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Taft and MacArthur, 1900–1901: A Study in Civil-Military Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Rowland T. Berthoff
Rowland T. Berthoff
Affiliation:
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
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Extract

When the United States stumbled into possession of the Philippine Islands in 1898, Americans had not operated a military government since Reconstruction, and the task of ruling a populous alien colony was an unprecedented one for them. Because of the insurrection waged by Filipino guerrillas after February 1899, martial law could give way to civil control but gradually. The long transition provoked a civil-military conflict which, because the chief antagonists were famous fathers of now famous sons, has recently acquired a new interest. But the rivals of 1900–1901 should be judged for their own deeds. How and why did Major General Arthur MacArthur and Commissioner William Howard Taft fall out?

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , January 1953 , pp. 196 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1953

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References

1 E.g., Rovere, Richard and Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr, The General and the President, New York, 1951, p. 25Google Scholar; Lee, Clark and Henschel, Richard, Douglas MacArthur, New York, 1952, pp. 21–24.Google Scholar

2 McKinley, William to Root, Elihu, April 7, 1900 (Root Papers, Library of Congress); cf. Jessup, Philip C., Elihu Root, New York, 1938, 1, pp. 354–57.Google Scholar

3 Dictionary of American Biography, xxi, pp. 521–22.

4 Pringle, Henry. F., The Life and Times of William Howard Taft, New York, 1939, 1, pp. 93–162, 181–84.Google Scholar

5 William Howard Taft to Mrs. W. H. Taft, May 31, 1900; Taft to Charles P. Taft, June 2, 1900 (Taft Papers, Library of Congress).

6 Taft to Mrs. Taft, June 3, 1900 (Taft Papers).

7 Taft to Mrs. Taft, June 5, 1900 (Taft Papers).

8 Taft to Mrs. Taft, June 13, 1900; Taft to C. P. Taft, June 23, 1900 (Taft Papers).

9 Taft to Root, June 15, 1900 (Root Papers).

10 Taft to C. P. Taft, June 12, 1900 (Taft Papers). Pringle's story of MacArthur's frosty reception of Taft is dramatic but imaginary, being drawn from published memoirs which telescope into a single incident an antagonism which in fact developed only gradually.

11 Taft to Mrs. Taft, June 27, 1900 (Taft Papers).

12 Taft to Mrs. Taft, July 5, 1900 (Taft Papers).

13 Taft to Mrs. Taft, July 8, 1900 (Taft Papers).

14 Taft to Mrs. Taft, July 18, 1900 (Taft Papers).

15 Taft to Mrs. Taft, July 29, 1900 (Taft Papers).

16 Taft to Root, July 26, 1900 (Root Papers).

17 Taft to Root, August 11, 1900 (Root Papers).

18 Taft to Arthur MacArthur, August 3, 1900 (Taft Papers).

19 Taft to J. B. Bishop, November 30, 1900 (Taft Papers).

20 Taft to Root, August 18, 1900 (Root Papers).

21 Taft to John C. Spooner, September 3, November 30, 1900 (Taft Papers).

22 Taft to Root, August 11, 14, 1900 (Root Papers).

23 Taft to Root, August 18, 1900 (Root Papers).

24 Ibid.

25 Taft to MacArthur, August 23, 1900 (Root Papers).

26 MacArthur to Taft, August 24, 1900 (Root Papers).

27 Root to Taft, August 28, 1900; cf. August 8, 1900 (Root Papers).

28 Taft to Root, August 31, 1900 (Root Papers).

29 Taft to C. P. Taft, August 31, 1900 (Taft Papers).

30 Executive Minutes of the United States Philippine Commission (ms.), September 10, 1900 (National Archives).

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid., September 4, 1900, et seq.

33 Taft to Root, September 18, 1900 (Root Papers).

34 Taft to Root, October 3, 1900 (Root Papers).

35 Executive Minutes, October 4, 1900.

36 Taft to C. P. Taft, September 21, 1900 (Taft Papers); MrsTaft, William Howard, Recollections of Full Years, New York, 1914, p. 108.Google Scholar

37 Executive Minutes, October 6, 8, 1900; MacArthur to Taft, October 6, 1900; Taft to MacArthur, October 8, 1900 (Root Papers).

38 Taft to MacArthur, October 4, 1900 (Root Papers).

39 MacArthur to Taft, October 7, 1900 (Root Papers).

40 Taft to Root, October 7, 1900 (Root Papers).

41 Taft to MacArthur, October 9, 1900 (Root Papers).

42 MacArthur to Taft, October 11, 1900 (Root Papers).

43 Taft to MacArthur, October 12, 1900 (Root Papers).

44 MacArthur to Taft, October 13, 1900 (Root Papers).

45 MacArthur to Taft, October 9, 1900 (Root Papers).

46 Taft to MacArthur, October 13, 1900 (Root Papers).

47 MacArthur to Taft, October 15, 1900 (Root Papers).

48 Taft to Root, October 10, 1900 (Root Papers). Cf. Taft to Howard C. Hollister, October 15, 1900 (Taft Papers).

49 Taft to C. P. Taft [October ?], 1900 (Taft Papers).

50 Taft to Root, October 10, 1900 (Root Papers).

51 Taft to Root, October 16, 21, 1900 (Root Papers).

52 Executive Minutes, October 16, 17, 22, 1900.

53 Ibid., November 7, 10, 14, 1900; Taft to Root, November 14, 1900 (Root Papers).

54 Taft to Root, November 14, 1900 (Root Papers). Cf. Taft to Spooner, November 30, 1900; Taft to Bishop, November 30, 1900 (Taft Papers).

