American History - Part 146 - T Roosevelt - Morocco Conference - Taft to be President
Channel: ListenAndReadAlong
Date: 2013-07-20

It was during this 2nd term that Roosevelt gained his most important foreign policy success. He negotiated an end to a war between Russia and Japan. Later, he was asked to settle another international dispute. At issue was Morocco.
In 1904, France and Britain signed an agreement on North Africa. The agreement gave Britain control over Egypt. It gave France responsibility for security and reforms in Morocco. Germany opposed the agreement. It felt threatened by any French-British alliance. And it feared France would block German trade ties with Morocco.
Germany demanded an "open door" policy that would permit all countries to trade freely in Morocco. It proposed an international conference to settle the dispute. France and Britain rejected the idea. The ruler of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, warned that the dispute could lead to war. The Kaiser asked Theodore Roosevelt to intervene.
President Roosevelt agreed to help. Some American lawmakers criticized him. They said it was an American tradition not to get involved in European disputes. But Roosevelt believed peace was more important than tradition. He set up the conference in the Spanish seaport of Algeciras. 12 European nations and the United States attended.
The conference agreed to an open door trade policy in Morocco. It organized an international bank to control Morocco's finances. And it gave France and Spain almost complete control over police forces in Morocco's port cities.
Theodore Roosevelt had become a powerful world leader. At home, however, he was losing power.
Roosevelt refused to give up hope for the policies he believed America needed. He would not be able to fight for these policies himself. But he could find a Presidential candidate who would. He was sure the people would vote for his choice. He decided on his close friend, Secretary of War William Howard Taft.
Taft had spent most of his life in government service. He had been a judge in both a state court and a federal court. He had been a lawyer in the justice department. And he had been governor of the Philippines.
There was one problem, however. Taft did not want to be president. He really wanted to be Chief Justice of the United States. But there were no immediate openings on the Supreme Court. Also, his wife, his brothers, and his good friend-- Theodore Roosevelt -- urged him to run. So, Taft agreed to be a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1908.
When he won the nomination, Taft   "Mr. Roosevelt led the way to reform. My job-- if elected-- will be to complete and perfect his programs."
Roosevelt's advice and strong support helped Taft win a big victory on election day.
In fact, Taft said, he was still surprised when anyone called him "Mr. President." .
Each time it happened, he turned around to see if Roosevelt was there.
There was no question that Taft's way of leading was much different from Roosevelt's. Taft believed a President should not interfere too deeply in the actions of Congress. He also believed a President should not claim special powers or rights. He believed in the supreme power of the law...even if the law did not work very well.
The progressives who had supported Roosevelt did not support Taft. They said he was too friendly with conservatives. They said he had surrendered to special interest groups. Taft, for his part, did not like progressives. He thought they were too emotional and extreme.
Yet Taft worked hard to put into law many parts of Roosevelt's progressive programs. He was successful in several areas.
During his administration, for example, a separate Department of Labor was established. Two Constitutional amendments won congressional approval and were sent to the states for ratification.
One amendment provided for a Federal Tax on earnings. The other provided for direct, popular election of Senators. Taft also worked even harder than Roosevelt to break up companies, or trusts, that blocked economic competition.
At the same time, Taft failed in several areas.
He signed legislation that lowered import taxes. Neither businessmen nor progressive Republicans liked it. He negotiated a free trade agreement with Canada. The Canadian parliament rejected it.  He believed in protecting America's wilderness areas. Yet he did not believe existing laws gave him the right to close public lands to private development. So he was seen as an enemy of conservation.
These struggles and failures made Taft's 4 years as President the unhappiest of his life.
The final blow came in an effort to reduce the powers of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The speaker was a conservative Republican. Progressive Republicans opposed him. The issue split the party.
Theodore Roosevelt -- far from home -- read about the trouble. He had promised to stay out of politics. But each of the opposing groups in his party had asked for his support.