In the 1908 U.S. presidential election, William Howard Taft was attacked for his Unitarianism. He refused to respond to the attacks, and won the election. But imagine if his opponents had had TV attack ads in their arsenal….
A note about the historical facts behind this attack ad….
The [1908 presidential] campaign was notable for the vicious attacks on Taft’s Unitarianism, particularly in the Midwest. Evangelical Protestants, in a flood of letters and newspaper articles, accused him of being an infidel, a Catholic, etc. His religion was no secret. He attended All Souls Church faithfully. Roosevelt and others responded sharply to the attacks. Following his own instincts, as well as the advice of the President, Elihu Root, and other Republican leaders, he said nothing himself in response. Bryan did not attack Taft personally, but he would not criticize those who did, thereby implying that he agreed with them. (Link.)
Any resemblance between the content of this attack ad, and attacks on the religious liberal running in the 2008 U. S. presidential primaries, is entirely intentional. 1:27.
Note: Although blip.tv is now defunct, I had a copy of this video and uploaded it to Vimeo. Click on the image above to view the video.
Perhaps amusingly, four years later Taft ran into trouble with some Unitarian ministers, like John Haynes Holmes, who endorsed Theodore Roosevelt from the pulpit while the president was seated in front of him!
Ah, the Midwest does it again. You know, when I first moved here someone asked what church I belonged to and I said Unitarian. They visibly blanched. And then asked: The one that guy runs, whathisname, Moon, the one who marries everyone?
Sigh.
No, not that one.
Still, there ARE nice parts about the red states…honest.