While I certainly would not agree with Taft, I wouldn't put him on the "Top-10" racist list. Here, he was walking a fine line between acknowledging the struggles of the Negro while not alienating the Southern White vote. He performed a similar tightrope act in the same speech, regarding Asians. Referring to the explicitly-racist immigration laws of the time (some of which he played a role in negotiating), he said "I sincerely hope that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between self-respecting governments." And then, referring to the anti-Asian riots of the time, added: "Meantime we must take every precaution to prevent, or failing that, to punish outbursts of race feeling of among our people against foreigners of whatever nationality who have by our grant a treaty right to pursue lawful business here and to be protected against lawless assault and injury."

It is easy to condemn dead presidents for their political double-talk. What is hard is to stand up against the tide of the mob. Those who did so, at their own real peril, are my heroes. Would we have that same courage?

https://medium.com/cultivate/an-anti-racist-hero-is-something-to-be-8e522f05276