If your first baby was "frail from birth" and died at 14 months, you too would experience joy to see the new baby is actively fat. Taft grew to a heft of 340 pounds, our fattest President by far.
Chris also sends this photograph he took, in case you are wondering what Christmas decorations look like in Austin:
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AKA "thriving".
I stopped paying attention to Kearns after her bout with plagiarism.
One of my neighbors has one of those giant skeletons in their front yard. They decorate it for all holidays and seasons, with my favorite being Spring when they dress it up as a hippy flower child. lol
I used to work with William Howard Taft IV. He was skinny to the point of being gaunt. Nicest guy.
Several skeletal displays in my neighborhood, decorated for each holiday, as in Beasts of England's. Nobody has left them up year round yet, but I expect that's the next step.
Yah, third on the skeletons. Must be a big investment in time energy and money so people improve their roi by recycling for other holidays. Soon they’ll be like Providence’s Nibbles Woodaway and dressed up for holidays like Taco Tuesday…
If you happen to be in Cincinnati, Taft's home/museum is well worth a visit.
We have some skeletons in the area… this year, I’ve seen a start with traditional Halloween, transitioned to classic pilgrim attire and am now anticipating Skel Santa!
Pre-TV and JFK, I guess voters didn't assign much importance to a president's physical appearance.
Taft was also Governor-general of the Philippines (1900-1903) and one of the main streets of Manila, Taft Avenue, is still named after him. Which is unusual as many of the colonial era names have been changed.
The media never changes. They were complicit in hiding the wheelchair in FDR’s pics. I have heard, but have proof, that Joe Biden had serious cognitive issues. *cough*
"Trick-or-Treaters Ignored My Yard. So I Got a Fancy 12-Foot Skeleton." (NYT)
I appreciate how Skelly’s squat coccyx and lack of a pubic arch makes assigning its sex impossible.
Coincidentally,, I just listened to a recording this morning of Taft (and other turn of the century Presidents) giving a speech. He had a very pleasant voice, easy to listen to, much like Wilson.
"Pre-TV and JFK, I guess voters didn't assign much importance to a president's physical appearance."
Lots of counterexamples. Quoting Grok:
George Washington (1789, 1792) – towering height, athletic build, and dignified beauty consciously used to sell the new office.
Henry Clay (1820s–1840s) – repeatedly called the best-looking man in American politics.
Franklin Pierce... extraordinary good looks and romantic-Byronic image were openly treated as a major electoral asset... Whig opponents mocked it mercilessly: cartoons showed Pierce as a perfumed dandy, a “faint-hearted Adonis,” or “Pretty Frankie,” and accused Democrats of nominating him because he was “too handsome to oppose.”
John C. Frémont (1856) – dashing explorer looks, women literally swooned.
James G. Blaine (1884) – “magnetic” handsome charisma.
Warren G. Harding (1920) – literally chosen because he “looked like a president.”
Young Franklin Roosevelt (1910s–early 1920s) – matinee-idol looks before polio.
Austin is the capital of Texas. Capitals attract poli-sci degree holders because they have no marketable skills anywhere else. Poli-sci degree holders are overwhelmingly registered Democrats because it is one of those fields that bear the label science aren't sciences by any non-lunatic definition, actual science being roundly rejected by Democrats (Reproductive biology? Never heard of it.) as politically objectionable. Therefore, Austin attracts registered Democrats out of all proportion to most other Texan cities. Democrats also find Christmas objectionable, because it is a religion that regards sexuality as a matter of moral consequence, therefore skeletons wearing Santa Claus caps.
This past fall, we spent several nights, in an Aspen viewing trip, staying at the historic Hotel Colorado, in Glenwood Springs, CO. It was maybe the most elegant hotel in W CO during the 19th Century, and became famous as Teddy Roosevelt’s Western White House. It’s apparently where his daughter invented the Teddy Bear, to console her father, as he tried to kill a (black) bear on a hunt, when he was staying at the hotel.
Turns out that Teddy Roosevelt wasn’t the only a president to stay there. So did Taft. Next door to the Hotel Colorado, and across the street, are the Glenwood Hot Springs. It’s a gigantic pool, built contemporaneously with the hotel, in the 1880s. People came from around the world for its medicinal qualities. (Doc Holiday, dying of TB, moved to Glenwood, and is buried there). The tie in with Taft was that when he was stating at Hotel Colorado, he refused to go into the hot springs next door, because he didn’t expose himself publicly, due to his massive size.
"Henry Clay (1820s–1840s) – repeatedly called the best-looking man in American politics."
What did the others look like? The walking dead?
A cowl on a skull.
The white garment only deepens the mystery.
What Quaestor said... might shed some light.
"John C. Frémont (1856) – dashing explorer looks, women literally swooned."
Handsome. At least not "death warmed over" ugly. Swooning? hmmmm...Chicks always tend toward light-headedness.
There is that same skeleton, with that same hat, on Route 27 in Medfield, Massachusetts. The hat and various clothing and accessories change throughout the year.
"James G. Blaine (1884) – 'magnetic' handsome charisma."
Some degaussing must have been applied.
Step Back in Time at Hotel Colorado . Story about Taft is about halfway down. Picture at the top of the Hotel Colorado, flanked on the right by the hot springs pool, when both were new in the 1880s. Behind the Hot Springs, today, in that picture, would be where I-70 comes out of Glenwood Canyon. Much more about the two Presidents staying, and living, there on the walls of the hotel.
"Young Franklin Roosevelt (1910s–early 1920s) – matinee-idol looks before polio."
