Bill Severn (1914–1992)

The book is sub-titled: “The President Who Became Chief Justice”.
I don’t think is a particularly good book but it’s about a really good man. This country was very well served by William Howard Taft and not just as its President. He achieved some really amazing things as Governor General of the Philippines, he honchoed some of the work done in building the Panama Canal and he passed down some well thought out Supreme Court decisions – among a lot of other public services.
The book is written in easily readable, conversational style. That doesn’t make it a bad book; it makes it a surface treatment book. It would fit well into “The American Presidents Series” initiated by Arthur Schlesinger. Mr. Severn wrote some 30 books, many of them biographies of political and judicial figures, and a lot of books for children which might explain the simplicity of the style used in this one. I do recommend it, though, as it ties together all the threads of information attached to Mr. Taft’s name that turn up in Presidential biographies from McKinley through Hoover and it confirms that he was a very interesting man; as were his father and his son.… (mais)