Helen taft was more ambitious about getting to the white house that her husband William Howard taft and was willing to get personally involved with politics to get him elected. Illness toe a series directly manage the white house, invited top Classical Musicians to perform their, and supported causes that matter to her. She also has one of the most visible legacies of all of the first ladies. Trees thatcherry bring tens of thousands of visitors to washington every year. Good evening and welcome to first ladies. The life of helen taft. Her husband served in the white house. Here to tell us about her life is her buyer for biographer lewis gould. You open the book by making the case that of the 20th century first ladies, she is the most of your that you say she deserves better from history. My why she deserves better tell me why she deserves better. And she did things that were very constructive. The cherry trees, bringing Classical Musicians to the white house, and generally trying to make washington the Cultural Center of the nation. It didnt work out because of medical reasons, but she had an agenda that would have made her rank with Eleanor Roosevelt or Lady Bird Johnson. She and she seemed to have an agenda to have her husband in the white house. She visiteded when the white house, she wanted to do it as well. It is kind of overdrawn. Sometimes she is oh portrayed as a cross between a Mommy Dearest and lady macbeth. She was a nicer lady. Helen taft had a very interesting story and we have we bet many of you and the audience will be hearing it for the first time. You can send us comments on facebook. We have robust discussions there already with questions about her already. You can send us a tweet. We have phone lines which we will put on the screen and get to your calls in a few minutes. First we need to tell you a little bit more about her early by durfee. Biography. How does she get to the white house at the age of 16 . Her father and her family were friends with rutherford b. Hayes and they went to the white house. Hadwent only once but she not yet made her debut so she could not participate in the social activities but she was bare and president hayes said it was wonderful to have her there. Lore, she wasmily supposed to have said, i will come back. It is not clear that is really what she said that but she wanted to marry a man who would become president. She came from a political family. Her family her father was a friend of Benjamin Harrison and had been involved in ohio politics. There was a congressman and her mother sighed in her mothers side of the family. She had the ability to play the piano which she studied quite vigorously. She had a salon in cincinnati which was a very culturally rich city in those days. They had seven hills so they thought of them thought as themselves as the rome of the middle west. She was from a political family and had his ambition and this ambition how did she choose will tap dancer made william cap as her mate taft as her mate . From was when he came back yale and went to Cincinnati Law School is when their lives begin to intersect and he began to court they began to court. She was in her mid20s and he was almost 29 and by the time he gets married. They started going out to some of the beer halls and gradually fell in love. He was much more smitten with her originally and she was with him but he proposed, she rejected which was the standard thing in those days. The woman never accepted the proposal right off. They had a rather lengthy courtship ir standards by our standards. In those days, she made him wait a while but then they got married in june of 1886. We should give a little credit to her alma mater. She did not go to college. She studied a little bit at the university of cincinnati but she was all most self educated. She never got a degree like her husband did. How common was it for women to go to beer halls in those days . It was not the done thing. The German Community and the it was where young people went and young people in the 80s had the same impulses they have today. They did not date quite the way they would later in the 20th century. William howard taft was not intending a career in politics when he proposed to nellie taft. He wanted to be a lawyer. He wanted to get to the Supreme Court. He would later say he had his bowl turned upwards. He definitely wanted to be chief justice of the United States almost from the time he learned about the law. William howard taft made good on his wish. He is the only president that also serve as the role of chief justice of the United States. We will learn more about his later career as the program progresses. He did not does as the soul of up politician, how instrumental was alan and moving him into int direction was helen moving him into that direction . Judge andmes a state then he becomes solicitor general of the United States and is appointed to the court court of appeals. She watched him do that i think the big turning point came in early 1900 when president mckinley told him to come to washington and often the chance to go to the philippines and establish a civilian government. She says, take it. She says, by all means, this will give my husband the sphere of power and influence. I think that was the decisive moment in their lives. We have two quotes one from each of the tafts. You can tell how much this reflects their overall attitude. From helen taft, she writes of her husband we have a 1906 quote from William Howard taft and he says some of that was for public consumption. I think he pursued a political career with more zest than we sometimes realize. Thatnellie was saying was he had a way of getting people to push him in the direction that he wanted to go. I think she is a knology that acknowledging that she moved her as much as he moved him. You mentioned the two that were in the law. Take a look at the political positions that William Howard taft held over his lifetime. 