Abstract
Between 1900 and 1913, Republican William Howard Taft maintained a keen interest in preserving a US imperial connection with the Philippines. Following defeat in his presidential reelection campaign of 1912, Taft became the unofficial leader of a “retentionist” movement to stop the US Democratic Party from making any firm promise of future independence for the islands, which he saw as a “policy of scuttle.” Thisarticle brings light to the underexplored role Taft played in this movement, which proved a marked contrast to the route the US ultimately took in its interventions across the globe in the twentieth century and beyond.Keywords: US–Philippine relations • Philippine independence • Jones Act (Philippine Organic Act) • US imperialism
Recommended Citation
Burns, Adam D.;
(2013)
"Retentionist in Chief: William Howard Taft and the Question of Philippine Independence, 1912–1916,"
Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints: Vol. 61:
No.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://archium.ateneo.edu/phstudies/vol61/iss2/3
