Nellie Taft

Author:Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061865947
Publisher: HarperCollins

Fourteen

Return of the Comet

I am bound to say that his [Roosevelt’s] speeches are fuller of the ego now than they were, and he allows himself to fall into a style that makes one think he considers himself President.

—WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

The greatest stress and distraction that President Taft experienced and that ultimately damaged his administration was due to Mrs. Taft’s condition. Archie Butt said, “[A]s the weeks go by and there does not seem to be any permanent improvement, his hope sinks pretty low at times.” After a Sunday afternoon when she had happily gambled at cards, Charley Taft warned his brother that such occurrences would be politically damaging if leaked to the press. “I will not forbid anything,” Will responded, “which gives Mrs. Taft any amusement and takes her mind off troubles.”

“Gradually,” Will revealed to Roosevelt in Europe, “she has gained in strength and she has taken part in receptions where she could speak a formula of greeting, but dinners and social reunions where she has had to talk she has avoided.” At “safe” events the First Lady made carefully orchestrated appearances. She sat in the Blue Room nodding to diplomats at their reception, and after a February dinner she materialized for a moment before coffee-sipping guests in the Green Room. As always, Will nervously hovered. At a March 11 musicale, for example, he escorted her into the State Dining Room to see guests, careful to grasp her right, weaker side.

Nellie’s sisters were equally devoted to her. When Lucy Laughlin, who had come to help Jennie, had to leave in March to look after her depressive husband, Eleanor returned. When they were away, Nellie felt discomfort. “It is hard when you have not some one to fall back on,” she wrote Bob. She was terrified of being left alone in a crowd. After sallying forth with Will at a spring 1910 garden party, she recalled, “I became separated from your Father, and had, after a time, which was pretty awful, to get ahold of Captain Butt and go into the house.” Still, she took pride in even the smallest gain. Carefully seated to be seen at only a distance at a building dedication, Nellie noted, Andrew Carnegie “paid me a compliment. He said from the platform that he was so delighted to see me out and doing again.”

Nellie acted as if all was well, but the facts painted a bleaker picture. Ike Hoover recorded:

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