55 Taft to Horace H. Lurton, November 30, 1900 (Taft Papers).

56 Taft to Root, December 27, 1900 (Root Papers).

57 Taft to William R. Day, December 10, 1900 (Taft Papers).

58 Taft to Root, October 31, November 14, 1900 (Root Papers).

59 Executive Minutes, December 7, 1900.

60 Taft to Root, December 27, 1900 (Root Papers); Taft to Day, December 10, 1900; Taft to Henry Cabot Lodge, January 7, 1901 (Taft Papers).

61 Taft to Root, January 9, 1901 (Root Papers).

62 Taft to Root, January 13, 1901 (Root Papers).

63 Executive Minutes, January 5, 16, 21, 1901; Taft to H. Phelps Whitmarsh, January 22, 1901 (Taft Papers).

64 Taft to Root, January 9, 1901 (Root Papers); Taft to C. P. Taft, January 9, 1901 (Taft Papers).

65 Taft to C. P. Taft, January 23, 1901 (Taft Papers).

66 Taft to Root, January 21, 1901 (Root Papers); Executive Minutes, January 21, 1901.

67 W. H. Corbin to MacArthur, February 19, 1901 (National Archives: A.G.O. 369538).

68 Henry W. Taft to Taft, February 19, 1901; Taft to Edward Colston, April 24, 1901; Taft to Bishop, April 25, 1901 (Taft Papers).

69 Taft to Root, February 24, 1901 (Root Papers).

70 Executive Minutes, February 20, 1901; “Affairs in the Philippine Islands,” Senate Document, 57th Congress, 1st session, no. 331 (April 10, 1902), p. 885; Worcester, Dean. C., The Philippines Past and Present, New York, 1914, pp. 337–40Google Scholar; Mrs Taft, , op.cit., p. 155.Google Scholar

71 Executive Minutes, January 16, 1901; Taft to Root, January 21, 1901 (Root Papers).

72 Taft to Root, March 17, 1901 (Root Papers).

73 Taft to James B. Thayer, February 23, 1901 (Taft Papers).

74 Taft to MacArthur, March 6, 1901 (Root Papers).

75 Taft to Root, March 17, 1901 (Root Papers).

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

78 Ibid.

79 Root to Taft, February 28, 1901 (Root Papers); Taft to C. P. Taft, May 17, 1901 (Taft Papers).

80 Taft to Hollister, May 26, 1901 (Taft Papers).

81 Taft to Root, April 3, 1901 (Root Papers).

82 Corbin to MacArthur, April 11, 1901; Root to Taft, April 11, 1901 (Root Papers).

83 Taft to Root, April 27, 1901 (Root Papers).

84 Taft to Root, May 24, 1901 (Root Papers); Taft to Hollister, May 26, 1901 (Taft Papers); Executive Minutes, May 21, 1901.

85 Taft to Root, June 17, 1901; Root to Taft, June 18, 21, 1901 (Root Papers).

86 Mrs Taft, , op.cit., p. 210.Google Scholar

87 Taft, William Howard, Present Day Problems, New York, 1908, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

88 New York Daily Tribune, July 5, 1901.

89 Ibid., August 19, 1901.

90 Taft to John Warrington, July 19, 1901 (Taft Papers).

91 Taft to Root, July 14, 1901 (Root Papers). Cf. Taft to Hollister, August 27, 1901 (Taft Papers).

92 Taft to Root, September 26, 1901 (Root Papers).

93 Chaffee to Corbin, October 2 (A.G.O. 401125), October 4, 5, 1901; Corbin to Chaffee, October 5, 1901 (Root Papers); Theodore Roosevelt to Taft, October 8, 1901; Roosevelt to Chaffee, October 8, 1901 (Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Library of Congress).

94 Taft to Root, October 4, 1901 (Root Papers); Mrs. Taft, op.cit., pp. 218–21; Pringle, , op.cit., 1, pp. 211–12.Google Scholar

95 E.g., Root to Taft, October 25, 1902 (Root Papers).

96 “Affairs in the Philippine Islands,” pp. 59, 63, 80, 85–87, 136; cf. Reports of the Philippine Commission, Washington, 1904, p. 31.

97 New York Times, September 6, 1912; Mrs. Taft, op.cit., pp. 210–11.

98 Taft to Corbin, December 31, 1905; Taft to Roosevelt, September 16, 1906 (Roosevelt Papers).

99 Annual Report of the Military Governor in the Philippine Islands, Washington, 1901, pp. 47–48.

100 “Affairs in the Philippine Islands,” pp. 868–70.

101 Taft to Root, January 9, 1901 (Root Papers); Taft to C. P. Taft, January 9, 1901 (Taft Papers).

102 “Stories of Governor Taft in the Philippines,” World's Work, vii (1903), p. 4231.