William Howard Taft An Administrative History

In order to provide onsite, daily care of the Taft National Historic Site, the National. Park Service hired a staff consisting of a park manager (the position of park manager was superseded by superintendent in 1975), park aids and technicians, and support and maintenance personnel. Later, a park historian was added to the staff. Because of the site's small size, the superintendency was generally regarded by the National Park Service as a testing ground for "rising stars" from other sites. If the superintendent performed well, he or she could move on to superintendencies of larger sites and so on up the bureau ladder.

The life of professional personnel assigned to National Park Service sites can sometimes be compared to that of gypsies, resulting in its own unique "professional culture." Many staff members feel compelled to move on every few years in order to obtain a higher grade level and, thus salary. This career pattern is followed at many sites, with the exception of those in Washington, D.C., or some other large cities, where the National Park Service establishment is so large that staff can move from one position to another within one urban area. The size of regional offices and service centers is also large enough to provide staff members with opportunities for advancement at a single location. The turnover of staff at National Park Service sites is a beneficial way in which staff can gain experience "in the field" and then apply the lessons to sites of greater complexity elsewhere. However, the turnover of personnel can also result in a multitude of views that can influence and thus affect the planning and development process. The turnover of staff had this effect at the Taft National Historic Site.

Staffing the Taft National Historic Site began in late 1970 with the preparation of a position description for the park manager. The manager was to work under the supervision of the superintendent of the Mound City Group National Monument. As prepared by Superintendent Schesventer, the position description listed the park manager's responsibilities to include interpretive and visitor services, curatorial, public relations, protection of the property, and administration. [1]

By March 1971, however, Schesventer was transferred to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, Florida. He was replaced by William C. Birdsell who was given the position of General Superintendent of the Ohio Group of the National Park Service, headquartered at the Mound City Group National Monument in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Selecting the first professional staff member of the Taft National Historic Site was a matter that required special consideration. Birdsell was sensitive to the location of the site in an inner city neighborhood populated largely by black residents. Birdsell's selection of the first individual for the park manager position reflected his belief that a black professional would be best able to handle the situation. As he stated several years later in a 1974 synopsis of the site, "As WIHO is located in a predominantly black community, it is important that this staff be well-balanced with black and white employees." [2] Birdsell tapped John T. (Troy) Lissimore, a young black National Park Service employee who previously had worked at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Upon accepting the position, Lissimore oversaw the opening of the house on a limited basis in the summer of 1971 and worked with the historians, archeologists, and architects who visited the site in the course of preparing research reports on the property. In August 1971, Lissimore inaugurated tours of the exterior of the Taft home and organized a temporary exhibit of the Bible on which William Howard Taft took the oath of office as President of the United States. Lissimore was also involved with discussions regarding the designation of Mt. Auburn as a National Register historic district.

By the summer of 1972, Lissimore hired RuthAnne Heriot as an interpretive specialist. Heriot's position was split between the Taft site during the summer months and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in the winter months. Her major responsibility at the Taft site included the organization of interpretive programs for the site, including tours, slide shows, lectures, and other events. She was also charged with acquiring items for furnishing the house. [3] In the summer of 1972, tours of the interior of the house were inaugurated.

Interpretive programs under Lissimore's period as park manager included tours of the house and temporary exhibits. He also oversaw the development of brochures, information sheets, and postcards and the selection of books about William Howard Taft for sale. The first information sheet, "The William Howard Taft National Historic Site," was two pages in length and provided information on the Taft family and the house and grounds after Taft. [4] Lissimore also arranged with the National Park Service Division of Audiovisual Arts to prepare a taped interview with Charles Taft in November 1971.

In the summer of 1972, the solarium, dating from the occupancy of Judge Albert C. Thompson, was open for public visitation from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. seven days a week. The solarium was outfitted as an information booth and exhibit area. Tours were offered of the grounds and the solarium. The small size of the visitors' facilities led Lissimore to remark, "people are not elbowing anyone out of the way to get through the door but it may come to that, considering the size of the solarium." [5] Staff was available to offer programs offsite at schools throughout the Cincinnati area. Lecture series were organized on aspects of local history related to Cincinnati and the nineteenth century.

