It was October of 1946. Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, was the chief spokesman for the Republican in Washington, and was likely to be the Republican nominee for President in 1948. That is, until the Senator made one controversial speech that would alter his future dramatically. The Nuremberg trials were concluding, and the Ohio senator disagreed with the way that the Nazi leaders were being tried. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote “no matter how finely the lawyers analyzed it, the crime for which the Nazis were tried had never been formalized as a crime with the definiteness required by our legal standards, nor outlawed with a death penalty by the international community. By our standards that crime arose under an ex post facto law.” Senator Taft saw this, and being a man of principle, and integrity, he spoke out. It was at a conference in Ohio when he spoke his mind, just as Taft’s campaign in a heated race for the Oval Office was taking shape. The Nuremburg trials were not much of a topic for discussion, and at no time were before the Congress for consideration; Taft spoke of them anyway. The senator followed the Constitution correctly, all his life, and used it as a weapon. Hanging those Nazi leaders, to Taft, was unjust, and violated the fundamental principle of American law. “The hanging of the eleven men convicted will be a blot on the American record which we shall long regret.” Said Taft. His speech was considered to be political suicide. People thought he was sympathizing for the Nazis; they were angry, and Taft lost the candidacy for Republican nominee. New York Republican Congressional candidate Jacob K. Javits called Taft’s statement “a disservice to all we fought for and to the cause of future peace.” Democratic Majority leader in the Senate (and later Vice President) Alben Barkely of Kentucky told a campaign audience that Taft “never experienced a crescendo of heart about the soup kitchens of 1932, but his heart bled anguishedly for the criminals at Nuremburg.” Fresh off of a second
towards politics as a profession that shouldn’t be discouraged. In his book, President Kennedy used the meaningful life stories of senators who he believed has shown political courage, which include John Quincy Adams, Thomas Hart Benton, and Robert A. Taft. Through the stories of these three senators, President Kennedy showed how a politician can show courage by risking their careers in order to fight for a common good, even in times where outcomes rested within their own hands. Kennedy upheld…
commissions to manage urban affairs or the city-manager system, which was designed to take politics out of municipal administration. ii. Urban reformers tackled “slumlords,” juvenile delinquency, and wide-open prostitution. iii. In Wisconsin, Governor Robert M. La Follette wrestled control from the trusts and returned power to the people, becoming a Progressive leader in the process. 1. Other states also took to regulate railroads and trusts, such as Oregon and California, which was led by Governor…
businesses.” To exemplify this, trust-busting was created to dissolve corporate trusts and monopolies. As there are many political reformers, there was a select group of exemplary men. This includes J.P. Morgan, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Robert La Follette. J.P. Morgan had a vision to rescue the government from its troubles. He was unusually skilled at transforming struggling businesses into successful, profitable businesses. He controlled $30 million dollars (which in today’s time is $7…
History Since 1865 January 14, 2013 Professor Andrew Cramer What is said and what is done The election of 1912 was a crazy one to say the least. The two front-runners, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson with Howard Taft lagging behind left a mark on America not soon forgotten. What America had just come out of and what it was going into required candidates that could give America hope. Progressivism laid out a plan to change a lot of things in America that had somehow…
Left Side John Adams vs. John Q. Adams John Adams established many of the basic ideas and principles that made up the United States Constitution. Adams was a well respected lawyer who was one of the first proponents of permanent separation from Great Britain. He beat out John Q. Adams in the election because the people favored John Adams Alien and Sedition act. The Alien and Sedition Acts consisted of four laws passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress as America was getting ready for war with…
only Democrat elected to the presidency between 1892 and 1932. Wilson had never governed with the support of a majority of voters, winning office in 1912 only because two Republicans (popular ex-President Teddy Roosevelt and incumbent William Howard Taft) split the vote by running against each other, then barely retaining the presidency with less than half the popular vote in 1916. Despite his dubious mandate, Wilson pursued aggressive reforms at home and abroad, culminating in the virtual nationalization…
1. What were the events that led to the meeting of the Constitutional Convention? Alexander Hamilton got the representatives to urge Congress to call a special convention to be convened at Philadelphia the next year to consider ways to "render the constitution of the Federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union." 2. When and where did the Constitutional Convention meet? Independence Hall in Philadelphia, but it was May 25,1787 before a quorum of seven states arrived. 3. Who…
Unit 2 Test [Industrialization through Progressive Era] Why did people in America migrate from the rural areas to urban areas? Mechanized farming machines created less need of people to work on the farms, so less pay and demand for workers. People then moved to the city in search of high wages and jobs. What was Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, about? The book exposed unsanitary conditions of The Meat packing industry in Chicago. The novel depicted the poor quality of food preparation…
the veto of the State Children’s Heath Insurance Programme (S-CHIP) 2007. President Truman used the veto over many major bills like the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Checks by the Executive on the Judiciary -Appointment of judges – he nominates all federal judges, with Supreme Court being most important, George W. Bush was able to make two appointments – John Roberts as Chief Justice 2005 and Samuel Alito as an associate Justice in 2006. Presidents try and choose nominees whose judicial philosophy matches…
NLRA was brought to the forefront soon after and was needed to avoid such unfair labor practices (Budd, p.116). Many employers were unhappy with the implementation of the NLRA and were intent on fighting against it head on. They succeeded with the Taft-Hartley Act, which is the second labor law that supports collective bargaining. In 1947, the NLRA was amended and placed unions in a much more regulative state. Unions were no longer able to have as many liberties as they once had via the NLRA.…