Page 14 - Forbes - Asia (June 2018)

FORBES ASIA
FACT & COMMENT STEVE FORBES

him to be president instead.) He was ap- clearly permitted by said document. He negotiated a free-trade agreement
pointed to an Ohio state judgeship in his r 53 EJEO U IFTJUBUF UP SVO SPVHITIPE PWFS with Canada, which our northern
20s. So impressive was Tat that he was Congress; Tat profoundly believed that do- neighbor refused to ratify. (his wasn’t
considered for the high court in his early ing so undermined the separation of powers. achieved until 1987.)
30s; instead, he was appointed U.S. solicitor Despite Tat’s seemingly somnolent Tat took a political hit for refus-
general, where he won 16 of the 18 cases approach to governing, some important ing to invade Mexico—without express
he argued before
the Supreme Court.
His contemporaries
were struck by Tat’s
thoroughness and in-
tegrity. He went on to
a seat on the Court of
Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit. (During these
years, Tat became fast
friends with another
rising star, heodore
Roosevelt.)
President William
McKinley plucked a
reluctant Tat of the
bench and made him
the civil governor of
the newly acquired
former Spanish col-
ony, the Philippines.
It was a job fraught
with diiculties, as
the U.S. was waging Tub custom-made for our portly 27th president.
a nasty war against
independence-minded guerrillas. Tat things were accomplished. In fact, here, congressional approval—during the
performed brilliantly, achieving genuine as elsewhere, Tat was an efective executive. Mexican Revolution, in order to be ready
popularity among the Filipino people. Henry Stimson, who served under Presi- to protect American lives and prop-
Roosevelt, who became president when dents Tat, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry erty there. (Tat’s successor, Woodrow
McKinley was assassinated, then made Truman as secretary of war and under Her- Wilson, did so, and the results were any-
Tat his secretary of war, where Tat again bert Hoover as secretary of state, found thing but successful.)
did well. In 1908 the immensely popular Tat to be, by far, the inest administrator. Lesser but fun achievements include
Roosevelt anointed Tat as his successor, r 5Bѫ XBT QPSUSBZFE BT CFUSBZJOH IJT being the irst president to throw out
a job Tat really didn’t want. predecessor’s conservation eforts. he the opening day pitch for baseball and
Eventually, however, TR wanted his truth: In four years Tat withdrew more starting the tradition of the seventh-
old job back. Tat’s political ineptitude as land for federal protection than Roosevelt inning stretch.
president gave the Rough Rider plenty of did in two terms. Tat inally achieved his Supreme
pretexts for a break, and he challenged Tat r 5Bѫ XBT B GBS NPSF WJHPSPVT USVTU Court dream when Warren Harding
for the 1912 GOP nomination. Tat won, buster, eschewing TR’s rather idiosyn- named him Chief Justice in 1921, the
but TR then bolted and ran as an indepen- cratic deinition of “good” and “bad” only former president to achieve this
dent. he split made for an easy Democratic monopolies. position. Here Tat was a dynamo. He
win, with Tat inishing a humiliating third. r 3PPTFWFMU XPVMEO U UPVDI B UIJSE SBJM pushed through long-needed reforms of
Rosen argues persuasively that Tat’s issue: tarifs. Tat did and was pillo- the federal judiciary, making it, Rosen
approach to the presidency was diamet- ried for the results, even though he was argues, a truly equal branch of govern-
rically opposed to Roosevelt’s. the irst Republican chief executive to ment. He also got the High Court the
r 53 UIPVHIU IF DPVME EP BOZUIJOH IF achieve a reduction in tarifs, from an magniicent building it occupies today.
wanted, as long as it wasn’t absolutely and average tax of 24% to 21%. Rosen’s verdict: Tat was the most con-
explicitly forbidden by the Constitution; r 3FHBSEJOH USBEF
5Bѫ QVTIFE GPS USFBUJFT sequential Chief Justice since his hero, GRANGER COLLECTION
Tat wouldn’t do something unless it was with other countries to reduce barriers. John Marshall. F

12 | FORBES ASIA JUNE 2018