Taft

            Theodore Roosevelt selected William Howard Taft to be his successor and gave him vital support during the presidential campaign of 1908. Taft was a conservative of upper-middle-class background with a long career on the bench, and he aspired to a judicial appointment rather than a political career. Roosevelt nonetheless believed that Taft, a close personal friend, was the best man to continue his policies. To the contrary I will point out that Taft was successful to an extent in the presidency although Roosevelt did not select the right "politician" as his successor to the presidency. Taft was an administrator not a politician making him an inadequate selection for such a position as the presidency.
             Taft agreed with many of Roosevelt's objectives, but not with his interpretation of presidential power. Taft viewed the president's power as stemming from the constitution alone. He narrowly interpreted that constitutional power and deprived it of political leadership necessary for its legislation. As Taft viewed it, his function as president was to be an impartial judge between the conflicting demands of various classes in society. In comparison, to Roosevelt he did not seek to enlarge federal intervention in the economic and social life of the nation. He was neither a renovator nor an innovator. Although Roosevelt expected him to expand executive power, Taft narrowed it. "The President's juridical style of administration, combined with his weak coordination and control of subordinates, produced an organization that was, in many ways, far more undisciplined than the freewheeling Roosevelt administrations." .
             Taft as Party Leader.
             Taft quickly earned the contempt of the progressives as one who had deserted their cause. During the first two years of his administration he battled with them over the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the conservation of natural resources. His fanatical obedience to the letter of the law resulted in the severing of his friendship with Roosevelt and the splitting of the Republican Party.