Lot 243

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Description:

W.H. Taft Superb S.C. Letter Re: His Service & Coolidge, Ex-Forbes

“one can not expect an interview unless you write it yourself to be exactly what you would like to be reported as saying....”

Former President and Current Chief Justice Taft writes to a Connecticut friend from his summer home in Canada about politics and retirement.

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, Typed Letter Signed, to Isaac M. Ullman (“My dear Ike”), July 10, 1927, Pointe-au-Pic, Canada. On “Supreme Court of the United States. / Washington, D.C.” stationery. 4 pp., 8? x 10.5?. Expected folds; excellent.

Excerpts
“I am very sorry to hear that Mrs. Ullman has been ill, but glad to hear that she is well enough to permit you to go away to get some rest and a change of air.” (p1)
Mrs. Ullman died on July 27, 1927.

“As you say, it looks as if Coolidge was going to be re-nominated and re-elected. I hope this is true, although of course there is a good deal of uncertainty involved in the question of what the business situation will be when the campaign comes on. It looks as if the farmers, in view of the rise in the price of corn and of wheat, might be in a better state of mind.” (p1)

“The real strength of Coolidge is, it seems to me, that in the next campaign there will be so many differences that cross both parties and are likely to split them that men will take Coolidge because he does not distinctly represent and lead the factions created by such splits, and then he is conservative and willing to stand for certain principles that appeal to the whole public, and is able to show by what he has done in the past that such principles for him are real rules of action, and not mere planks of a party platform.” (p2)
President Calvin Coolidge declined to seek reelection in 1928, and Herbert Hoover received the Republican nomination and went on to defeat Democrat Al Smith in a landslide victory with 58.2 percent of the popular vote and an overwhelming 444-to-87 victory in the Electoral College.

“On the 15th of September I am celebrating my seventieth birthday, and I am trying to arrange that all the children and the grandchildren will be here.” (p2)
One hundred and fifty American and Canadian guests assembled at Taft’s summer home for a luncheon to celebrate his birthday. His three children and ten grandchildren were all present.

“I noted that there was an interview with me published by the Associated Press. I did not see the interview before it was published. I had it just as I left Washington, and there were some serious mistakes in it that I would be glad to correct, but I don’t know how I can. I am made to say that I do not intend to retire in 1931. Were I to answer now, I should say I would, if I live to that time. What I did say was that I could not retire until 1931, because under the present law I have to serve a full ten years under my present commission in order that I can retire with a pension.... I was eight years on the Bench as the Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals, but then I resigned to go to the Philippines, and that does not count now in calculating the required service, because the service is not continuous.... one can not expect an interview unless you write it yourself to be exactly what you would like to be reported as saying, and whenever I see an interview with myself, I am always anxious to have the time pass so that it may escape continued comment.” (p2-3)
An Associated Press story by Washington correspondent John T. Suter reported a “friendly and intimate talk” with Chief Justice Taft “just before he left Washington recently for his summer home in Canada.” The interview appeared in newspapers on July 7, and stated in part, “He will be 70 years old in September, and if he chose could retire on full pay in 1931, when he completes 10 years service as chief justice. But he prefers to remain in harness.”


William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from Yale College in 1878. He received a bachelor of laws degree in 1880 from Cincinnati Law School. After gaining admission to the bar, Taft worked on the Cincinnati Commercial newspaper full time, covering local courts. After a brief stint as an assistant prosecutor, Taft was appointed to the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1887. In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him as Solicitor General of the United States, a position he held until Harrison appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals, where he served from 1892 to 1900. He was Governor-General of the Philippines from 1901 to 1903, then Secretary of War under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1904 to 1908. In 1908, he was elected President of the United States as a Republican over Democrat William Jennings Bryan. After his defeat in the three-way election of 1912, Taft joined the faculty of the Yale Law School, until President Warren G. Harding appointed him as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1921, a position he held until his death nine years later.

Isaac M. Ullman (1863-1930) was born in New Haven, Connecticut, into a German and Austrian Jewish family, and he became a prominent manufacturer. He married Flora Adler (1874-1927) in 1892, and they had one daughter. He was active in Connecticut Republican politics and served as the treasurer for the American Jewish Committee. He was a personal friend of William Howard Taft and was credited with having the best contact at the White House of anyone in Connecticut when Taft was president. Although he did not seek election, he did serve on the New Haven Board of Education.

Ex. The Forbes Collection. Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), American owner-publisher of Forbes magazine, and consummate collector, amassed one of the most substantial and broad collections of such breadth and depth that it filled a half-dozen residences, and sat on three continents. Many of his manuscripts were sold in multi-million dollar sales by Christie's in the early 2000s. The Forbes name is considered to be the apex of provenance when attached to an item like the one above. We are honored to have been chosen by the family to sell at auction the substantial balance of the collection.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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June 24, 2020 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

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