Raynors HCA 2017-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/23/2017
Three superb content type letters signed pertaining to the 1908 Presidential campaign. William Howard Taft writes to Harlan P. Lloyd. Lloyd served with distinction during the Civil War with the 24th Light Artillery and 22nd Calvary. All three letters are on Taft's Cincinnati, Ohio stationery. The first letter reads in full: Hot Springs, Virginia, August 11, 1908, 2pp., "My dear Major: I picked up your well known handwriting in your favor of July 20, with great pleasure. I am glad to know that you are having a good time. I am also glad that you have concluded not to come home. The question of the election is doubtful. I am not over - confident, and it is quite possible that there will be a landslide for Bryan. The labor question is a very difficult one, and he will probably gain a large number of votes there. The West is in a condition of suspicion of the East, and if he can give a trend of that sort to the campaign he may be able to carry some of the states west of the Mississippi, with Indiana. Unless, however, he secures a larger movement of that sort than is apparent at present, the electoral figures prevent his success. Of course, the Republican party is laboring under the factionalism that is certain to arise in a party having power so long as we have had. Then there is the panic and the subsequent industrial depression, with the unemployed - circumstances which usually work against the party in power, though with the threat to returning prosperity which Bryan's election is generally supposed to involve, this may not be so great an obstacle to our success as has been supposed. Some of the very strict sects, like the Holiness people of Kansas, and Covenanters, and some of the Methodists, are disposed to attack me on the ground that I am a Unitarian. Bryan has been engaged in preaching for the last four years all over the country and has made a great many friends among the orthodox ministers. This is an element that I cannot ignore, and yet I cannot do anything to prevent the operation of such denominational feeling. I cannot deny that I am a Unitarian, and that seems to be the chief fault. I venture to think that this cry will have less effect today that it would have twenty - five years ago. I fancy that I am as orthodox as Lincoln was, and if I attend the church the Senator Hoar, John C. Calhoun, and John Quincy Adams attended, I am fairly within the line of persons who can be trusted from a religious standpoint. However, all these things enter into the contest and increase the uncertainties. It was Calvanistic doctrine that a man had to be willing to be damned to be saved, and I rather think that it is politically true if you phrase it in this wise: that in order to win you must anticipate the possibilities, indeed, the probabilities, of defeat". This letter comes with the original transmittal cover. The second letter, 1pp., is dated September 12, 1908, and reads in full: "My dear Major Lloyd: I have your letter of September 3, and thank you for writing me at length. I don't know whether the attack on my religious views is going to be important or not. I fear that it might be wider spread than you think, for I begin to find a good many more bigots that I thought existed here. As for instance, Dr. Watson, of your church, the old Second Presbyterian Church, has written a letter in which he advises his parishioners to vote against me and to vote for Bryan, on the ground that I am not a member of any church and don't believe in the Divinity of Christ, and on the ground that father decided in the Bible case that the Jews and the Catholics were entitled to object to the reading of the King James version of the Bible. As this is the church Charley is a trustee and Annie is a member, it makes it a pleasant family arrangement. However, the serious defection that we may look to is the labor business, and to that we are directing such attention as we can. There is a good deal of apathy in respect to the election. People to the East seem to think it is all one way and will have to have several jolts in order to convince them that there is a fight on and that if a victory is to be won it must be won by fighting". The final letter is dated December 2, 1908, a little less than a month after Taft won the Presidency, 1pp., reads in full: "My dear Major: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of congratulations of November 12. You were right in thinking that the religious question did not cost me many votes; at least, if it did, they were neutralized by the vote of our Catholic fellow - citizens, which was very strong in my behalf. It is true, as you say, that even my friend Dr. Watson failed to carry Cincinnati against me. I thank you for your good wishes as to my administration and I shall be glad to see you in Washington at the inauguration". Taft was attacked throughout the campaign for being a Unitarian, one who believes in God as one entity versus the trinity….Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The content is simply the best! The two letters written during the campaign measure 8" x 10 ½", the letter written after the election measures 5 ½" x 8 ¼". All are fine with mailing folds.
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