James Sherman
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- Vice President to:
William Howard Taft - Republican,
from Ohio.
- William Howard Taft served 1908 - 1912. He died in 1930, at the age of 73.
- Dates Served: Sherman served as Vice President from 1909 - 1912.
- Political Party: Sherman was a Republican, from New York.
- Born: 1855.
- Died: 1912, while in office, at the age of 57.
- The presidential opponent during the 1908 campaign was:
- Campaign issues in 1908:
- The issue this year was the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt, and who could be entrusted
to carry it forward. Teddy's Secretary of War, William Taft, was Roosevelt's
heir-apparant and few people were willing to second-guess Teddy. But William Jennings
Bryan was back for one more try, who, for the third time, was running as the Democratic
candidate. Bryan argued that Teddy had stolen most of his ideas and therefore he, Bryan,
was the logical choice to carry on Teddy's anti-trust legacies. But Bryan shot himself
in the foot when he called for the nationalization of the Railroads. This sounded too
much like Socialism and all it accomplished was to convince Wall Street and Big Business
to try their luck with Taft. Taft won by a margin as big as his waist-line and Bryan's
days as a candidate were over.
- Notable Facts about James Sherman:
- Religious affiliation: Sherman was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.
- Originally a lawyer, James Sherman began his political career by being
elected as Mayor of Utica, New York in 1884.
- He was elected to the US House of Representatives, representing New York, from
1887 - 1891, then again from 1893 - 1909. During his tenure in the House, Sherman
rose through the ranks to become Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee.
- He was nominated to Vice President on Taft's Presidential campaign in 1908,
largely due to his Party loyalty and congenial nature.
- Sherman's term as VP was so un-eventful that, if you didn't look twice, you wouldn't
have noticed him.
- He ran for Vice President again in Taft's 1912 re-election campaign, becoming the
first VP to be renominated for a second term by his Party. However, Sherman died of
Bright's Disease only days before the election. Despite this, he still
managed to get 3.5 million votes after his death. Sherman is the only dead Vice President to have run for office and received votes. His 8 Electoral votes were
given to his replacement in the campaign, Nicholas Butler, but it wasn't enough
to win a second term for Taft.
Notable Events during his Vice Presidency:
- Dollar Diplomacy. Taft began the practice of using the military as well as diplomats
to help promote US business interests overseas. He sent troops to Nicaragua in 1912 to
crush a rebellion there against the local government, justifying it on the basis that he
was concerned that a new rebel-installed government there would not be friendly to
US business interests. He considered the enforcement of US business practices abroad
as an extension of the Monroe Doctrine, arguing that the US was protecting Latin American
countries from their own chaotic national finances. American bankers would rescue
Latin American countries from themselves.
- The first electric toaster is invented, by Frank Shailor, in July, 1909.
- President Taft installed the largest bathtub the White House had ever seen, big
enough to hold 4 people. Taft was a hefty Chief Executive.
- The Tafts kept a pet cow on the White House lawn, that also provided milk for the
first family.
- Despite Teddy Roosevelt's reservations about Taft's antitrust agenda, Taft did continue
his predecessors policies to some extent. In 1911 he saw the dismantling of two large
corporations, Standard Oil and the American Tobacco Company.
- Arizona and New Mexico were admitted into Union, both in 1912.
- The 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1913, creating the Federal Income Tax.