Word: tafts
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Butt letters brim with fascinating Washington chitchat, never mean, never bitter, which brings Taft more to life than any formal biography. Examples: 1) the cow Mrs. Taft insisted on buying for the White House household; 2) the $5,000 the Tafts had saved on entering the White House and the $80,000 they had after two years; 3) "Little Charlie [the President's son] is a great bookworm and spends most of his time curled up on a sofa reading. . . . On inauguration day he took to the Senate Treasure Island - to read, he said, in case his father...
...four years (1908-12) that was considered a hilarious joke in official Washington society. Its reference was to Major Archibald Willingham Butt, military aide to Presidents Roosevelt and Taft. More than a decorative figure, Major Butt was also political counselor, social manager, playmate and secret chronicler about the White House. Shrewd enough to know the advantage of his confidential position and with a sharp eye on posterity, he wrote (sometimes from quotations jotted down on his immaculate cuffs) almost daily letters to "Dear Clara," his sister-in-law, Mrs. Lewis F. Butt of Augusta, Ga. In these, he gave...
...major historical importance is the fresh light Major Butt's letters throw on the breach between Roosevelt and Taft which culminated in 1912 with the formation of the Bull Moose party and the election of Woodrow Wilson. President Taft loved Col. Roosevelt but Mrs. Taft suspected his designs from the outset. The first trouble apparently occurred when President Taft, in a farewell letter to Col. Roosevelt on his departure for Africa, divided credit for his elevation to the Presidency between the Colonel and his brother Charles Taft. Roosevelt resented this division, never answered the letter. Roosevelt continued to feel...
...Major Butt, loyal to each, never saw the end of the Taft-Roosevelt feud. In March 1912, he sailed for a European holiday. In April he returned on the Titanic, was lost with the ship. President Taft ordered all flags half-staffed for him throughout the land. Augusta built a $40,000 Butt memorial bridge across its yellow canal...
...Taft and Roosevelt-The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt-Doubleday, Doran...