William Howard Taft was the first President to speak at a Synagogue

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I appreciate Republican respect for the free exercise of religion. May 29th 1909, William Howard Taft became the first president to address a Jewish congregation. He spoke at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh.

Taft noted that the synagogue leader was a friend of Theodore Roosevelt:

"I esteem it a great privilege to appear before this intelligent and patriotic audience — at the instance of your leader, your Rabbi, who was a warm friend of my predecessor, and who, I am glad to think, has transferred his friendship for the time to me.

"I am not altogether out of place in a Jewish tabernacle, for the church that I attended in Cincinnati, in my boyhood and young manhood, was immediately next to the Jewish tabernacle of the Reverend Dr. Wise; and there were times in the history of both churches when there was an exchange between the pulpits. I am glad to be here this morning — this beautiful morning and in this beautiful church — to show if possible by my presence how this is a Government of all the people, and how the Constitutional provision that there shall be no religious requirement or qualification for office or citizenship in this country is evidenced by the presence of the President of the United States in a Jewish tabernacle, where he feels himself as much at home and with as much support as he does in any other church in the country.

"The prayer to which we just listened, full of that liberality and love of humankind, makes one feel ashamed of all narrowness and bigotry in religion, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to say, as I do from the bottom of my heart, that never in the history of the country, in any crisis and under any conditions, have our Jewish fellow citizens failed to live up to the highest standard of citizenship and patriotism.

"I thank your Rabbi, and I thank you, for the opportunity to appear before you and say this much. I am not a preacher. I am not in the habit of appearing in pulpits. It was not until I returned from the Philippines that I appeared once in a Presbyterian pulpit, once in an Episcopalian pulpit, once in a Unitarian pulpit, and now before a Jewish audience in the pulpit of a Jewish tabernacle. That makes a round, I think, that justifies my saying that I hope to be the President of all the people, and to have your support, as you have given it to my predecessors, without stint and with every desire to make this a great country and a great Government."

Taft made his last public appearance as president at Temple Beth-El in New York City, to honor B’nai Brith on its 70th anniversary.

Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com. 

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Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.

Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

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