American First Ladies by Lewis L. Gould

Author:Lewis L. Gould [Gould, Lewis L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Reference, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781000525601
Google: 881JEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-10-28T02:48:06+00:00

Bibliographical Essay

Helen Herron Taft's correspondence with William Howard Taft is part of the William Howard Taft Papers in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (also available on microfilm). One crucial contemporary source of information on Mrs. Taft's White House years is Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt, Military Aide (2 vols., Garden City, 1930). Archibald Butt served both President Roosevelt and President Taft, and his letters chronicle many of the First Lady's experiences, including her illness. For other contemporary views, see George Griswold Hill, "The Wife of the New President," Ladies' Home Journal (March 1909): 6; "Mrs. Taft's Plans in the White House, Ladies' Home Journal (March 1909): 7, 72; Katherine Graves Busbey, "Mrs. Taft's Homemaking," Good Housekeeping (September 1911): 290—98; "First in the President's Heart—His Home," Home Life (April 1912): 8, 26; Charles A. Selden, "Six White HouseWives and Widows," Ladies' Home Journal (June 1927): 18—19, 109—10, 112—13, 115; and Floelle Youngblood Bonner, "Six Widows of Presidents," National Republic (October 1933): 5—6, 24.

The most important published source of information on Helen Herron Taft is her autobiography, Recollections of Full Years (New York, 1914). The problem with this book is, of course, that it was written seven years before Taft joined the Supreme Court and twenty-nine years before her death, and so it does not tell the complete story. There is no biography of Mrs. Taft. Ishbel Ross's, An American Family: The Tofts—1678—1964 (New York, 1964), a narrative of the Taft family, includes important information on Helen Herron Taft, but much of it is derived from Recollections of Full Years. Historians of William Howard Taft have contributed to an understanding of Mrs. Taft, particularly Henry F. Pringle's two volume The Life and Times of William Howard Taft (New York, 1939) and Judith Icke Anderson's William Howard Taft: An Intimate History (New York, 1981). Anderson's book is a psycho-biography and devotes considerable space to Helen Taft, including a chapter on her as First Lady. For the relationship between Helen Taft and Edith Roosevelt, see Sylvia Jukes Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady (New York, 1980).

For Helen Taft's obituary, see "Mrs. W. H. Taft Dies: President's Widow," the New York Times (May 23, 1943): 43.

—STACY A. CORDERY

Ellen (Louise) Axson Wilson

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.