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Cloud
Computing
with AWS
Everything You Need to Know to be
an AWS Cloud Practitioner
—
Pravin Mishra
Cloud Computing
with AWS
Everything You Need to Know
to be an AWS Cloud
Practitioner
Pravin Mishra
Cloud Computing with AWS: Everything You Need to Know to be an AWS
Cloud Practitioner
Pravin Mishra
Espoo, Finland
v
Table of Contents
High Availability���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24
Fault Tolerance����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25
The Benefits of Cloud Computing������������������������������������������������������������������������25
Trade Fixed Expenses for Variable Expenses�������������������������������������������������26
Benefit from Massive Economies of Scale����������������������������������������������������26
Stop Guessing at Capacity�����������������������������������������������������������������������������27
Increased Speed and Agility��������������������������������������������������������������������������28
Don’t Spend Money on Running and Maintaining Data Centers��������������������28
Go Global in Minutes��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29
The Different Cloud Providers�����������������������������������������������������������������������������30
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33
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Table of Contents
vii
Table of Contents
Rotate����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������106
Root User�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������106
AWS Core Services��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������106
Storage Services�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������107
Compute Services���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������107
Database Services���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������107
Networking Services�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������107
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������107
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Table of Contents
Key Pairs������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������153
Security Groups�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������154
EC2 Tags������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������154
EC2 Instance Naming Conventions�������������������������������������������������������������������155
An AWS EC2 Instance Family�����������������������������������������������������������������������156
An AWS EC2 Instance Generation����������������������������������������������������������������157
AWS EC2 Additional Capability��������������������������������������������������������������������158
AWS EC2 Instance Size��������������������������������������������������������������������������������159
Instance Types��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������161
General-Purpose Instances�������������������������������������������������������������������������162
Compute-Optimized Instances��������������������������������������������������������������������163
Memory-Optimized Instances���������������������������������������������������������������������163
Storage-Optimized Instances����������������������������������������������������������������������164
Amazon EC2 Purchase Types����������������������������������������������������������������������������165
On-Demand Instances���������������������������������������������������������������������������������166
Reserved Instances�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������167
Spot Instance Type��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������170
The Savings Plan�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������171
Dedicated Hosts������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������173
Create an EC2 Instance�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������174
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������180
x
Table of Contents
Chapter 8: Databases�����������������������������������������������������������������������215
Data Types���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
Structured Data�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
Unstructured Data���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������217
Semi-Structured Data����������������������������������������������������������������������������������218
Relational Databases����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������219
NoSQL Databases����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������223
On-Premise vs Cloud Database Hosting�����������������������������������������������������������226
xi
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xii
Table of Contents
RAM�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������265
Integration���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������266
Lambda Functions���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������267
Introduction to Amazon ElastiCache and DynamoDB����������������������������������������268
Amazon ElastiCache������������������������������������������������������������������������������������268
How ElastiCache Works�������������������������������������������������������������������������������269
ElastiCache Use Cases��������������������������������������������������������������������������������269
Amazon Redshift�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������270
Amazon CloudFront�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������271
Data Transfer with AWS Snowball���������������������������������������������������������������������273
Snowball versus Snowball Edge Devices����������������������������������������������������273
AWS Storage Gateway��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������274
Storage Gateway Use Cases������������������������������������������������������������������������275
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������276
xiii
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xiv
Table of Contents
Consolidated Billing������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������305
One Bill��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������306
Easy Tracking�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������306
Combined Usage�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������306
No Extra Fees����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������306
AWS Cost Management Tool�����������������������������������������������������������������������������307
The Billing and Cost Management Console�������������������������������������������������307
AWS Resource and Cost Allocation Tags�����������������������������������������������������307
Consolidated Billing�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������308
AWS Cost Explorer���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������308
AWS Budget�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������308
Automated Billing����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������308
AWS Pricing Calculator�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������309
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������310
Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������313
xv
About the Author
Pravin Mishra has more than twelve years of
experience in IT and eight years as a course
trainer. He specializes in designing and
implementing multi-cloud based solutions.
As an AWS trainer, Pravin helps students and
IT professionals switch careers in AWS Cloud.
With a strong belief in “learning by doing,”
he helps his students grow their cloud-based
skills and realize their full potential, from basic
concepts and methodologies to getting ready
to pursue AWS certification.
Since 2009 he has worked with IT companies like Nordcloud (an IBM
company), Eficode, Ericsson, Verizon, and ShepHertz Technologies,
helping them build robust cloud IT infrastructures.
xvii
About the Technical Reviewers
Florian Rommel is an experienced IT veteran with over 3 decades in
professional IT. He has been cloud native for over 9 years and is an expert
in cloud infrastructure and cloud technologies. Florian holds multiple
AWS certifications and has built and managed extremely large and
complex environments with critical application services spanning multiple
regions. Florian was also the principle co-architect for the development
and deployment of the largest Cloud environment in Europe at the time.
xix
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to
Cloud Computing
Before you dive into Amazon Web Services, you need a solid foundation of
cloud computing. That’s the point of this chapter. Without further delay,
let’s get started.
