William Taft to TW Bickett
Title
William Taft to TW Bickett
Creator
Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930
Identifier
WWP25425
Date
1918 October 30
Description
President Taft shares his frustration over President Wilson.
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
League of Nations
Contributor
Mark Edwin Peterson
Relation
WWP25422
WWP25423
WWP25424
WWP25426
Language
English
Provenance
Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.
Text
William H. Taft
New Haven, Conn.
Room 931 - Southern Building
Washington, D. C.
My dear Governor:
I have your telegram and I think I ought to answer it, though not for publication unless you think it necessary. The truth is that the President does not favor our League to Enforce Peace. He told President Lowell, of Harvard, and me that fact last March. The truth is that Mr. Roosevelt has come around to favoring the League to Enforce Peace, provided it does not mean universal disarmament. I find myself in general agreement with Mr. Roosevelt on this issue, indeed more than I would with President Wilson, who having announced his complete acquiescence in the principles of the League advised us in the conversation to which I referred that he had changed his mind. So far as Mr. Roosevelt's opinion is concerned on the fourteen points of January 8th, I am largely in sympathy with him. I think these fourteen points cannot be made the safe basis of a treaty of peace. They are too vague and indefinite. They would give rise to as many disputes as the present war. They do not embrace all that our Allies have the right to demand and they embrace some things that our Allies would not concede. Mr. Wilson has not consulted our Allies as he should. He refuses to call them Allies. For that reason I am sincerely hopeful that a Republican Congress will be elected and an answer given to his unrepublican and undemocratic appeal for uncontrolled and despotic power during the life of the next Congress. His reflection on the Republican minority is most unjust.
Now my dear Governor these are my personal opinions. Therefore I did not answer your telegram and I am not quite sure whether you expected an answer. Whether it was not in the sending of this telegram that the importance lay. You are at liberty to publish this if you choose, but I don't insist on it.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Wm. H. Taft.
(COPY)
New Haven, Conn.
Room 931 - Southern Building
Washington, D. C.
My dear Governor:
I have your telegram and I think I ought to answer it, though not for publication unless you think it necessary. The truth is that the President does not favor our League to Enforce Peace. He told President Lowell, of Harvard, and me that fact last March. The truth is that Mr. Roosevelt has come around to favoring the League to Enforce Peace, provided it does not mean universal disarmament. I find myself in general agreement with Mr. Roosevelt on this issue, indeed more than I would with President Wilson, who having announced his complete acquiescence in the principles of the League advised us in the conversation to which I referred that he had changed his mind. So far as Mr. Roosevelt's opinion is concerned on the fourteen points of January 8th, I am largely in sympathy with him. I think these fourteen points cannot be made the safe basis of a treaty of peace. They are too vague and indefinite. They would give rise to as many disputes as the present war. They do not embrace all that our Allies have the right to demand and they embrace some things that our Allies would not concede. Mr. Wilson has not consulted our Allies as he should. He refuses to call them Allies. For that reason I am sincerely hopeful that a Republican Congress will be elected and an answer given to his unrepublican and undemocratic appeal for uncontrolled and despotic power during the life of the next Congress. His reflection on the Republican minority is most unjust.
Now my dear Governor these are my personal opinions. Therefore I did not answer your telegram and I am not quite sure whether you expected an answer. Whether it was not in the sending of this telegram that the importance lay. You are at liberty to publish this if you choose, but I don't insist on it.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Wm. H. Taft.
(COPY)
Original Format
Letter
Files
Collection
Citation
Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930, “William Taft to TW Bickett,” 1918 October 30, WWP25425, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.