and my grandfather will get to william howard taft later. my great grandfather. but my grandfather, robert taft, really was like a true public servant. he probably had the curse of a staff that he was a wonderful public servant, not the best politician. he was one of the greatest senators of our time. obviously, in both parties have said that about how totally objective and objective. i mean, i think if mr. republican got a presidential medal of honor and freedom from john f kennedy, it's pretty unbiased. but he wouldn't in the first recipient. but i always thought so. robert taft actually ran for the republican nomination three times and i think that each time it wasn't necessarily opposites and research that came against him and he lived his life very transparently. so in his first bid for the republican nomination, they actually thought that he was too liberal, the far right, because he had supported a lot of the new deal initiatives since then. full circle. then later he's running against eisenhower and they think he's too conservative, because they think that

i had a political science professor as an undergraduate who said, william howard taft was his favorite president the way he conducted himself. i think what stands out to me about taft especially today is the way, what he believed in what he did, or so closely aligned. i mean, he did not back away from his principles. and, he had that kind of sort of weird space, because roosevelt and wilson were both progressives. and taft is that sort of, we would consider today a true conservative, maybe laissez- faire, less government, less involved. i think the he really was that and he really believed that. and he governed accordingly. he was also a great public servant in that when roosevelt was in office and taft was in the philippines or abroad, he had opportunities to come back and pursue his judicial dream really. but he said, no, i need to finish up what i'm doing. i can't abandon these people here now. and again, i think his own personal, much like we said of truman, his personal ambition he suppressed in order to serve the public good. i think that is a rarity. >> not too late too much int

as you said, william howard taft was his favorite president. especially about taft today, especially for what he believed and did. we are so closely aligned. he did not back away from his principles. he had that weird space. roosevelt had these progressions. i don't know what we considered a true conservative. we would consider them for less involvement, less involvement. he really was that. he really believe that. he governed accordingly. he's also a public servant. he had opportunities to come back and pursue his judicial dream, really. he said i need to finish up what i am doing. i can't abandon these people here now. again, his own personal, much like truman, his own personal ambition, he suppressed serve the public good. that is a rarity. >> not to lay too much into roosevelt, but a lot of people these days, ran for president, it is very ego driven. taft, was not ego driven. he really thought that our democracy was at risk. what he was doing that he was protecting our constitution. roosevelt, was well intended, but he came up with some wild

in 1912, william howard taft. how did americans feel about the sitting president going into that year's election? so taft was it necessarily a bad president? but following teddy roosevelt, he was less sort of aggressive or bold as president. and he was also a lot less charismatic. he sometimes would flip flop on issues that were important to republicans, particularly on tariffs and on trade policy. and so the republican party wasn't entirely united behind him. and americans, as a whole, they didn't hate taft, but he just wasn't the kind of inspiring leader roosevelt had been. and so he paled in comparison to roosevelt. it didn't help that roosevelt was also kind of bad mouthing him in the press, a fair amount during his presidency. so i think that that dragged down some of his popularity. so take us back to 1908, then. how was taft seen by the american public in 1908, and how did that relationship change between becoming the person that roosevelt put in office to follow him, to bad mouthing him while he's in office

in 1912, william howard taft. how did americans feel about the sitting president going into that year's election? so taft was it necessarily a bad president? but following teddy roosevelt, he was less sort of aggressive or bold as president. and he was also a lot less charismatic. he sometimes would flip flop on issues that were important to republicans, particularly on tariffs and on trade policy. and so the republican party wasn't entirely united behind him. and americans, as a whole, they didn't hate taft, but he just wasn't the kind of inspiring leader roosevelt had been. and so he paled in comparison to roosevelt. it didn't help that roosevelt was also kind of bad mouthing him in the press, a fair amount during his psidency. so i think that that dragged down some of his popularity. so take us back to 1908, then. how was taft seen by the american public in 1908, and how did that relationship change between becoming the person that roosevelt put in office to follow him, to bad mouthing him while he's in office?

he wrote a book on william howard taft and he talks more here about the relationship between taft and teddy roosevelt. the reason taft ran again. even though he didn't like being president and was viewed as his liberation from the white house as a relief, was because he felt the election of 1912 was a crusade to defend the constitution and against the demagogic populism of both roosevelt and woodrow wilson. as the most fascinating story in the election of 1912. george will said that a great event to the constitution center on this book that all of american politics can be traced to the election of 1912. and you can tell who's a conservative today based on who they would have voted for in the election of 1912. he says conservatives would have voted for the constitutionalist. taft, who's trying to defend judicial independence and the rule of law against the demagogic attacks of roosevelt. who says that the people should be able to overturn judicial decisions by popular vote? it was that claim that most alarmed the great constitutionalist taft and made him run for election. even though h

