William Howard Taft

The raison d'etre for any military is to deter an adversary from acting inimically to a nation's interests or, if deterrence fails, to coerce him into ceasing the actions. After defining terms and reviewing the literature on coercion, this report looks at the utility of the military as a coercive instrument. The authors analyze cases that provide insights into conventional coercion. They conclude by stressing the unchanged nature of coercion and that only a thorough understanding of our adversaries, and of our own will and capabilities, will yield a successful coercive strategy. (DS)

William Howard Taft (15 September 1857 - 8 March 1930) was the 27th President of the United States and later the 10th Chief Justice of the United States. He is the only person to have served in both offices. Riding a wave of popular support of President (and fellow Republican) Theodore Roosevelt, Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency. In his first and only term, President Taft's domestic agenda emphasised trust-busting, civil service reform, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, improving the performance of the postal service, and passage of the Sixteenth Amendment. This book will take you through the voyage of Taft's Presidency and life in view of that prestigious appointment.

The modern presidency is increasingly seen as in trouble by all sides of the political spectrum and by people of the most diverse political views. Understanding why this is the case requires examining the basic principles of the presidency itself, and there is no better place to start than William Howard Taft's Popular Government. His views on executive power and constitutional interpretation of this power are not rooted in nostalgia. Instead, Taft describes how and why the Progressive Movement marked one of the major turning points in American political thought.Taft wrote out of concern over the nature of the American system itself. He sought to describe the founding principles of the country, arguing that grasping these is essential for Americans' understanding of themselves as a people and for their daily exercise of citizenship. The concerns he addressed remain central today. Th at is because Taft's quarrels with the liberal-progressive tradition in politics have not yet completely played themselves out, either in academic life, or in the political arena.In a brilliant new introduction, Sidney Pearson argues that neither Roosevelt nor Wilson should be viewed as enemies of free government by any serious student of American political thought, nor should Taft be so regarded either. The concerns Taft engages remain important for any understanding of the problems that confront the American experiment in popular government. Popular Government is a basic introduction to debate about the nature of the presidency and the larger constitutional context in which such arguments take place. Th ere is no better way to gain perspective on the debate than reading this volume.