Robert Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft was born September 8, 1889. He was the leading opponent
of the New Deal in the senate from 1939 to 1953, and the leading proponent of the foreign policy
of non-interventionism. Despite the fact that he didn’t win the presidential election in 1940, he
became the leader of the Republican Party, named one of the five best senators in the history of
America.
When the United States became involved in World War I in 1917, Robert Taft
attempted to join the US Army, but was rejected due to poor eyesight. He then joined the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), where he met Herbert Hoover, his idol. In his time in England,
he strongly endorsed the idea of a powerful World Court that would enforce international law,
but no such idealized court ever existed during his lifetime. He strongly supported Herbert
Hoover in the election of 1920, as he opened a law firm with his brother. In 1930, he was elected
for state senate, where he was a powerful figure in local and state political and legal circles, and
gained fame for being a loyal Republican.
He served the first of three terms as U.S. Senator in 1938. He opposed the New Deal.
He wanted to eliminate the New Deal, along with the government programs branching from the
New Deal. When World War II broke out, Taft believed that America should avoid any
involvement in European or Asian wars and concentrate instead on solving its domestic
problems. He believed that a strong U.S. military would be necessary to protect America from
all its adversaries. On the attack of Pearl Harbor, Taft opposed nearly all attacks on Japan.
America supported Britain. Although Taft fully supported the American war effort after Pearl
Harbor, he continued to harbor a deep suspicion of American involvement in postwar military
alliances with other nations, including NATO. He was nicknamed “Mr. Republican”...