On October 27, a rectal abscess ruptured, and he was taken to the hospital on a stretcher for an emergency operation. He had developed a fever and severe abdominal pains.

The infection began as a mild skin irritation, but after a week, it had increased to a serious problem requiring immediate medical treatment. So do adults, especially those with excess flesh.Īccording 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. Prickly heat is a common skin condition closely associated with heat and skin rubbing itself into a rash. The tropical Philippines has temperatures regularly soaring above 100 degrees. William Howard Taft was a large fellow, over 300 pounds. McKinley appointed him to lead the commission in early 1900. Judge William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was an Ohio Republican of impeccable and long pedigree. 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. Some illnesses were extremely elusive to diagnose – and still are. Bacteria, microbes, amoebic organisms, along with malaria, typhoid, typhus and various fevers were common – and very hard to treat. 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.

They were heavy handed too, and unpopular. As our new “inheritance,” we naturally sent in the army to maintain order. Uprisings were frequent, and seldom solved anything. The Catholic Church, tied integrally to Spain, provided comfort to some and fear and repression to others. They were always antagonistic to their Spanish rulers, who ruled with an iron hand. The natives, divided by islands and sub-cultures, were fractious among themselves. It had been a Spanish possession for nearly 400 years. The crown jewel of Spain’s Pacific Empire was the Philippines – an atoll of hundreds of small islands, thousands of miles away. We truly had no desire to “rule” anybody. And, perhaps most importantly, the overwhelming ethos of America was freedom and liberty. The inhabitants of said places were none too keen on it either. They would be difficult/expensive to manage. “from sea to shining sea” was part of our agenda, but the thought of overseas territories and islands was practically distasteful. It was definitely true that the concept of Manifest Destiny, i.e. High on that list was President William McKinley. After the War With Spain, the remnants of its empire fell into our hands.īy and large, most people in the United States were extremely lukewarm about inheriting Spanish colonies following the mercifully short Spanish American War.

William Howard Taft by Jonathan Lurie