| The Papers of Robert A. Taft, Volume 4: 1949-1953 Contributor(s): Wunderlin Jr, Clarence E. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0873388518 ISBN-13: 9780873388511 Publisher: Kent State University Press OUR PRICE: $64.35 Product Type: Hardcover Published: June 2006 Annotation: The third of a four-volume edition of the papers of Robert A. Taft This third volume in the series documents Robert A. Taft's experiences through World War II and his early postwar years. After winning a tough reelection battle as senator from Ohio in 1944, Taft moved steadily upward in the leadership ranks of his party and assumed a preeminent position among the bipartisan group of conservatives that increasingly dominated Congress. Taft was most widely known for his leadership of the postwar effort to revise federal labor law. In 1947 he cosponsored the Taft-Hartley Act, the single most important piece of labor legislation passed in the aftermath of World War II. These amendments to the 1935 National Labor Relations Act defined "unfair" union practices, banned closed shops, and authorized court injunctions that would delay strikes that harmed national security by imposing an eighty-day cooling-off period. In the immediate postwar years Taft recognized the need for federal aid to education, social welfare legislation that assisted the poor, and federal support for public housing. The senator campaigned vigorously for education-assistance legislation (which failed to pass the House of Representatives) and cosponsored the Taft-Wagner-Ellender Housing Act to subsidize residential construction. This volume continues the contribution that The Papers of Robert A. Taft provides to the study of United States political and diplomatic history, Ohio history, and conservative political theory. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Political |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 97006757 |
| Series: Papers of Robert A. Taft |
| Physical Information: 1.49" H x 6.48" W x 9.46" (2.04 lbs) 514 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1940's - Chronological Period - 1950's |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The final volume of the Taft papers This fourth and final volume of a selected edition of the papers of Robert A. Taft documents Taft's post-World War II and congressional experiences until his death in 1953. Regardless of his conservative commitments, Taft saw the need for responsible reform. In the immediate postwar years, he recognized the need for federal aid to education, for social welfare legislation that assisted the poor, and for federal support for public housing. Out of political necessity, Taft became more partisan as the 1950 senatorial campaign approached, convinced he had to win reelection in Ohio by a large margin if he was to establish himself as a frontrunner in the primary campaign for the 1952 presidential election. Moderate Republicans spurned Taft and doubted that the serious, partisan senator could successfully head a national ticket. His support, nevertheless, was essential to the 1952 Eisenhower presidential campaign. Taft's service as Senate majority leader proved indispensable to President Eisenhower during the early months of his first term, helping the president navigate the byways of the nation's capital. Even after his diagnosis of cancer in April 1953, he continued to work at his senatorial duties until he died in July 1953. This volume completes the contribution that The Papers of Robert A. Taft provides to the study of United States political and diplomatic history, Ohio history, and conservative political theory. |