As the property modestly moved toward the accommodation of visitors, Lissimore and Heriot continued their own studies of the property and historical documents to assist with the interpretive programs and with the eventual restoration of the property. In order to facilitate the research process, the William Howard Taft Memorial Association's collection was moved from storage to the Taft site.

To enhance the appearance and interpretation of the site, Lissimore persuaded the city of Cincinnati to remove a street sign that blocked a clear view of the front of the Taft home. A temporary site identification sign was erected in front of the property, as was an aluminum flag pole.

Although no major development work was undertaken during Lissimore's tenure, several maintenance measures were taken to prevent further deterioration of the historic resource. New roofing and flashing were placed over the solarium. New downspouts were installed and sidewalks were patched. Plastic sheeting was wrapped around the rear wall of the rear wing to ward off the effects of weather. In order to prevent further settling of the rear wing, holding braces or jacks were installed on each floor.

By the end of 1972, the staff at the Taft National Historic Site numbered five. They included Lissimore, Heriot, two park aids, and a clerk- typist. Through the Neighborhood Youth Corps Program, high school students were employed on the site to handle routine maintenance. To supplement the students' services, maintenance staff at Mound City National Monument handled more technical maintenance problems. Pinkerton Security Services provided after-hours security, following the departure of Everett Inman, the caretaker of the house for the Memorial Association. The staff was located in offices on the first floor fashioned out of the rooms in the rear wing.

With the necessary research reports apparently progressing at a fast pace, the Taft home was scheduled for restoration and opening to the public by 1976. [6] However, by July 1972, several impediments to this schedule loomed on the horizon. After a meeting with Senator Robert A. Taft, Jr., Lissimore reported that the Senator thought that the amount authorized to restore the house, $318,000, "seemed inadequate." [7] Charles Taft determined that the delay in development activity was not for the want of an appropriation, but "the only hold up is the assignment of the proper personnel to get the contract let and supervise the work." He wrote to Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton urging that the restoration of the Taft home be given priority as a Bicentennial project. [8]

Much to Taft's dismay, he received a letter from George A. Palmer of the Northeast Regional Office of the National Park Service citing "current fiscal restrictions." Palmer added:

New project (construction) funds are allocated separately within a fiscal year, but can be carried over if the situation warrants. Such funds have not yet been noted for William Howard Taft and unfortunately with this pressure of the Bicentennial program will probably not be available until fiscal year 1976 or 77. [9]

Taft was infuriated. He contacted Senator Taft, stating, "To have this hold up [sic] by the Interior Department is simply outrageous. How about let's organize an attack on the White House and Rogers Morton?" [10]

Park Manager Lissimore, too, was disturbed by the postponement in funding. As he wrote to Superintendent Birdsell, "We inch forward on the calendar, but get kicked back on paper, as far as FY development of this site is concerned. . . . Any FY wins after the Bicentennial." Lissimore also wondered about the public relations fallout of the delay. "This is a hellish paradox to our community relations image, part of which rested on our concern to restore this site as a catalyst for the Mt. Auburn community to upgrade personal properties. The tail is now wagging the dog, so to speak." [11]

Taft was further disheartened to learn that Lissimore was moved to a new assignment effective September 8, 1973, graduate training in environmental education at George Williams College at Downers Grove, Illinois. In a synopsis of the Taft National Historic Site dated March 1974, Birdsell described Lissimore as "inexperienced and incapable of assuming responsibility of on-site management of WIHO." [12] On the other hand, Taft observed Lissimore's energetic work with the community and regretted his departure. "Troy has done a swell job with the community, a most important element in the Park Manager. I hope you get us somebody anything like as good. It would help if he's black." [13]

On November 25, 1973, Lissimore was assigned to Gateway National Recreation Area in the New York City area. [14] In the interim between Lissimore's departure and the arrival of his successor, Administrative Clerk Charlesetta Spurlock served as acting park manager. Spurlock had arrived at the site only a few months earlier.

