uspresident

Major Butt has an interesting history. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Butt

I wonder who they cut out of the image, top left?...

Taft Family en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft_family Here is article about their mother: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Taft it identifies his only sister as being: Frances Louise "Fanny" Taft (Edwards), (1866-1950). She married San Diego surgeon William A. Edwards . She lived to be 84 and here is her obit: select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0B1EFC3D59157B93... Dr. Edwards' obit is below, unfortunately it says that he left behind just his widow, so these two lovely children pre-deceased their parents. select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0A13F63C5516738D...

"Fanny"? Butt? I sense a trend here.

If I had to guess, I'd say it was actually Butt's sister, by the wording.

It is this image as same as the stature in Memorial Hall, which looks more strict without smile in comapring another photo picture that look much kinder with smile. However... The formality is an element of being a President of United States in consideration of image exhibition in public place.

That stern-looking presidential face, etched in our memories FOREVER. Well done, Father Abraham....enter into the kingdom!

Love the grungy edges :)

Guys, a lot of the photography techniques back then could take several minutes, hence the reason people did not smile much in photos back then as they had to hold the pose for a few minutes. wet collodion was used for this photo. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collodion

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NYTimes has good article on its website dated 7/29/08 talking about how Taft is notified in Cincinnati of his nomination for President by the Republican Party. Notification Day was made a holiday in Cincinnati. The Notification Committee was led by Sen William Warner of MO. The Committee was escorted from the Hotel Sinton to the Taft residence by 600 veterans of the Civil War. The Committee was comprised of Republican representatives of ALL of the states and the territories. The Taft residence was designed by Benjamin Latrobe, first architect of Washington D.C., and purchased by Taft's father-in-law. The Republican Convention was held in Chicago.

Great stuff! Taft is Notified -- Here's a link to that New York Times article, which is available as a PDF file.

But the above photo was taken at the White House in Washington, D. C., in June, 1912, when Taft was the incumbent President. This was his second experience of the notification ritual. The committee had traveled from the Republican National Convention in Chicago {yes, Chicago again} where Taft had been nominated for a second term. In the era before a candidate attended the convention in person, this was his ceremonial acceptance. But of course, Taft went down to defeat in November. Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate, was victorious, and Theodore Roosevelt, leader of the Bull Moose Party, came in second. In the Bain Company files at LOC is a photo of Taft's 1908 notification, in Cincinnati (his home town) -- but LOC has not yet posted that photo on Flickr.

I believe the man to the right of Taft (Taft's left) is Luther A. Brewer of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

It does appear to be Brewer--thanks for identifying him! We'll add to the description when we update.