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By Root 309 0

gentlest, fairest man I have been privileged to know and work alongside in all my years serving these United States of America. In recent times, I have not echoed his goodness. During these past two years I have called him a weak president; I have called him a traitor to my own presidency; I sought to muscle my way back into the office I had left to him. I was behaving a brute, and I shall regret it for the rest of my days. William Taft has been my friend and my brother; yet, when I perceived that his actions and principles as president were diverging from my own, I permitted my righteous indignation to drive me against him—and that was the true betrayal. That was the true failure: my failure to support a devoted comrade, even as he struggled to act his own man. Sir, wherever you are today, know that I most bitterly curse myself for allowing our friendship, and your last days, to fall victim to my vanity. Could I now undo my folly, I would. William Howard Taft, the world deserved your presence longer.”

—Former president Theodore Roosevelt, delivering his eulogy for William Howard Taft, 1913

TWENTY-NINE

William Howard Taft had been a boy playing ball on the streets of Cincinnati; a young man in love with a brilliant, heartbreakingly lovely woman; a judge and a governor charged daily with making decisions that would shape the lives of hardworking people, for better or worse; and, finally, the inhabitant of one of the most powerful offices in the world. And as he walked onto the stage to the relentless, booming wave of applause that struck him in the chest even as the blinding spotlights smote him in the eyes, what he thought was: well, it has all come to this.

He raised his hand and, incredibly, the cheering surged louder. No, that wouldn’t do at all. He waved sharply, once, in the abrupt chopping motion he’d learned through years of necessity, and slowly the crowd quieted. Taft cleared his throat.

“My friends,” he said. “My fellow Americans.”

He paused.

“They say that the cheerful loser is a sort of winner. I am well accustomed to this perspective!” There was widespread laughter. “Today … today I am a winner, indeed. For today I face the prospect of the greatest loss I could ever experience. And I find that I am possessed of the surest, most certain, and indeed the most cheerful peace of mind any man could possibly have.

“I do not speak of the election. The election—and I will be blunt now, and I dare say you will be startled, but fear not, for this is a simple truth which at heart I know you all understand—the election is a small thing.” Now there was near-total silence. “Men and women win and lose elections every year, and they perform to the best of their abilities, or sometimes to the worst of their corruptions, and the nation goes about its business. It is true that some presidents, some congressmen, some judges are better than others; some are worse. It is true that some face unthinkably great challenges and rise to the occasion, while others manage to bungle affairs that should have been handled by a competent statesman with the simplest of ease. And yet the nation goes on, so long as every new election arrives and we resolve to do it again, and to do it right. To once more choose the finest candidate we can find. It is not any one election that matters. It is all the elections, together, in a continuum that ensures we will never rest upon our laurels but will strive anew for constant betterment.

“I have been proud to serve this nation once as its president. As you know, my work in that office was difficult, and I cannot honestly say that I enjoyed it, but it was important work—work that, some days, meant fighting to make sure the right men were safeguarding our nation’s forests and, some days, meant fighting against those who would abuse their wealth to harm those less privileged than themselves and, other days, meant fighting against some of my dearest friends in all the world! Because I believed they had made decisions that were wrong for the American people. I lost those friends because of the