William Howard Taft: Vetoing his Ride Down the Grand Canyon

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	The Health and Medical History of President
	William Howard Taft: Vetoing his Ride Down the Grand Canyon

horse fall

May 18, 1909: despite his wife's stroke, Taft went horseback riding, which he did almost every day while President [9j]. On this day, his aide recorded [9k]:

The President was thrown from his horse this afternoon, but luckily not hurt. I am sure he is bruised and that he will be very sore to-morrow, but it was lucky that he was not killed.

Taft had other problems with horses during his political career, including (1) the famous telegram from Secretary of War Elihu Root (see below) and (2) an angry exchange with his military aide at the Grand Canyon when Taft wanted to ride a horse down the trail into the Canyon. The aide, who "had no idea of letting him run the risk of breaking his neck and imposing the Vice President on the country as the Chief Executive," finally persuaded Taft it was not wise [9l].

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The following incident was described in a letter Butt wrote to his sister on November 14, 1909 [9l].

Another time [I saw Taft angry] was with me, when we reached the Grand Canyon. Some people interested in the trail down the canyon... persuaded him to make the descent. I knew that he ought not to do it and entered my protest, but he waved me aside and refused to listen to argument. The night before we reached the canyon I went to him and for about the fifth time started on my argument why he should not go. He turned to me, and I think he was really angry, and said:

"See here! You go to hell! I will do as I damn please sometime."

I saw there was no use to argue further, and in fact I was so full of laughter that I could not have gone on without showing my amusement, and that night before retiring he announced with the braggadocio of a big boy that he would ride down the trail the next morning. He was not to leave the train before eight, and I was out bright and early to see what else he could do. I arranged for a drive twelve miles away and lunch there, and then for a drive to Sunset View in the afternoon. Going to his room while he was dressing, I said:

"Mr. President, may I come in for a few minutes' talk?"

"I suppose you are going to talk about the trail again," he said, and I admitted as much.

I then told him that I had learned that he would have to dismount from his horse several times and that the trail was very narrow and this was a difficult thing for a man of his size to do. Moreover, I reminded him that his meeting with [Mexican President] Diaz was only two days off and that he would be so stiff and sore that this meeting, instead of being one of pleasure, would be most uncomfortable. I did not mince words with him at all, for I had no idea of letting him run the risk of breaking his neck and imposing the Vice President on the country as the Chief Executive.

He heard me through and finally turned to me with his face very red.

"Well, damn it, you can have your way; but I'll tell you one thing. I will get even with you some day -- and with [wealthy businessman] John Hammond, too," he yelled, as I went out of the door, for he knew that I had Mr. Hammond as an abettor in my plans.

He really was put out, for his pride had been excited and he hated to back down, especially as he had sworn with an oath that he would go. Postmaster General Hitchcock was with us and just then he was trying to placate the territories [Arizona was not yet a state in 1909], and so when the matter was brought up, he agreed with [Secret Service Agent] Sloan and the rest, and this brought about some coldness between him and John Hays Hammond. Mr. Hammond said he was a fish with no blood in his veins and would throw down anybody to curry a little favor with the President or with some political henchman. Altogether it was not a happy day, except once when the President got a glimpse of the trail down in the valley. I felt that he admitted to himself that I was right, though he has never made such an admission to me and the nearest he has come to it is that he said that doubtless his wife and Cabinet would think I was in the right.

But on the whole he has a wonderfully equable temper and a very sweet disposition.

