William Howard Taft
1909 White Motor Company Model M steam touring car
Photo details
The Commons file is a disclosed 2018 lossless crop of the Bain/Library of Congress negative. Joyride preserves that 4,426 × 2,393 JPEG byte-for-byte at research/celebrities/original-media/taft-white-model-m-1909-original.jpg (6,394,872 bytes; SHA-256 975668f22ad6badcbdea925d1b0ef53992b3942c616452ebce7a46d977622ec6). The served 1,600 × 865 copy is auto-oriented, proportionally reduced, metadata-stripped and JPEG-compressed at quality 90 with 4:4:4 sampling; no additional crop, retouching, generation or vehicle reconstruction was applied.
Photo details
Joyride preserves the 2,737 × 4,096 Commons JPEG byte-for-byte at research/celebrities/original-media/william-howard-taft-portrait-original.jpg (1,317,259 bytes; SHA-256 0a596d611c99c291455ad3e3e16cb34fad8c26f55f2aa2d6a9223877bee0fa11). The served 1,069 × 1,600 copy is auto-oriented, proportionally reduced, metadata-stripped and JPEG-compressed at quality 90 with 4:4:4 sampling. No crop, retouching, generated content or identity reconstruction was applied.
The steamer that moved the White House into the motor age
- Connection
- Official presidential fleet association · not personal ownership
- When
- First White House motor fleet · March 1909
- Identity
- March 1909 White House Model M · seven-passenger, 40-horsepower steam touring car · individual car photographed on White House grounds · chassis and serial not established
The White House Historical Association records that Congress appropriated $12,000 in 1909 for the first two White House motor cars. White Motor Company, then a branch of Cleveland’s White Sewing Machine Company, supplied a Model M for the chief of state: a seven-passenger, 40-horsepower steam touring car. This was part of an official fleet, not evidence that Taft held personal title.
A March 1909 Bain News Service negative from the Library of Congress shows the individual White Model M on White House grounds. The photograph’s Commons record identifies the car by make, model, power and seating, while the White House history independently describes the Model M and says chauffeur George Robinson drove the huge steam car. The man at the wheel in this image is not conclusively identified, so Joyride does not label him as either Robinson or Taft.
Taft’s support mattered beyond one vehicle. He attended the Washington auto show in 1910 and praised the industry’s progress; the White House history says his endorsement of motorized presidential transport accelerated public acceptance of automobiles and the good-roads movement. That public association does not establish personal ownership, a chassis number, survival of the car, its present location or its current condition.
Where the car went next
- 1909Congress funds a White House fleet
Congress appropriated $12,000 for the first two White House motor cars, replacing an exclusively horse-drawn presidential transport system.
- March 1909The Model M is photographed
A Bain News Service negative records the individual seven-passenger White steamer on White House grounds.
- 1909White supplies the chief-of-state car
The White Motor Company provided the 40-horsepower Model M for official presidential transport, with the United States coat of arms on its doors.
- 1910Taft attends an auto show
At the Washington auto show, Taft publicly praised the industry’s rapid mechanical progress.
- 1913A White House signal opens the show
Near the end of his term, Taft pressed a White House button that illuminated the Washington automobile show.
Sources for this story
The White House Historical Association establishes the congressional appropriation, official-fleet context, Model M manufacturer, seven-passenger capacity, 40-horsepower steam specification, George Robinson’s chauffeur role and Taft’s public automotive advocacy. The Bain/Library of Congress photograph establishes the individual car and March 1909 setting. Commons also repeats an unsupported personal-purchase statement that conflicts with the primary White House history; Joyride does not adopt it. No personal ownership, photographed-driver identity, chassis or serial, survival, present location, current condition, complete fleet history, exact catalog equivalent or game-compatible specification is claimed.
- Motor Cars Come to the White HouseWhite House Historical Association · Fall 2010 · reviewed 2026-10-11 · external source
The 1909 congressional appropriation, first White House motor fleet, official White Model M, seven-passenger and 40-horsepower specification, White/White Sewing Machine Company identity, George Robinson’s chauffeur role and Taft’s auto-show and road-improvement advocacy.
- William Howard Taft’s White Motor carLibrary of Congress via Wikimedia Commons · March 1909 photograph · reviewed 2026-10-11 · external source
The individual White Model M photographed on White House grounds in March 1909, Bain collection identity, glass-negative medium and no-known-restrictions rights status.
Reviewed
Why this is the actual car
- Photo identity evidence
The Bain/Library of Congress record identifies the photographed vehicle as the White Motor Company Model M, dates the negative to March 1909 and places it on White House grounds.
- Photo identity evidence
The White House Historical Association independently identifies the Model M outside the White House garage and records its official fleet role, seven-passenger capacity and 40-horsepower steam specification.
The matching photographer, venue, date and vehicle history establish the identification; the chassis stamp is not visible in these photographs.