President-elect William Howard Taft Memorably Characterizes Selection of a Cabinet as Putting Together of a “Puzzle”

After President Theodore Roosevelt determined he would not run for reelection, he gave careful consideration to potential successors. He finally threw his support behind William Howard Taft in early 1907. Taft was Roosevelt’s secretary of war and a trusted adviser, and the two had similar political ideas. Having been handpicked by the President, Taft easily won the Republican nomination on the first ballot when the Republican convention met in June 1908. Taft easily defeated William Jennings Bryan in the November election, and then began considering whom he should appoint to his Cabinet.

Cornelius N. Bliss was a partner in one of the largest wholesale dry-goods firms in the country. He was also chairman of the Republican committee in New York in 1887 and 1888, and contributed much to the success of the Benjamin Harrison ticket in his state in the 1888 election. He served as treasurer of the Republican National Committee from 1892 to 1904. He turned down the offer of becoming Secretary of the Treasury under President McKinley, but accepted the post of Secretary of the Interior, maintaining that position until February 1899. While in office, Bliss focused on forestry and Indian affairs. Offered by McKinley the vice presidential slot in his 1900 reelection campaign, he declined, so the nod went instead to Theodore Roosevelt. In 1904, Bliss was Roosevelt’s campaign manager.

Bliss wrote Taft suggesting that distinguished corporate lawyer Willian Nelson Cromwell, champion of America’s development of the Panama Canal, be included in the Cabinet, likely as Attorney General. Taft responded with a polite refusal, but memorably characterizing the selection of a Cabinet as a puzzle.

Typed letter signed, on his letterhead, Augusta, Georgia, December 24, 1908, to Bliss. “I have your kind letter of December 22nd, in respect to Willian Nelson Cromwell, and suggesting his being appointed to my Cabinet. I know your friendship for and appreciation of him is no greater than my own, but whether I can put him in the Cabinet or not I am unable to say. The making of a Cabinet is like the making of a picture puzzle. Sometimes pieces that you would like to fit in, it is impossible to make fit. But you can be sure, my dear Mr, Bliss, that before I fill my Cabinet I shall give the name of Mr. Cromwell, whom I consider one of my warmest friends, the fullest consideration.”

This is the only letter we can recall seeing that where a president characterized the selection of his Cabinet, and most interestingly too. We obtained this letter directly from the Bliss descendants.