William Howard Taft: Confident Peacemaker

Burton (emer., Saint Joseph's Univ.) contributes a relatively brief, succinct account of Taft's contributions to international peace. The work traces Taft's pre-presidential roles as governor of the Philippines, mediator in Cuba, and negotiator with Japan; presidential activities such as his "Dollar Diplomacy," efforts to achieve reciprocal trade with Canada, fostering of arbitration treaties, and cautious response to the early Mexican revolution; and his wartime leadership of the internationalist body, the League to Enforce Peace. The 45 pages of appendixes of treaties and speeches include one document, the Root-Takahira Agreement of 1908, with which Taft had nothing to do. Burton draws heavily upon published secondary works and his own edited Collected Works of William Howard Taft (2001-03). While he is to be commended for offering fresh appreciation of a president still far too neglected, his book is no substitute for such detailed works as Paolo E. Coletta's The Presidency of William Howard Taft (CH, Nov'73); Walter and Marie Scholes's The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration (1970); and Ralph E. Minger's William Howard Taft and United States Foreign Policy: The Apprentice Years, 1900-1908 (CH, Jan'76). Summing Up: Recommended. Libraries seeking complete collections on US presidents, upper-division undergraduates and above. (—Choice)