27th President.
Typed letter signed “Wm. H. Taft” as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, January 4, 1927, 8×10.5 "Supreme Court of the United States / Washington, D.C." embossed letterhead.
Taft wrote this letter to David Robinson, Secretary of the Grover Cleveland Association of New York, declining an invitation to attend an upcoming event commemorating the 90th anniversary of Grover Cleveland's birth on March 18, 1927. Taft wrote, in full:
I thank the Grover Cleveland Association for its kind invitation to become its guest at a dinner to be held at the Hotel Astor commemorating the 90th anniversary of the birth of Grover Cleveland. I have already on a number of occasions expressed my great respect for Grover Cleveland and what he did as President, and I deeply regret that I shall be unable to be present as your guest on Friday evening, March 18th. The regimen I am obliged to observe makes it impossible for me to come.
Although Taft was unable to attend this specific event, he was correct in stating that he had praised former President Cleveland on numerous other occasions. On March 18, 1909, for example, then President Taft - just two weeks into his presidential term - had delivered a eulogy of Cleveland on what would have been the latter's 72nd birthday (Cleveland had died just nine months earlier, in June 1908.) Taft's remarks delivered at Carnegie Hall on March 18, 1909 and later that same day at the College of the City of New York made it clear that Taft, despite the differences in their political affiliations, greatly revered Cleveland's thoughtful and fair-minded leadership. Taft had stated in part at the 1909 Grover Cleveland Memorial: "Grover Cleveland was as completely American in his character as Lincoln… His chief characteristics were simplicity and directness of thought, sturdy honesty, courage of his convictions and plainness of speech, with a sense of public duty that has been exceeded by no statesman within my knowledge…"
The March 18, 1927 event hosted by the Grover Cleveland Association of New York took place at the Hotel Astor in New York City. Some 300 attendees came, including Hoke Smith, the only living member of Cleveland's presidential cabinet (Smith had served as Secretary of the Interior during Cleveland's second term, from 1893-1896.) Smith's comments mirrored Taft's in their praise of Cleveland as a prudent and just decision-maker. At this event, Smith called Cleveland "the ablest, wisest and greatest president."
27th President.
Typed letter signed “Wm. H. Taft” as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, January 4, 1927, 8×10.5 "Supreme Court of the United States / Washington, D.C." embossed letterhead.
Taft wrote this letter to David Robinson, Secretary of the Grover Cleveland Association of New York, declining an invitation to attend an upcoming event commemorating the 90th anniversary of Grover Cleveland's birth on March 18, 1927. Taft wrote, in full:
I thank the Grover Cleveland Association for its kind invitation to become its guest at a dinner to be held at the Hotel Astor commemorating the 90th anniversary of the birth of Grover Cleveland. I have already on a number of occasions expressed my great respect for Grover Cleveland and what he did as President, and I deeply regret that I shall be unable to be present as your guest on Friday evening, March 18th. The regimen I am obliged to observe makes it impossible for me to come.
Although Taft was unable to attend this specific event, he was correct in stating that he had praised former President Cleveland on numerous other occasions. On March 18, 1909, for example, then President Taft - just two weeks into his presidential term - had delivered a eulogy of Cleveland on what would have been the latter's 72nd birthday (Cleveland had died just nine months earlier, in June 1908.) Taft's remarks delivered at Carnegie Hall on March 18, 1909 and later that same day at the College of the City of New York made it clear that Taft, despite the differences in their political affiliations, greatly revered Cleveland's thoughtful and fair-minded leadership. Taft had stated in part at the 1909 Grover Cleveland Memorial: "Grover Cleveland was as completely American in his character as Lincoln… His chief characteristics were simplicity and directness of thought, sturdy honesty, courage of his convictions and plainness of speech, with a sense of public duty that has been exceeded by no statesman within my knowledge…"
The March 18, 1927 event hosted by the Grover Cleveland Association of New York took place at the Hotel Astor in New York City. Some 300 attendees came, including Hoke Smith, the only living member of Cleveland's presidential cabinet (Smith had served as Secretary of the Interior during Cleveland's second term, from 1893-1896.) Smith's comments mirrored Taft's in their praise of Cleveland as a prudent and just decision-maker. At this event, Smith called Cleveland "the ablest, wisest and greatest president."