Before leaving Cincinnati in June 1973, Lissimore hired Samuel H. Witherup as a temporary park aid. Witherup stayed with the Taft National Historic Site until 1984 and was the one element of stability through the next decade. During several gaps in the appointment of superintendents, Witherup served as acting superintendent.

On April 1, 1977, the National Park Service announced the appointment of Fahy C. Whitaker as the new superintendent of the Taft National Historic Site. Whitaker assumed her new position after a three year assignment as historian at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.

During Whitaker's four year assignment as superintendent of the Taft National Historic Site, the core staff level remained at five individuals: the superintendent, the administrative clerk, two park technicians, and a maintenance worker. The staff was supplemented by seasonals, interns, student workers, and other temporary staff. In late 1979, Administrative Clerk Charlesetta Spurlock retired after six years at the site.

Special interpretive programs included participation in the city-wide "Sun Day celebration," a week-long environmental and energy conservation event in 1978. For this event, an interpretive van was parked in Cincinnati's downtown and provided a continuous slide show on solar and alternative energy uses in the National Park Service system. In 1978, the staff participated in the Summer-in-the-Parks program by presenting programs on the Taft site to the public. Offsite school programs continued as did regular tours of the exterior and the first floor of the interior of the house .

During 1977 and 1978, Denver Service Center Historical Architect Anthony Crosby conducted additional architectural investigations of the historic fabric of the Taft home in order to respond to questions raised about the adequacy of documentation available for the master plan revision.

The investigations required the removal of the Memorial Association collection from the house to a Security Storage Company facility. By late 1979, Crosby's draft report had been completed and was in the process of being revised.

Maintenance of the property during Whitaker's years included repairs to the copper roof and to the downspouts to correct leaks in the main section of the house. In 1978, the exterior of the house was painted and the stone foundation repointed. The boiler was replaced and concrete paving around the site repaired. In 1979, the floor joists in room 05 on the ground floor, then used as a tool room and maintenance office, were found to be rotted and were replaced. Also in that year, the visitors' porch was replaced and a storage shed assembled on a slab to shelter lawn equipment.

At the time Whitaker arrived in Cincinnati, the reworking of the master plan had reached a critical point. Contradictory reactions were pouring into the Midwest Regional Office of the National Park Service from other offices within the bureau, reflecting significant objections to the draft plan. The objections reflected major disagreement about whether or not sufficient documentation was available to support recommendations regarding the rooms to be restored and furnished.

A new player in this complex process, Whitaker was unfamiliar with the sequence of events that led to this state of indecision. In 1980, she recommended that rooms be restored or furnished with exhibits based on anticipated traffic patterns through the house rather than on documentary evidence. Her suggestions were not received with enthusiasm by the staff at the Midwest Regional Office who reminded her that the compromise reached on the restoration of four rooms on the first floor was the best that could be achieved.

While the master planning process was reaching a tentative resolution in 1978, Congress was considering new parks legislation that included raising the development ceiling for the Taft National Historic Site from $318,000 to $1,888,000. The legislation also provided for the adjustment of the Taft National Historic Site boundaries to include the 0.79 acre lot at the corner of Southern Avenue and Young Street, which would provide for bus parking, and three other parcels of land on the block. The passage of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 did little for the spirits of Charles Taft, now retired from his law practice and residing in Highland Towers. As he wrote to Congressman Bill Gradison of Ohio, "Of course the Department of Interior has been terrible, with the excuse they had to wait for the bicentennial." [18] It was not until early 1980, however, that Whitaker could assure Charles Taft that "the studies are just about completed, and we should be heading for construction soon." [19]

It was not the near completion of the planning studies that finally compelled the National Park Service to begin major development of the site--it was an act of nature. The earthquake of July 27, 1980, shook the Taft home and caused damage of such proportion that Denver Service Center architects David Scherer and Renzo Riddo voiced the opinion that the park's sole historic resource might collapse. They estimated the cost of emergency stabilization at $100,000. [20]

In March 1981, Whitaker left the Taft National Historic Site to take the position of superintendent of Nez Perce National Historical Park in Idaho. Park Technician Sam Witherup served as acting superintendent until late 1981 when the position was assumed by Mary Maxine Boyd.

