If this humor be the safety of our race, then it is due largely to the infusion into the American people of the Irish brain.

[citation needed] Nevertheless in the process Taft passed up yet another opportunity to embolden himself politically through the use of patronage. Evidence from eyewitnesses and from Taft himself strongly suggests that during his presidency he had severe obstructive sleep apnea. Ballinger's job was to assure the proper legal form of land withdrawals made from the private sector as part of Roosevelt's conservation policy.

Before becoming President Taft a Republican was selected to serve on the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1887. After leaving office Taft spent his time in academia arbitration and the search for world peace through his self-founded League to Enforce Peace. The task-oriented Taft was oblivious to the political ramifications of his decisions often alienated his own key constituencies and was overwhelmingly defeated in his bid for a second term in the presidential election of 1912.