Fine. Now explain Eleanor.
"Warren G. Harding (1920) – literally chosen because he 'looked like a president.'"
Yes, Indubitably. He has that "I accidentally superglued my finger to my head" look of inerrant competence.
I put my foot down at a skeleton Nativity scene though I expect that next.
Taft went on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The only person to hold both offices
"...the baby is fat..."
That better be an actual quote or Sir Mix-A-Lot could bring yet another plagiarism claim against Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Now, it would be a fatty fetus, without possibility of pardon. Off with her head!
"Franklin Pierce... extraordinary good looks and romantic-Byronic image were openly treated as a major electoral asset... Whig opponents mocked it mercilessly: cartoons showed Pierce as a perfumed dandy, a 'faint-hearted Adonis,' or 'Pretty Frankie,' and accused Democrats of nominating him because he was 'too handsome to oppose.'"
The ideal in oils.
The rather un-Byronic reality.
Too handsome to oppose? Very plausible. Gavin Newsom is betting the family farm and Baby's new shoes on that card.
My daughter had a daughter roughly a year and a half ago. She follows her mother at 90% height and 70% weight from around 4 months on. My daughter always thought that she would be as tall as her mother (5’9”) or taller. Nope. Topped out at 5’8”. Granddaughter has a chance though, since her father is. 6’3” and played Offensive Line in college, topping 300 lbs his senior year (trimmed down to 250 by graduation, and a trim 220 by 30).
My mother always said that I got my size from her grandfather. Her side of the family, esp her paternal line were small, and fine boned. So we’re most of my my brothers. I wasn’t, but rather big boned and normal height. We have a picture of her great grandfather, grandfather, and father, then one of her with them. In those photos, you almost miss my grandfather, due to his small size, with his massive father and distinguished grandfather, with a gray, then later, white beard almost to his waist.
My great-great grandfather fought in the Civil War, and was of the inspirations for a young Bruce Catton to spend his career as a historian, writing about that war. My grandfather was his younger brother Bob’s best friend growing up, and, similarly inspired, enlisted in WW I, rose up through the ranks, ending his career in 1947, as a Colonel, after sitting on a War Crimes Tribunal for a Nazi concentration camp.
Getting back to Taft and his story. We have the top of a four sided grave marker at my parents’ house. It was for my great grandfather’s four brothers, who all died in August, at about the age of two. He was the only surviving boy, and we all wondered if his survival was because of how robust he was throughout life.
Final tie. My great great grandfather was born, like Taft, in Ohio, though in his case Oberlin. In the 1850s, he and his wife joined a group from Oberlin, in the 1850s, moving to the wilds of MI to found a Christian college there. They soon brought their parents up there to join them. When he enlisted for fighting in the Civil War, he went back to Oberlin, Ohio, and joined a unit there. Somehow, my mother obtained the page he signed to enlist. Framed, and hanging by those photos of her and her ancestors.
In 1910, Taft was just under 6 ft tall, weighed 330 lb (148.5 kg), and had severely symptomatic sleep apnea. ”By December 1911, an aide noticed that “he pants for breath at every step.”2
After leaving the presidency in March 1913, Taft permanently lost 70 lb in 12 months. His sleep apnea resolved, but he developed atrial fibrillation. At the age of 69 (1926) his blood pressure was 160 to 165/100 mm Hg.
Interestingly, taft stopped drinking and smoking cigars in 1906 and never did it again. His only vice was food. TR was never a smoker, and rarely drank. Fat Taft lived to be 73, TR died at 60.
So I asked my bestie Gemini if Henry Clay was good looking. Got some interesting pictures, and this:
* Stature He was a tall man, nearly six feet two inches.
* Physique He was described as having a "striking physique" but also "rather sparsely built, with a crane-like neck that he endeavored to conceal by his collar and stock".
* Facial features He had "kindly blue eyes which were electrical when kindled," and a very large, "phenomenal" mouth.
* Overall impression One account noted his
"distinctive bone structure" but emphasized that he was "magnetic in his power over men".
While his physical features might not align with conventional ideas of handsomeness, his powerful presence, rich baritone voice, and persuasive speaking skills gave him immense personal magnetism and a strong, compelling presence. This charisma made him widely liked and influential during his life, even earning him the description that "Everybody Liked Henry Clay".
Grover Cleveland was also a very large man. I don't know if McKinley or TR was that skinny either. Wilson, the puritan professor, was a thin man -- or least, he seems like an almost paper-thin man. The Gilded Age preference for well-upholstered men and women faded away after the First World War.
TR had a bad heart. So did his son, who died of a heart attack during the Normandy battles. So did others of his relatives. Franklin's branch of the family was apparently spared that.
Too me, Clay looks like he was a 1940s to 60s character actor. Mostly movies, TV sitcoms. Did a lot of radio work too. Sometimes mistaken for Raymond Massey or John Dehner.
Lincoln was thought to be too ungainly to be president. Newspapers didn't (so far as I know) include photographic representations in those days, so the most people would have had to go on would be woodcuts in magazines. The images of Lincoln, especially those produced by the opposition, could be quite ugly indeed. Remember crowds flocking to Matthew Brady's offices after the major battles of the Civil War because it was the only place they could see actual photos of the carnage.
In the days of Pierce and Clay, the point in a campaign may have been to impress local notables, the Big Whigs so to speak, who'd then relate to folks back home just what a handsome son of a gun the party's candidate really was. Sure, you could put out prints of your candidate's pretty face, but personal impressions and word of mouth were also important.
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