Resources

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Abbott, Lawrence F. (ed.). The Letters of Archie Butt: Personal Aide to President Roosevelt. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1924. [a] p. 165
Anderson, Judith Icke. William Howard Taft: An Intimate History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981. ISBN 0-393-01462-2 @ Amazon [a] p. ??? [b] p. 28 [c] p. 68
Arnebeck, Bob. White House Workout: William Howard Taft's good fight against the 54-inch waistline. Washington Post Magazine. September 15, 1985: 17, 19.
Barker, Charles E. With President Taft in the White House. Chicago: A. Kroch and Son, 1947. [a] pp. 50-51
Boller, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-19-502915-1 @ Amazon
Bromley, Michael L. William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland, 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1475-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 76
Bromley, Michael. Personal communication. Email to Dr. Zebra Sept. 15, 2005.
Bromley wrote: "Taft never drove. He always had a driver. His driver in Washington in the Twenties was named Tom Ford." It is not clear, however, when Ford was hired or if he was behind the wheel when this incident occurred.
Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-89950-956-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 172 [b] p. 167 [c] p. 168
Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
Butt, Archibald W. Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt, Military Aide. Garden City, NY: Doubleday (1930). Volume 1: pages 1-432. Volume 2: pages 433-862. [a] p. 326 [b] p. 760 [c] p. 172 [d] pp. 70,75, 76 [e] p. 70 [f] p. 73 [g] p. 75 [h] p. 76 [i] p. 88 [j] p. 39 [k] p. 92 [l] pp. 206-207
Butt, an Army officer, was military aide first to President Theodore Roosevelt and then to President William Taft. On April 14, 1912, Butt was at sea aboard the Titanic returning from a European vacation that Taft had insisted he take. President Taft later said: "When I heard that part of the ship's company had gone down, I gave up hope for the rescue of Major Butt, unless by accident. I knew that he would certainly remain on the ship's deck until every duty had been performed and every sacrifice made that properly fell on one charged, as he would feel himself charged, with responsibility for the rescue of others." Taft was correct. Butt did not survive the sinking.
Coletta, Paolo E. The Presidency of William Howard Taft. Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 1973. ISBN 7006-0096-5 @ Amazon [a] p. 9
Dole, RJ. Great Presidential Wit. NY: Scribner, 2001. ISBN 0-7432-0392-5 @ Amazon [a] p. 134
Hicks, F. C. William Howard Taft, Yale Professor of Law & New Haven Citizen. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1945. [a] pp. 111-112 [b] pp. 113-114
Manners, William. TR and Will: A Friendship that Split the Republican Party. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1969.
Marx, Rudolph. The Health of the Presidents. New York: GP Putnam's Sons, 1960. [a] p. 301 [b] p. 300
Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed). Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of American. 2nd ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981. ISBN 0-85011-033-5 @ Amazon
Enumerates the ancestors and descendants of American presidents up through Ronald Reagan.
Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1939. [a] p. 24 [b] p. 3 [c] p. 1072 [d] p. 21 [e] p. 35 [f] p. 287 [g] p. 334 [h] p. 39 [i] p. 375 [j] pp. 208-209 [k] p. 214 [l] p. 215 [m] p. 219 [n] p. 226 [o] p. 235 [p] p. 253 [q] p. 377 [r] pp. 442-444 [s] p. 543 [t] p. 857 [u] p. 884
Braisted, William C.; Bell, William Hemphill; Rixey, Presley Marion. The Life Story of Presley Marion Rixey: Surgeon General, U. S. Navy 1902-1910: Biography and Autobiography. Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1930. [a] p. 265
Rixey was the White House physician for both William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Ross, Ishbel. An American Family: The Tafts - 1678 to 1964. Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Co., 1964. [a] p. 143 [b] p. 221
Sargent, Shirley. Yosemite's Famous Guests. Yosemite, CA: Flying Spur Press, 1970.
Smith, Ira R. T.; Morris, Joe Alex. "Dear Mr. President:" The Story of Fifty Years in the White House Mail Room. New York: Julian Messner, 1949. [a] pp. 66-69
Ira Smith was a peppery fellow who ran the White House mail room from 1897 to 1948. He started working during the administration of William McKinley and was the only mail room staffer until the volume of mail made it necessary to hire help during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.
Sotos, JG. Taft and Pickwick: sleep apnea in the White House. Chest. 2003;124:1133-1142.
Sullivan, Mark. Our Times: 1900-1925 (Six volumes). New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1926-1940. [a] p. III-14 [b] p. III-14 quoting Arthur Brisbane [c] pp. III-15-16 quoting Frederick Palmer [d] pp. III-14-15 [e] p. III-15 [f] p. IV-408
Taft, Horace Dutton. Memories and Opinions. New York: Macmillan, 1947. [a] p. 7
Taft, Mrs. William Howard (Helen Herron Taft). Recollections of Full Years. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1914. [a] p. 57 [b] pp. 57-58 [c] p. 365
Taft, William Howard. Papers of William Howard Taft. On file in the Library of Congress and selected other research libraries. [a] WHT to Charles P. Taft, August 31, 1908 [b] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, September 24, 1905 [c] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, June 15, 1907 [d] WHT to N. E. Yorke-Davies, Dec. 9, 1905 [e] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, May 7, 1908 [f] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Sep. 23, 1908
Watson, James. As I Knew Them: Memoirs of James E. Watson. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1936. [a] p. 133
The William Taft web page at the White House.
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