1890, he served as solicitor general. He was governor general of the importants and an part of that countrys development and our relationship with them. In 1904, he was secretary of or war. And then his term as president. His lifes wish to become chief justice of United States came true. Whichtary of war was most helpful in setting his experience in the white house . I think the governor general of the philippines made him a national figure. When he goes into Theodore Roosevelt cabinet, he presents himself to roosevelt as the logical choice in 19 away 1908. Roosevelt looked over the cabinet to see who might be his successor. Ohio, as will taft from state that really matter to republicans in those years. He became the logic of the situation. Why does the United States have the ability to appoint a governor general of the philippines . As a result of the spanish american war and the treaty of paris, spain ceded the philippines to the United States and the became a possession. One of the hallmarks of this program is that we have been taking you to the storage sites to Historic Sites. Route the program, we will be taking you to the William Howard taft national the storage site Historic Site in cincinnati. We hope those of you getting interested in this series will visit some of these places. Up next we will meet the superintendent of the site, and he will tell us more about the time that the tafts spent in the philippines. She loved to travel. She jumped at the chance and encouraged her husband to take a job in the philippines. They took the family to the philippines where he was governor general. She got a chance to introduce your children to this travel her children to the travel. Before she and the children got there, william taft went to the banquets that he was invited to. She like to incorporate the philippine people and these are some programs from the different banquets that were there. The filipino people loved William Howard taft and his family. They treated him just like equals. Mrs. Cap invited them to. Inners vast task mrs taft invited them to dinners. Entertainment was a big part of the things she did over there. Into theout to go collection storage area will be keep some of our valuable artifacts as well as things that are not on display. As we come in we see a philippine test. She collected a lot of filipino items. This is a storage chest that they bought while the rover there they were over there. What i had here is some photographs from some ladies in the philippines. They took some formal photographs. They wrote inscriptions and gave them to mrs. Taft. This goes to illustrate the admiration the filipino had for the taft family, especially mrs. Taft as she worked to make them feel integrated into greater society, make them feel equal to the other people, invited them to parties, put on musicals. Them andly loved to this day we still get people coming from the philippines that happens connection with the family. Alexa joining us on the set is jane hampton cook. Joining us on the set is jane hampton cook. How important was that time in the philippines for the development of helen taft and her role as first lady . It was very important. Aen she returned, she met military wife in the army who had known her in the philippines. She said, in the philippines you were clean, here you are nobody. Philippines,in the she was not a queen in a royal sense. She invited people to her table. She really brought those two cultures together. She served her husband very well by doing those things. Stillre were sterile colonial powers. In the piece that we heard that she treated the filipinos equal, we were in their country. How unusual was this outreach . The army in the philippines drew the color line which meant they did not socialize with the filipinos. To dance with them was seen as quite radical. There were elements in the military that were not thrilled with what taft was doing. He would not have been able to do this in the United States at the same time. The philippines counts in part to his endearing enduring popularity. They wanted us out as soon as possible. President ial ponderings want to know what the philippine what she thought about the filipino people. View that she the had in her heart and it was something that she had by reaching out she could see the benefit of bringing the cultures together. It was something that she was using her executive social skills. She would go out horseback riding. Taft ordered a band for the filipino people and they went to this big open space and had concerts. This was something that meant a lot to her. You can see when she wears the filipino former brown formal gown. She started that in the spring of 1909 before the stroke. It was a space in manila where the aristocracy would gather and they would go around and had concerts. It was the social setting for the high society in the philippines. She wanted this to be a place for washington would do that. It was very popular the first couple of times. After the stroke, she cannot personally manage it. Those of you who have been watching us know that our goal is to teach you more about each of americas first ladies. We are going to devote time in this series to the 20th century first ladies. We did it starting with martha washington. We want to help you understand more about the President Administration and also all about our country and how it changed. There is lots of talk about. We will give you the telephone number to join in the conversation. If you live in the eastern time zone if you live in the Mountain Time zone we will love having your calls and your questions. We have developed a website for this series. There is one special item attached to the first lady that we dont talk about during the program. If you go to the site, you learn more about a chair that she cherished that she acquired in the philippines. Philippines, talk to me about a very important is hisnship