ABSTRACT
In March, 1906, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to discourage Secretary of War Taft from seeking a place on the Supreme Court. Sensing the buildup of a potential rival for the 1904 nomination, President Roosevelt offered Taft an appointment to a Supreme Court vacancy. The bonds of friendship and mutual trust between the two were so strong by 1905 that, whenever Roosevelt was away from Washington, matters were left so that Taft was in effect the pro tem president. The southern committeemen pledged themselves to act as a bloc in urging a third term upon Roosevelt. The congressional campaign committee chose most of its campaign speakers from among the conservatives. The defeat of a proposal by William E. Borah in the national committee on a matter concerning the primaries demonstrated that the Taft representatives were in control. The president spoke infrequently and, when he did, rather poorly and without heart.
