TLS signed “Wm. H. Taft,” one page trimmed in size to 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, March 1, 1920. Taft writes to E. E. Whiting, editor of the Boston Evening Record. In part: “I have read your interesting editorial, and I subscribe to it. The spirit of arbitrary bureaucracy, which the exercise of necessary war powers has developed, prompts the present Administration to try to keep its powers in time of peace, and it is very essential that we should bring matters back to a normal. There will constantly be exigencies tempting the President and those under him to continue the war power, for reasons which are very plausible, but for reasons which have no real constitutional basis and no just basis in fact….” Interestingly, Taft had earlier defended a president’s “extra” war powers in his 1916 book Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers, observing that “Under the Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war, but with the army and the navy, the President can take action such as to involve the country in war and to leave Congress no option but to declare it or to recognize its existence.... War as a legal fact, it was decided by the Supreme Court in the Prize Cases, can exist by invasion of this country by a foreign enemy or by such an insurrection as occurred during the Civil War, without any declaration of war by Congress at all, and it is only in the case of a war of our aggression against a foreign country that the power of Congress must be affirmatively asserted to establish its legal existence....” In good condition, with trimming as noted, letter affixed to same sized sheet (resultant slight rippling), intersecting folds (vertical fold to last name), and scattered light staining. The signature is clear and dark. Significant content regarding the ongoing debate over the extent of presidential power! JSA/John Reznikoff Auction LOA and RRAuction COA.
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