that relationship with Theodore Roosevelt. William taft and tr get to know each other in the early 1890s. Almost from the beginning, there was not the same rapport between edith and nellie. Nellie would say she never really liked edith was roosevelt Edith Roosevelt. There was competition between them that pulsed. When they got back to washington i wish i knew more about what exactly happened but they seem women whoen two struck odds. You had these two men who were very close but their intimate families, not so much. There was not a strong underpinning of the tr, will taft relationship once the two women got in close proximity. It had something to do with cincinnati versus new york with Edith Roosevelt being from an aristocratic family and helen taft of being from cincinnati. We learned during the Edith Roosevelt program that mrs. Roosevelt had regular salon sessions with all of the cabinet wives which was required attendance. What was the effect of those on helen taft and her own thinking about how she might approach the job as first lady . Edith did have these weekly meetings. They met in the White House Library once a week. She thought they were a little too gossipy or the topic is a conversations bored her. She made it known to the press before she became first lady that she would not be continuing them. Edithas quite a slam to to say that publicly. She couldve been more genteel. They supervised some of the women in the washington community. If youre with somebody that without your husband, you would hear from the white house. There was a mouth bass a certain amount of nitpicking that havent it was a certain amount of nitpicking. She was not like Edith Roosevelt. Their roosevelt wanted mores to be in washington . Yes. They had a standard of sophistication. Edithsevelt roosevelt wanted to pull the higher moral standard. Kip, you are on. Hello. I have a question to mr. Gould. In your research about mrs. Taft, i wanted to know specifically if you are familiar with the miniseries back stairs of the white house that aired on nbc in 1979. It started julie harris. If youd to ask mr. Gould are familiar with that was my first awareness of mrs. Taft. Was that an accurate depiction of her . I think the back stairs at the white house was generally accurate but it had some fictional elements. I dont think most historians regarded as something you should take to the bank. It was dramatized for television purposes. It is a useful source but i would use it with caution. Askedodore roosevelt william taft to be a secretary of war. They had an opportunity to see the world. How did that affect them . They both love the travel loved to travel. He became a troubleshooter diplomatically for tr. Hen tr would go a funding would say, i left taft sitting on the lid in washington. Lot. D mrs. Taft traveled a a story that illustrates her ambiguity about this, when she and very nearly missed the train and she said to the station master you have to help me out, i am mrs. William howard taft. No response. I am traveling with alice roosevelt. Instantaneously, the station madison stationmaster got her on the train. The taft family teased her about that. Was there a lot of traveling going on at that time . Point with trains and steamships, it was more common. Was oftenary of war called the secretary of peace in the newspapers because he was going and putting down conflicts in cuba. He was more of a peacemaker than he was focusing on defense. There is a great story about his time at secretary of war when the empress of japan gives helen a tapestry. She loves it, she wants to keep it. Taft says that we have to give it back to the smithsonian. She wanted to keep it so she takes it to roosevelt. Roosevelt says, you can keep it. That shows the difference between taft and roosevelt. Taft was very much by the law. Roosevelt would push the envelope a little bit. That become a fundamental difference became the fundamental difference between how they do the president s viewed the president s. It had to be explicitly allowed before we can do it. The two views were very vivid. That is a good study of leadership. Facebook, this person want to know how she got the nickname of nellie. She had a number of brother it brothers and sisters and that was just one of the family names. Her husband refers to her as nellie. I dont think she ever calls their daughter was also named helen. Did she call them will or mr. Taft . She called him will. Most people that knew him will nuven well call new him well, called him will. Next is john in houston. I love this show so much. I have two questions. The more modern first ladies of the 20th century, who were the more aworthy . My second question is, what was nellies inspiration for the cherry tree . Farleanor roosevelt was by and Lady Bird Johnson she became delegate of the united nations. She and Lady Bird Johnson would be the two. Hold the cherry tree question. We will show some video later. Next is the call from leroy. Hi. I have enjoyed this program so much. I have a question for ms. Cook. Board president taft and his wife, were the christian people they christian people . Did they know jesus and study the bible . She grew up in the episcopal church. He was a unitarian. The difference was mostly about the trinity or not the trinity. It was more traditional christianity. There was a story are read about Prime Minister about a minister who went to the white house and talk to taft and he was very confident in his beliefs. It was important to them. It was something that was a part of them. Taft was talked about to be president of yale in 1900 and you decided not to do it he decided not to do it. Brother, hehis said, i do not believe in the divinity of jesus christ. It never became known in the campaigns. He was attacked for being a unitarian and being too friendly to the catholics in the philippines. Tr and taft were very cautious about how they handled the religious issue. Michael is