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[[Image:Taft40.jpg|thumb|260px|''Time'' Jan. 29, 1940]]
'''Robert Alphonso Taft , Sr.''' (1889–1953), son of President [[William Howard Taft]], was a leading Republican Senator, 1938–53, and was known as "Mr. Republican". He was a leader of the [[Conservative Coalition]], working with southern Democrats to control Congress. Little major legislation passed the Senate against his objections. His crowning achievement was writing and passing, over President [[Harry Truman|Truman]]'s veto, the [[Taft-Hartley Act]] of 1947. It balanced the interests of unions, management and the public.
==Private life==
==Presidency==
Taft sought the GOP nomination in [[United States presidential election, 1948|1948]] but it went to his arch-rival, Governor [[Thomas E. Dewey]] of New York. One reason was Taft's reluctance to support farm subsidies, a position that hurt his party in the farm belt. Taft relied on a national core of loyalists, but had trouble breaking through to independents, and hated to raise money. Taft tried again in [[United States presidential election, 1952|1952]], using a strong party base. He promised his supporters that he would name [[Douglas MacArthur]] as candidate for Vice President, but was defeated by charismatic [[Dwight Eisenhower]]. Conservatives felt that chicanery by his opponents caused his narrow defeat at the [[Republican National Convention]]. To gain Taft's support in the campaign, Eisenhower promised he would take no reprisals against Taft partisans, would cut federal spending, and would fight "[[creeping socialism]] in every domestic field." All along Eisenhower agreed with Taft on most domestic issues; their dramatic difference was in foreign policy. Eisenhower firmly believed in [[NATO]] and committed the U.S. to an active anti-[[Communist]] foreign policy.
His death was untimely, succumbing to cancer only six months after becoming the [[Senate Majority leader]] in 1953. He is honored with a special monument on [[Capitol Hill]], and was selected in 1959 by senators as one of the five most significant senators in history.
==See also==
*[[Howard Buffett]], former U.S. representative from [[Nebraska]]'s 2nd district
==Bibliography==
====notes====
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