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World War I-dated TLS signed “Wm. H. Taft,” one page, 7 x 9.25, personal letterhead, December 27, 1914. Letter to noted lawyer and businessman Simon Wolf, marked "Personal," in full: "I have your kind note from the Royal Palace Hotel at Atlantic City, and your kindly New Years greetings. The Lord is in his temple, and he is working his will, and if we can judge by the recent election, it will work brother Woodrow out of office and relieve us of the present plague of the Democratic Party." Taft corrects one word of text with his own hand. In fine condition, with pin holes to the upper left corner.
Simon Wolf was a prominent Washington lawyer, author, and Jewish civic leader who cultivated relationships with a succession of American presidents. His relationship with Taft had substance behind it: during Taft's presidency, Wolf brought to his attention the case of Frank Bloom, a Jewish soldier who had encountered antisemitic discrimination in the Army, prompting Taft to condemn the treatment as contrary to American principles. Wolf was also the author of the landmark 1895 volume The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen, compiled in response to claims that American Jews had failed to serve their country in wartime.
By December 1914, Taft had been a private citizen for nearly two years, having lost the presidency to Woodrow Wilson in the fractured election of 1912; he was then teaching law at Yale, with his appointment as Chief Justice still seven years away. His jab at “brother Woodrow” followed the November 1914 midterm elections, in which Republicans made substantial gains in the House, increasing their representation from 134 to 196 seats as Democrats fell from 291 to 230, although the Democrats retained control of the chamber. Wilson himself was not on the ballot and would not face reelection until 1916, making Taft's prediction that the results would “work brother Woodrow out of office” a pointed expression of Republican confidence after the midterms. Invoking the biblical language of “The Lord is in his temple,” Taft casts the Republican resurgence as providential, hoping it would ultimately “relieve us of the present plague of the Democratic Party.” Wilson would instead narrowly win reelection in 1916.
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