlord thugs. We fight an enemy now that has no face, no uniform, but has a vision of world domination. The only difference is Islamic terrorists are fighting for a religious cause, not a political one. Whether we want war or not, they will wage it to the death. The question is, are we willing to defend ourselves, or are we going to hide our heads in the sand and hope for the best?

[baliwkuya]

sure blame all your american problems on islam. i can say the same thing that Christians are problems because look at hitler, he manipulated the religion to his own cause. Or blame the jews for killing jesus or buddhist for being communist. my point is this is all Ignorant statements. there some truth to it but more wrong

[baliwkuya]

i only agree with you to the point that wars are fought by religion, but not by 1 speicific religion. you look throught history people represent people not by thier religion. Religion starts with C did thier share of harm.

[DireWeevil]

What? Confucius?

[GrandmasterCloaky]

Glad to see somebody mentioned that. The war in Iraq itself is a religious war because it is fueled by the ideals of religious hatemongering. And the one unquenchable hate that man has is religious hatred. George W. Bush's biggest failure is that he tries to achieve democracy and impose it upon those who want nothing to do with it...or peace for that matter. That thought of dominance is still alive and well, it's just deceitfully hidden behind grinning teeth and big smiles.

[JWeeems]

League of Nations. . . ha.

Well, I'm really just commenting because I think it's funny that Taft was the President that got stuck in the bathtub in the White House. Talk about embarrassing.

[mystikast]

RON PAUL

[tomrdee]

One of the Republicans running for president this year said that the Republican party was the party of peace. Can you name him?

[nema1218]

i think i know who you're talking about.its ron paul!we need individuals like ron paul as president.

[scotpens]

Nice idea, but the last time any adult was naive enough to believe war could be abolished was in 1919, just 10 years after this speech, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. After all, why should countries go to war when their disputes could be settled through the League of Nations?

War is intrinsic to the human condition. It will always be with us. That's not pessimism, just realism.

[mydogsteve]

The political irony for the U.S. on this issue is that Congress refused to ratify the League of Nations because they saw it as an entanglement in European affairs. Thus, the U.S. did not participate in it and 20 years later we were again in Europe. So much for isolationism for America. U.S is drawn into W.W.I, the American Public wishes to isolate from the world, polices are driven in that direction at all cost and yet the U.S. is forced in 1941 to go to war. War is part of the human condition!

[DireWeevil]

Aye, its true. War is as much of our condition as is love. It is part of life. There is not a single animal in the world that does not fight another in some way. The only thing that makes war what it is for humans is that were have the mental intellect to form organized armies and produce terrible weapons.

[Red99man]

you forgot the vital fact that were the only species with the ability to reason. To reflect on our thoughts and behavior, and to arrive at a conclusion that killing is immoral, and to refrain from it. Our ability to reason is what distinguishes us from animals. The sad part is the gift is scarcely properly used and far from being mastered. Instead we use the gift to justify our immoral actions. I think some day a world without war could very much be a reality, rather than a dream.

[Amiduffer]

GWBush, are you listening to this?