William Taft Theodore Roosevelt loved William H. Taft as a brother and believed him to be the person to continue his policies. Taft had been Roosevelt’s most trusted lieutenant. Taft had served as a judge, governor of the Philippines, and even as Roosevelt’s secretary of war. Taft seemed acceptable to basically everyone. Because of Roosevelt’s reference, he easily received the votes to win him the election. Taft and Roosevelt were differentiated in many, many ways. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft was not quick on his feet and very indecisive. Taft responded slowly, approached problems slowly, even said “[He doesn’t] like politics” and “[He doesn’t] like the spotlight.” Taft’s personality and mindset quickly brought him into conflict with progressives. Taft believed high tariffs limited …show more content…
Taft was a strong supporter of competition and actually brought twice as many antitrust cases in four years as his Roosevelt had in seven. In other areas, Taft was at least as strong a progressive as Roosevelt. Taft established the Children 's Bureau, a federal agency similar to Roosevelt 's Bureau of Corporations. The Children 's Bureau investigated and publicized problems with child labor. Taft was also a conservationist. His contributions were similar to those of Roosevelt’s and equally or surpassed them. After Taft took office, Roosevelt left and did not return until June 1910. Roosevelt was upset with Taft’s “betrayal”, yet he refused to criticize the president, at first. Taft’s antitrust lawsuit against U.S. Steel was the last straw for Roosevelt. Roosevelt believed Taft’s breaking up of the the trust was destroying the carefully crafted system that he had established. Progressives soon convinced Roosevelt to reenter politics. February 1912, Roosevelt announced that he would be entering the presidential campaign of 1912 in an attempt to replace Taft as the Republican nominee for