ALS signed “Wm. H. Taft,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.5 x 6.75, The Blackstone, Chicago letterhead, August 27, 1916. Politically charged letter to an associate regarding presidential nominee Chalres Evans Hughes. In part, “I have just got in from central Illinois where I delivered three…addresses for $500 each and have come here for the Bar Association meeting. Root is to preside and Borah is to deliver the actual address. I could dispense with Borah [William Edgar Borah, a powerful senator from Idaho]. He is a good deal of a fraud…in spite of his real ability. As you say the Hughes campaign is not running effectively chiefly because of Wilcox’s inexperience, stupidity and indecisiveness. He has to consult Hitchcock…before he does anything…Hughes does not grovel before Johnson [Hiram Warren Johnson, then governor of California] in California. The Republicans of California are gunning for Johnson and don’t propose to have Hughes help him…No matter how much Hughes seems inclined to coddle the Progressives, I know their kidney and feel certain that he will be so disgusted with babyish jealousy and their small intrigues that he will know how to deal with them…Wilson’s willingness to resort to any extreme of demagoguery is shown in his action in respect to the strike of R. R. workers. If the R. R. officials are courageous and stand up they will, I think, put Wilson in the hole he ought to be put in…But I don’t know whether they dare to do so. I am hoping they will. They will have to fight it out sometime - Why not now.” The Progressive party did poorly in the 1914 elections and soon folded. Most members, including Theodore Roosevelt returned to the Republican Party after the Republicans nominated the more progressively minded Charles Evans Hughes for President in 1916. In fine condition, with a central horizontal mailing fold. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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