President Taft descendent former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft slams Trump plan to devastate D.C. cherry trees

A plan that threatens some historic Washington, D.C., cherry trees to make way for President Donald Trump’s planned golf course is “very unfortunate,” said the great-grandson of William Howard Taft who received the Japanese trees more than a century ago.

“I don’t understand the idea of a championship golf course near the nation’s capital. There are already world-class golf courses there,” said former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who served from 1999 to 2007. He is the great-grandson of William Howard Taft, the 27th president.

“Now is not the time to devastate cherry trees that have an important role as part of the cultural alliance between the United States and Japan … It’s very concerning.”

Taft, a Republican as is Trump, is an avid outdoorsman and golfer. He said chopping down cherry trees is an afront to his family heritage and a threat to the beauty of Washington as an international tourist attraction.

“They are a United States institution,” Taft said. “People from all over the world come to the Cherry Blossom Festival.”

Cherry trees were given by the Japanese to former President Taft and his wife, Nellie, who had ambitions to beautify the nation’s capital. She admired the flowering trees when her husband was the presidentially appointed Governor General of the Philippines.

Some of those historic trees plus others could be removed to make way for Trump’s plan to turn the public East Potomac Golf Links into a “championship” venue capable of hosting major tournaments such as the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup.

The plan would also eliminate a riverside bike trail and other public recreation areas. Trump toured the course June 28 with government officials and golf course planners. The project could begin as early as Sept. 1.

The Ohio connection to the threatened Japanese cherry trees goes back to 1912-1913 when 3,020 saplings from the banks of the Arakawa River in a Tokyo suburb were planted along the Tidal basin.

“Without President and Nellie Taft, the trees wouldn’t be there,” the former governor said. “They make Washington a more beautiful setting.”

Bob Taft had an emotional ceremony in 2000 in Japan during his first foreign trade trip as governor. He joined Yukika Sohma, daughter of former Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki, to plant Ohio dogwood trees in a Tokyo park across from the building housing Japan’s legislative assembly.

“Times change, but the flowers will keep on,” Sohma said at the time in a story published in the Columbus Dispatch.