A President Who Advocated for Limits on Executive Authority

Bob talks with historian Walter Stahr about William Howard Taft’s model of the presidency. The conversation covers Taft’s remarkably varied career across the executive and judicial branches, his differences with Theodore Roosevelt over the scope of executive power, his stance on war powers, and the significance of his post-presidential writing on executive authority and responsibility.

Mentioned:

Walter Stahr, Stanton: Lincoln’s War Secretary (2017)

William Howard Taft, Our Chief Magistrate and Its Powers (1916)

Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (1913)

Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe