His last great political moment came when Everett Dirksen, one of his protégés, savaged Tom Dewey at the 1952 Republican convention for him. It was a last sweet moment in one more lost campaign, one more defeat within his own party. Taft’s defeat by Eisenhower in 1952 was the final straw: “I can see no benefit in changing ‘Me Too’ Dewey for ‘I, Too’ Ike, who was nominated and is entirely surrounded by men who know exactly what they want—which is not the good of this country,” he wrote. He called for a third party, but it was all too late.
