Talk:Robert A. Taft

message: In McCullough's Truman on page 538 it says Taft accused David Lilienthal of being "soft on the subject of Communism" On page 766 McCullough says Taft "admitted publicly he was egging McCarthy on"
Ricardianman (talk) 02:57, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: did not pay attention to domestic communism

message: The article suggests that the war crimes trials were "ex post facto" and violated "international standards."  That is not true.
First of all, the prohibition on "ex post facto" laws is an American innovation in jurisprudence.  The British Parliament, for example, is not limited in the type of legislation that it may pass, and no British court has any authority to declare any Act of Parliament "unconstitutional" for any reason.  Whether a British Parliament would enact an "ex post facto" law is a political question.
Secondly, the war crimes trials were not "ex post facto" at all.  Article 228 of the Treaty of Versailles, by which the First World War was concluded, provided as follows:
"ARTICLE 228. 
"The German Government recognises the right of the Allied and Associated Powers to bring before military tribunals persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and customs of war. Such persons shall, if found guilty, be sentenced to punishments laid down by law. This provision will apply notwithstanding any proceedings or prosecution before a tribunal in Germany or in the territory of her allies. 
"The German Government shall hand over to the Allied and Associated Powers, or to such one of them as shall so request, all persons accused of having committed an act in violation of the laws and customs of war, who are specified either by name or by the rank, office or employment which they held under the German authorities."
Although the United States did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, it concluded a separate treaty with Germany on August 25, 1921, whereby the United States secured all of the rights, but none of the obligations, it would have had under the Treaty of Versailles.
Thus, Hitler and his Nazi thugs were on notice that if Germany started another European War, it might be held to account for its actions.
John Paul Parks (talk) 14:54, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Taft said the trials violated American principles. -- The US did not ratify Versailles and has a strong rule against ex post facto laws. Rjensen (talk) 22:08, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

text: The article does NOT suggest 'that the war crimes trials were "ex post facto" and violated "international standards." '  It only says that Taft thought that, which he did.  The "dubious-discuss" comment should be removed.  cwmacdougall 13:18, 8 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I fully agree, and I'm glad to see that the "dubious-discuss" comment was removed. There's a clear difference between (accurately) noting that Taft believed that the war crimes trials were "ex post facto", and claiming that the article itself is arguing that point, which it clearly isn't. There is no debate that Taft criticized the trials (it is a part of the historical record), and noting that fact in a Wiki article about Taft is entirely appropriate. Debating whether Taft was accurate in his criticisms of the war crimes trials is beyond the scope of an encyclopedia article, which are usually dedicated to a neutral point of view. 2602:304:691E:5A29:3885:EFF7:77FC:A1C1 (talk) 04:18, 15 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: International Standards?

message: My inclination was also to remove the sentence about Douglas MacArthur from Robert Taft's article (your edit). However, a Google search provided an apparently valid source for the info, which I instead added.
Did you check the source before your removal, and note its quote from a book by Pennsylvania State University historian Stanley Weintraub?
What associated event(s) do you believe did not happen? --Adavidb 08:17, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The problem is threefold: 1) it mis-states what happened -- Taft asked MacArthur to be his VP, and MacArthur probably would have accepted if Taft won nomination. 2) It strongly suggests that MacArthur was a candidate. he was not and Weintraub does not claim he was; 3) it speculates on things that never happened, which is entertaining but not enyclopedic. Rjensen 09:02, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  MacArthur 1952? 

message: The template on the right of the article is a bit "off" in that the term "In office" doesn't seem associated with his death.  An ill-informed person might read that he is indeed *IN office* today.  Perhaps it could say "died in office" or something more obvious. Reboot 15:37, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Disregard...I get it now Reboot 15:51, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  template 

message: *As a U.S. senator, he was given the nickname "Mr. Republican"; he was the chief ideologue and spokesperson for the paleoconservatism of the Republican Party of that era.
Did "paleoconservatism" as such even exist then? It wouldn't be appropriate to label the subject with anancronistic political terms. Unless we have a source for this assertion it should be removed or substantially re-written.  ·:· Will Beback  ·:· 23:05, 10 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Paleoconservative? 

message: Taft was not enthusiastic about U.S. ground forces.  He supported the Navy and a strategic reliance on nuclear delivery by air power.  He effectively allowed the Army to be gutted, and even though Eisenhower was critical of him for that at the time, later when Ike became President little was done to reverse the effects of Taft's influence in that regard.  In took until the advent of the JFK administration to begin rebuilding the Army (1961 & 62 were the pivotal years).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.106.18.161 (talk) 03:50, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  U.S. Senator 

message: I strongly object to the extremely liberal and inaccurate use of the term "isolationist" on Taft's page.  Every time it is used, it seems to be in context of Taft's non-interventionist foreign policy, which has little to do with isolationism, the latter term more frequently pertaining to international travel and commerce.  I don't understand why this term has been so aggressively misappropriated lately, but with the distinguishing and entirely separate term non-interventionism disappearing from the radar, it's getting harder and harder to find phraseological nuance in these articles for political figures and movements.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Buddy-Rey (talk • contribs) 18:23, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Isolationist??? 