Boyd's selection as superintendent was unusual given the career patterns of many National Park Service site personnel. She gained her experience with the National Park Service as one of the community lobbyists in support of the creation of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, D.C. She later served as community relations specialist for two years at the National Capital Parks-East office of the National Park Service in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and as community relations specialist for three years with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California. While assigned to the National Capital Region, she entered an bureau-sponsored training program that prepared selected bureau employees for park superintendencies. She continued her superintendency training at Santa Monica. In all, her professional experience- with the National Park Service prior to arriving at the Taft site totaled five years. Her rapid rise through the system can be ascribed in part to bureau efforts of late 1970s to train and promote women and minority staff members to management positions.

Unlike many bureau employees, Boyd had become friendly with top Department of Interior officials because of her lobbying and community work. She had little patience with the bureaucratic niceties of "going through channels" and did not hesitate to appeal to top officials when her site was in need of funds or attention.

Upon her arrival at the Taft site, Boyd was stunned at the house's advanced state of disrepair and the meager interpretive facilities available for visitors. She was determined to upgrade her site's visibility and hence its support within the National Park Service system. Her single-minded effort drove her to use whatever means were available, whether or not they violated normal organizational procedures.

During Boyd's tenure as superintendent, the development program was accelerated for the period covering the fiscal years 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. The Midwest Regional Office initiated the development schedule, but Boyd was instrumental in increasing the level of annual expenditures. She was also successful in launching the Friends of the William Howard Taft Birthplace, a private support group that replaced the now defunct Memorial Association. During her superintendency, the staff was upgraded to include a GS-9 park historian and a GS-7 administrative technician and expanded to include a GS-5 secretary.

The interpretive programs in 1981 consisted of tours through the first floor of the house, tours of Auburn Avenue, and offsite programs. Uncertainty about development funds in that year led to reduced staffing, a lower priority placed on interpretation, and no new interpretive programs for that year. Tours through the property continued through much of 1982 until construction work made the presence of staff and visitors on the premises hazardous. An exhibit area and visitors center were set up in the Sanning apartment house just north of the house. Construction work during the years of Boyd's superintendency engulfed the attention of the site's staff and provided a vivid display of the restoration process for public viewing.

Although the construction work at the site constituted the major preservation and maintenance efforts of the Boyd years, several other projects contributed to the development of the property. In 1981, the lot at the corner of Southern Avenue and Young Street was graded and landscaped so that the ground was level with the sidewalk. The lot was cleared of extraneous trees and enclosed by a fence of a design thought to be more in keeping with the 1850s period. In the 1983 annual superintendent's report, Boyd reported that the lot at Southern and Young had been improved by pruning, removing and fertilizing trees, and by sidewalk replacement.

Despite the impression of dazzling accomplishment when compared with the level of activity of the preceding decade, Boyd's superintendency was, by her own admission, "turbulent." [21] The development work was carried out with considerable friction with the staffs of the Denver Service Center and the Midwest Regional Office. Boyd engaged in angry correspondence with her superiors, accusing them of thwarting her efforts to accomplish her work. In October and November 1984, Boyd became ill and was away from the office on sick leave. Dean C. Einwalter, management assistant at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, was detailed to serve as acting superintendent. In late April 1985, Boyd retired from federal service. Einwalter was again detailed to the Taft National Historic Site until the appointment of Boyd's successor.

A few months later, in June 1985, a new superintendent for the Taft National Historic Site, Steven A. Kesselman, was appointed. Kesselman earned a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University and had taught at several prestigious colleges and universities before the academic glut encouraged him to accept a position as a historian and curator of the William Floyd Estate at Fire Island National Seashore in New York. The newsletter of the Friends of the William Howard Taft Birthplace praised the appointment and noted that he "was greeted with enthusiasm by the Cincinnati community. Dr. Kesselman has solid credentials both as a historian and as a park manager." [22]