William Howard Taft Leadership
William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, had a lot of accomplishments to his credit. However, when it came to William Howard Taft's leadership style, it could be said that he did not have the passion for the position. Also, he was forced to operate in the shadows of his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, who was known to be forceful, energetic and a natural leader. |
However, this did not dent Taft's popularity or his reputation. He had many traits that were invaluable to the office and the administration, but he is still viewed as a president who did not have the necessary skills for the office.
When Taft became the president, he had all intentions of carrying on with the progressive reforms started by Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, Taft was responsible for having more trust prosecutions than Roosevelt, including Standard Oil and American Tobacco Company. However, Taft did not have the ideological power or the ability to interpret the power that came with being the president. This resulted in him alienating all the politicians in the Republican Party who were progressive. Taft managed to do a compromise with the conservative over tariff reduction, which again did not speak highly of his willingness to progressive reforms. Many reformers actually considered him to be a traitor.
However, on the other hand, Taft was not afraid of showing off the US military might in order to protect business interests of the nation. He sent troops to Honduras and Nicaragua when a revolution in those countries was eminent. This was done to protect US property and citizens. At the same time, when revolutions were taking place in Mexico and China, Taft decided not to interfere.
It can be said that William Howard Taft's leadership style was to do what the political machinery dictated rather than what the majority of the public wanted.
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