message: Some years ago (1970s) as a graduate student at the University of Mississippi, I was elected as an Honors Fellow of the aforementioned Institute. Today, it seems to have disappeared off the face of the Internet. Does it still exist? 
Royalhistorian (talk) 04:12, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Robert A. Taft Institute of Government Honors Fellow

message: Robert W. Taft invented the Taft equation in organic chemistry.  Should we make a disambiguation page or add him to the introductory note? Crystal whacker (talk) 15:24, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: there are a lot of Robert Tafts who don't have Wiki articles. Until they get their own article there is no nned for disambig --very few people will be mislead into thinking this Taft is a chemist. Rjensen (talk) 15:59, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Okay, thanks for answering my question. Crystal whacker (talk) 03:35, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another Robert Taft 

message: In the essay on Truman in the book "The American Presidency", the essayist writes about Taft encouraging McCarthy's witch hunts, while disdaining him in private. The Wikipedia article is very favorable towards Taft, so I think it would be wise to look into this.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Oofloom (talk • contribs) 03:03, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Doings with McCarthy 

message: In late May 1953, Taft transferred his duties as Senate Majority Leader to Senator William Knowland of California,[citation needed]
I can confirmed this has occurred, as I was unable to change the citation needed so I am placing it here.  I sound confirmation of this in the Book One Step from the White House: The Rise and Fall of Senator William F. Knowland (9780520211940): Gayle B. Montgomery, James W. Johnson.  Published by University of California Press, 1998.  Page 132.  Sen. Taft called Sen. Knowland to act as 'Floor Leader'.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cousincreep (talk • contribs) 05:36, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Death and legacy 

message: Reasons for the name change all boil down to common usage for distinguishing him from others: 
1. As noted above, there are lots of "Robert Taft"s, including his son (Jr.). Why confuse matters?
2.  Encyclopædia Britannica lists his name as:
Taft, Robert A(lphonso). 
3. Profiles in Courage titles the chapter for him as "Robert A. Taft".  So does the Institute named for him (listed above).  So does https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/People_Leaders_Taft.htm .
Thank you.  --Thomasmeeks (talk) 11:11, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposal:  Change article name from "Robert Taft" to "Robert A. Taft" 

message: A pro-refugee Czech charity hosts on its pages a photocopy of the letter from June 7, 1939, by the senator Taft to Mrs. Lois J. Cort of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, which they claim is originally from Yad Vashem (I have not been able to find the letter on the website of Yad Vashem) http://www.gen21.cz/wp-content/uploads/Taft1.jpg and http://www.gen21.cz/wp-content/uploads/Taft2.jpg Perhaps the photo was made directly from the display stand in Yad Vashem? Ceplm (talk) 06:14, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: That was a form letter sent out by his office. It's identical to the letter of 28 June, 1939 contained in Taft's Papers volume 2 pp 52-53.  It never came to a vote primarily because public opinion was 83 percent opposed to any increase in immigration,. President Roosevelt would not support it. See details Taft himself was a leading Republican Zionist strongly in favor of Israel. He worked with Senator Wagner to promote unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine and the creation of a Jewish state there. [Patterson biography p 280-83]  Rjensen (talk) 07:04, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text:  Well, was that Zionism post-2WW or before? Of course, after the Holocaust even somebody mentioned in the Profiles of Courage could not believably stand against Zionism. Ceplm (talk) 10:07, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text:  Patterson says Taft's Zionism began before the war, and his collaboration with Senator Wagner began around 1944 and continued after the war. Rjensen (talk) 10:14, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: According to his chief biographer Patterson, one of the main reasons Taft survived his re-election bid in 1944 was due to his high standing among Ohio's Jewish voters, especially in Cleveland. On election day Taft lost Cleveland by 96,000 votes, while Dewey, the GOP presidential candidate, lost the city by 112,000 votes. An analysis showed that Taft ran ahead of Dewey and the rest of the state's GOP candidates in the Jewish wards of Cleveland and its suburbs. Given that Taft won the election by fewer than 18,000 votes, his standing among Ohio's Jewish voters may well have saved him from defeat.2602:304:691E:5A29:6116:91F3:2F3F:A99F (talk) 02:53, 19 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Against immigration of twenty thousand Jewish children? 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
* 
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:22, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: The nomination was withdrawn by the person who made it because the photo is in the public domain--it comes from a government publication. Rjensen (talk) 04:33, 19 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion; decision = keep

message: Shouldn't we mention Taft's connection with John Birch Society co-founder Robert W. Welch Jr., if only briefly, in order to help make this article more properly encyclopedic? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 00:40, 18 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Robert W. Welch Jr.]] 

message: Shouldn't we mention in this article the hypothesis that Taft's cancer may have been caused by a radium tube planted in the upholstery of his Senate chair (this idea promulgated by John Birch Society co-founder Robert W. Welch Jr.)? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 00:42, 18 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Definitely. If an editor could mention this and find some sources, this'd be great. AlaskaGal~ ^_^ 10:34, 18 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hypothesis about the cause of Taft's cancer