republican he was the eldest son of president william howard taft. he was also running. then you have a harold who was a young, he was a relatively new governor of minnesota. he was probably the most illiberal of them. and very much an internationalist. except that he wanted to outlaw the communist party in the unitedes states. as the three major candidates. there was some talk of douglas macarthur and he ran in one of the primaries in wisconsin which she claimed as his own home state because he spent some time there is a young man. but he was in japan doing occupation duty running the occupation. never traveled back to the united states dates he campaigned vigorously. did not do wellin that one primary. earl warren was then the governor of california. and he had to ask patients to be president as well. he did not want to run a campaign. you could conceivably do that. some cabinet in california and once we came to the convention with a bunch of delegates from california but that was about it. and arthur vandenberg, the republican senator from michigan who is really conse

william howard taft served one term as president of the united states. the president's son robert taft became the republican senate majority leader from ohio. robert taft's son, robert taft jr. followed in his father's footsteps in the united states senate representing ohio. robert taft iii served two terms as ohio's governor from 1999 to 2007 in the dayton daily news this week. governor taft wrote i have always run for office under the banner of the republican party and a conservative and usually vote a straight republican ticket. although still a republican, i will be making an exception this year in ohio's u.s. senate race. by supporting sherrod brown. leading off our discussion, two ohio native sons. ohio senator democrat sherrod brown running for his fourth term in the senate. member of the senate finance committee. also with him, martin sheen who campaigned with his friend sherrod brown today. great to see you both. martin, when you look at this candidate for senate who has served in the united states senate, what do you see and why do you want him

he was actually the eldest son of president william howard taft. and so he he was a major figure in the party. he was also running. and then you have harold stassen, who was young. he was a relatively new governor of minnesota. he was probably the most liberal them. and ve much an internationalist except that he he wanted to outlaw the communist party in the united states. that becomes important a little bit later. but those were the three major candidates there was some talk of douglas macarthur. and in fact, he he ran in one of the primaries in wisconsin, which he claimed to as his home state, because he had spent some time there as a young man, as a child. but he was in japan doing occupation duty, the occupation. never traveled back to the united states, really, to campaign vigorously and did not do well in that one primary. earl warren was then the governor, a california, and he he had aspirations be president as well. but he also did not want to run a campaign back in those days. you could conceivably do. he ran as a favorite son candidate in

he was actually the eldest son of president william howard taft. and so he he was a major figure in the party. he was also running. and then you have harold stassen, who was young. he was a relatively new governor of minnesota. he was probably the most liberal them. and very much an internationalist except that he he wanted to outlaw the communist party in the united states. that becomes important a little bit later. but those were the three major candidates there was some talk of douglas macarthur. and in fact, he he ran in one of the primaries in wisconsin, which he claimed to as his home state, because he had spent some time there as a young man, as a child. but he was in japan doing occupation duty, the occupation. never traveled back to the united states, really, to campaign vigorously and did not do well in that one primary. earl warren was then the governor, a california, and he he had aspirations be president as well. but he also did not want to run a campaign back in those days. you could conceivably do. he ran as a favorite son candidate

he viewed the president of a steward of the people who gentle popular impulses as opposed to william howard tafto is a more constrained hamiltonian president. and, in all these respects, neither roosevelt nor holmes believed in strict construction of the text of the constitution in any formalistic ways. so you raised an important point. i think justice kennedy and justice souter had different approaches. justice kennedy was more of a fan of the natural law approach that holmes rejected. justice kennedy believe there was a certain basic ways, a right to define one's conception of meaning of the universe and the mystery of human life as kennedy upholding roe v. wade. that was the argument about self evident natural white -- natural rights that come from nature that holmes was not a fan of. but justice souter was an analog because he was a common-law constitutionalist. he did believe that precedent was the most important way of restraining judges. he thought judges should take measured motions and not broad sweeping gestures. in that sense, he had a certain pragmatism. but i will say, it's not the

republican and he was actually the eldest son of president william howard taft. and >> they wanted him to run in the new hampshire primary and he closed the door on that. democratic action was >> they'd have just emphasized stated rights in one way or another and all three of thosehumphry said it was time for the democratic party to move out from the shadow of state rights and the bright sunlight of human rights and he refused to do it because he was griffin very strict instruction by a campaign manager -- or convention managers not to do that. there was a big moment and the rest of the southern delegates and most voting for richard russell for georgia, senator from georgia and opposed to the civil rights flanks, the civil right flank that waswe adopted s well. he was more inclined to stay in the democratic party and work from within and his name was put in the nominations and he was really the only significant opponent to truman at the convention. he lost badly. by about 5-1 roughly. that was the big story of the convention. >> strong thurman, south carolina, at