William Howard Taft: Minor Trauma During Presidency

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	The Health and Medical History of President
	William Howard Taft: Minor Trauma During Presidency

minor trauma

Almost every night, Taft's military aide, Major Archibald Butt, would write a letter to his sister-in-law. Published after the death of Taft [9], these unique and honest letters provide a window into even the smallest parts of a President's life. Poor Butt, who died on the Titanic, spares not even himself when he relates how he slammed a car door on the President's hand and, on another occasion, drove a golf ball into the President's thigh

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Taft was the first President to ride in an autmobile. He enjoyed it greatly, and liked to go fast. In July 1911, for example, Taft's car made it from Baltimore to the White House in 90 minutes [9x] -- a time even present-day drivers envy!

Taft was also the first President injured in an autmobile mishap. On November 17, 1909, Major Butt wrote [9y]:

We had a rather jolly evening [yesterday] until the last moment, when in getting out of the limousine I mashed the President's fingers in the door and he yelled out in pain. I know how it hurts, and I felt terribly sorry, but it was really his fault, for while I got out of the wrong side of the machine in order to help out the women, he reached over and took hold of the encasement in order to pull himself up, and so when I slammed the door it caught his fingers. He said nothing, but hurried upstairs to put his hand in hot water, and when I saw him this morning he did not feel much the worse, though the ends of his fingers on his right hand were swollen and blue and the nails had already begun to discolor.

Major Butt was a frequent golfing companion of President Taft. Butt describes an incident reminiscent of the problem Gerald Ford would have more than 60 years later [9z]:

[President Taft] hasn't the slightest idea of the etiquette of the game [of golf]. Of course he thinks I will watch out for him. ... I had my lesson early this spring when I put a brassie shot right into the fat part of his leg just above the knee. He squealed when I hit him, but said it was his own fault. That did not prevent me from feeling like a cur, especially when the bruised spot covered over six inches in diameter.

Taft's personal trainer also inflicted a few dings. Charles Barker wrote [4b]:

Naturally, being younger and more agile, I was probably a better boxer than the President and one morning hit him a rather smart blow on the fleshy side of one of his cheeks. This seemed to nettle him for a few minutes and he remarked, "I'll get you sometime for that, old man." A few minutes later, turning to the window, he said, "My, it's a beautiful morning!" Naturally, I turned to look out of the window and then he hit a stinging blow on my nose, and for a few moments blood spurted quite freely. I stopped the flow first with one of the boxing gloves and afterwards with a towel.
The President, at first fearing that I was suffering from the blow, exclaimed, "Oh, I'm very sorry, but you would leave an opening. [sic] Are you hurt much?"

Barker explained that it amounted to nothing serious, and that he later donated the boxing gloves to a museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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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 [b] pp. 17-18
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 [b] p. 350 [c] p. 183 [d] pp. 182-183 [e] p. 200
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 [m] p. 45 [n] p. 189 [o] pp. 543 [p] p. 449 [q] p. 457 [r] p. 543 [s] p. 544 [t] p. 788 [u] p. 606 [v] p. 670 [w] pp. 764-765 [x] p. 721 [y] p. 209 [z] pp. 687-688
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 [v] pp. 781, 784
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 [c] pp. 327-328 [d] p. 326
Sargent, Shirley. Yosemite's Famous Guests. Yosemite, CA: Flying Spur Press, 1970. [a] pp. 20-21
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 [b] pp. 107-108
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 [g] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Sept. 27, 1909 [h] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Oct. 3, 1909 [i] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Oct. 10, 1909 [j] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Oct. 24, 1909 [k] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Oct. 28, 1909 [l] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Oct. 28/29, 1909 [m] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Oct. 31, 1909 [n] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Nov. 2, 1909 [o] WHT to George Blumer, Jan. 19, 1914 [p] WHT to Thomas Claytor, Aug. 1, 1926 [q] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, July 11, 1911 [r] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Aug. 1, 1911 [s] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Sept. 27, 1911 [t] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, July 29, 1912 [u] WHT to Helen Herron Taft, Aug. 16, 1912
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.
(1 match when checked in November 2003)

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