Robert Taft

Robert Taft (b 1889) is a Democratic senator representing the state of Ohio in the United States Senate. He is the son of former Congressman William Howard Taft.

Taft was the Democratic presidential nominee in the 1940 election, and he ran on a promise that he would not honor the Richmond Agreement which his opponent, the incumbent President Al Smith had signed with Confederate President Jake Featherston that summer. Though the Richmond Agreement was unpopular throughout much of the US, Taft was narrowly defeated. The once and future Confederate states of Kentucky and Houston, which normally followed conservative voting patterns, voted for the Socialist Smith because they were concerned that Taft's hard line would prevent them from rejoining the Confederacy.

In 1942 Taft served on the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. He strongly protested President Charles LaFollette's decision to receive an emmissary from the Mormon resistance movement in Utah. He was surprised when liberal Socialist Congresswoman Flora Hamburger joined him in his criticism of the administration. Taft realized that the once-dovish Hamburger now shared his hard line views on the US's national security, and the two began both a friendship and a professional cooperation.