ABSTRACT
With many political labors unfinished — for Robert A. Taft was given merely a few weeks' notice — Robert Taft died of cancer on July 31, 1953. Despite his skill in practical politics, Taft had lost a number of political struggles; three times he had sought earnestly his party's presidential nomination, and three times he had been rejected. Whatever Taft's disdain for pandering to the crowd, his personal following was very large and strongly devoted; his abrupt end dismayed them. The American public had sensed that Robert Taft stood for permanence in the United States: for what must be made to survive in a time of troubles. Taft spoke for constitution, self-government, private rights, the rule of law, security, peace, community, economic stability, the fabric of civilization. A leader of the opposition leaves few statutes bearing his name, although Taft's labor legislation would last and would be strengthened by his successors.
