After the War With Spain, the remnants of its empire fell into our hands.

The USA as an Empire

By and large, most people in the United States were extremely lukewarm about inheriting Spanish colonies following the mercifully short Spanish American War. High on that list was President William McKinley.

It was definitely true that the concept of Manifest Destiny, i.e. “from sea to shining sea” was part of our agenda, but the thought of overseas territories and islands was practically distasteful. They would be difficult/expensive to manage. The inhabitants of said places were none too keen on it either. And, perhaps most importantly, the overwhelming ethos of America was freedom and liberty. We truly had no desire to “rule” anybody.

The Philippines

The crown jewel of Spain’s Pacific Empire was the Philippines – an atoll of hundreds of small islands, thousands of miles away. It had been a Spanish possession for nearly 400 years. The natives, divided by islands and sub-cultures, were fractious among themselves. They were always antagonistic to their Spanish rulers, who ruled with an iron hand. The Catholic Church, tied integrally to Spain, provided comfort to some and fear and repression to others. Uprisings were frequent, and seldom solved anything. As our new “inheritance,” we naturally sent in the army to maintain order. They were heavy handed too, and unpopular.

If civil unrest was not enough of a headache, tropical islands have been eternally notorious for their “rare tropical diseases.” In 1900, while microbiology was becoming a scientific discipline of its own, it was still in early stages. Bacteria, microbes, amoebic organisms, along with malaria, typhoid, typhus and various fevers were common – and very hard to treat. Some illnesses were extremely elusive to diagnose – and still are. Death was more than likely.

President William McKinley, a kindly man by nature, and as reluctant to rule as he was to fight war itself, sent a commission – to investigate root causes and concerns and make recommendations to rectify whatever was possible.

Taft and Family

Judge William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was an Ohio Republican of impeccable and long pedigree. McKinley appointed him to lead the commission in early 1900.

Malacanang Palace where the Tafts lived.

It was a visible and important position, and Taft brought the family: his wife Helen Herron, always called Nellie, and their three young children. In short order, Will Taft proved his judicial mindedness, and not long thereafter, the commission fulfilled its purpose and was disbanded. Taft was appointed Governor General. He was fair minded, accessible, a well-balanced listener, and immensely popular.

The Tafts entertained ecumenically.

While many Americans in the Philippines viewed the locals as racially inferior, Taft proposed to banish this idea from their minds. Racial segregation was never a part of any Taft official events, and Filipinos were treated as social equals. In her memoirs, Nellie Taft recalled that “neither politics nor race should influence our hospitality in any way.”

Both Tafts ardently supported education in the Philippines.

Nellie Taft dressed for a costume party in the Philippines.

Both Will and Nellie Taft had many opportunities to indulge in their love for adventure – the more exotic, the better. Long skirts and corsets notwithstanding, Nellie rode the waves in war canoes, and made an excursion on muleback through the Philippine jungles. Not to be outdone, in the summer of 1901, Governor Will made an excursion through the Luzon jungles as well.

The Hidden Illness Part

Taft – on a water buffalo.

William Howard Taft was a large fellow, over 300 pounds. The tropical Philippines has temperatures regularly soaring above 100 degrees. Prickly heat is a common skin condition closely associated with heat and skin rubbing itself into a rash. Children get it regularly. So do adults, especially those with excess flesh.

According to Will himself, the excursion through the jungles left him with a nasty prickly heat rash, exacerbated when some of the fistulas erupted leaving open areas susceptible to infection. The infection began as a mild skin irritation, but after a week, it had increased to a serious problem requiring immediate medical treatment.

Will was definitely ill. He had developed a fever and severe abdominal pains. On October 27, a rectal abscess ruptured, and he was taken to the hospital on a stretcher for an emergency operation. The surgeons found an abscess in the perineum. The doctors had to dig deep, and were apprehensive about gangrene. Ether was used as an anesthetic, and Taft later wrote about the acute thirst it caused – and the odd dreams he had. He also recalled a “spider web of pus-filled ducts and pockets undermining the skin.”

But the wound seemed to heal, although bedrest for a month was prescribed – and enforced.

Come, Dear

Meanwhile, in early October, 1901, with no apparent danger in her husband’s health, Nellie had set out on a solo trip to China, to recharge her own energies. She no sooner arrived at her hotel in Shanghai, when she received a very short telegram. “Come dear, am sick.” Of course she immediately booked passage on the next ship back. When Nellie returned to Manila, she never left his side.

Despite showing improvement, Taft was very weak, and there were still some residual pus pockets surrounding the rectum. A second surgery was performed on Thanksgiving day. This time, the doctors insisted that the Taft family return to Cincinnati to recuperate.

They booked passage back to the US on Christmas Eve, once they had assurance from the doctors that he was well enough to travel.

But Taft was still not well, and by March, 1902, a third surgery was done in Cincinnati, this time performed by Dr. Hiller Rauschoff and Dr. Frederick Forchheimer, both of whom were well known to the Taft family.

It was not until August, 1902 that they were able to return to the Philippines.

Sources:

https://doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x27abscess_g.htm

Lurie, Jonathan  – William Howard Taft: Progressive Conservative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Marx, Rudolph. The Health of the Presidents. New York: GP Putnam’s Sons, 1960.

Ross, Ishbel. An American Family: The Tafts – 1678 to 1964. Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Co., 1964.

Taft, Mrs. William Howard – Recollections of a Full Life – Dodd, Mead, 1914