This chapter covers the following topics:
• What is cloud computing?
2
Chapter 1 Introduction to Cloud Computing
I am assuming that you are a beginner and these terms may be new to
you. But don’t worry; I am going to explain them shortly.
Let’s first look at what on-demand delivery is. On-demand means you
get it only when you need it.
You can understand this idea with the help of an example. Suppose
you are a “foodie” (see Figure 1-2), so you love cooking and trying
new recipes. Imagine how great it would be to get the exact amount of
ingredients every time you try a new recipe, so that you get the best taste
and don’t end up wasting any ingredients.
3
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
When Mr. Taft got back to Washington he found the following
letter from Mr. Root, which completes the triangle of this mutual
admiration society of the Three Musketeers:
Dear Porthos:
I have been disappointed that your most important and admirable speech in
Idaho has not been more freely published and commented on in the East. I have
just suggested to the Editor of The Outlook that he ought to print it in extenso and
call attention to it. He will apply to you directly for it and I hope you will let him
have it.
I am going to start Saturday afternoon to be away for a week, and if you see any
gaping lids about my Department in the meantime, please sit on them gently.
Faithfully yours,
Elihu Root.
“Sitting on the lid” was not in any sense the stationary and
reposeful performance the expression seems to suggest. Before Mr.
Taft returned to Washington from a tour of inspection of brigade
posts, which followed immediately upon his trip to Idaho, Mr.
Roosevelt had gone to Panama, leaving behind him various
questions, including the one which resulted from the discharge
without honour of the three companies of coloured troops at
Brownsville, Texas, for the Secretary of War to keep within bounds
until his return. Then there were many matters of a purely executive
nature which, as long as they did not require the signature of the
President himself, Mr. Taft was authorised and expected to dispose
of. And with the Secretary of State also absent, his office became
government headquarters, practically, where foreign Ambassadors,
Senators and officials of other Departments had to take their chances
of an interview along with visitors or representatives from the
Philippines, Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, Alaska and the Canal Zone,
and with Army officers and War Department clerks.
I finally gave up all idea of ever getting him home to luncheon, but
we nearly always had a dinner engagement, so along about the hour
when I knew he would have just time to rush home and dress I would
call him on the telephone. And then, if I were fortunate enough to get
him without a disgraceful delay, he almost invariably came in,
followed by an extra private secretary bearing a large portfolio of
papers to be disposed of before such hour as he chose to consider
bedtime.
The winter of 1906–7 was too busy to remember as anything
except a sort of hazy nightmare lightened in spots by contemplation
of the delightful possibilities contained in a rapidly growing
Presidential “boom,” but it came to an end, and early in the summer
I gathered up my family and a few necessary belongings and went to
Murray Bay. We were to leave some time in August for the
Philippines and the trip around the world via the Trans-Siberian
Railway, and I wanted very much to have my husband get away for a
few weeks of absolute detachment from public affairs, feeling sure
that it would be his last opportunity for rest and relaxation for many
a day. But no man can be a candidate for President of the United
States and indulge at the same time in even a short period of
complete tranquillity.
Before Mr. Taft joined me he, in deference to the wishes of the
men who were conducting his “boom,” made another speech-making
trip through the West on the method so aptly described as
“whirlwind,” and did not arrive in Murray Bay until the first week in
July.
It just occurs to me that I have covered all these different periods
of our lives without even mentioning Murray Bay, although a large
part of the Taft family has been spending the summers there for
twenty years or more. We went there before the place became in any
sense “fashionable,” when the only kind of hotel accommodation was
in quaint old inns of the real French-Canadian type in which no
English was spoken, but where service of such delightfully simple
and satisfactory quality as can no longer be obtained was smilingly
offered at rates which would now be considered absurdly low. After
our first year in 1892 we always had a cottage,—and on going to
Murray Bay we prepared to enjoy ourselves in the luxury of complete
simplicity.
The cottage which we have occupied for a number of years is
perched on a rocky headland overlooking the sixteen miles wide
stretch of the St. Lawrence river and almost entirely hidden in a
dense grove of fragrant pine trees. It is roomy and comfortable, but
simple as a camp in the woods, being finished in unpainted pine and
furnished with only such things as may be locked up and left year in
and year out. There is nothing to tempt any possible robber, the only
distinctive things in the house being some Philippine curios, wall
decorations and floor mats, called “petates,” which we have brought
with us at different times from Manila.
Mr. Taft stayed at Murray Bay about five weeks, but during that
time our cottage in the woods was the United States War Department
and headquarters of a very probable Presidential candidate. Then,
too, Mr. Taft was beset with the nagging necessity for preparing
speeches which were really to launch his campaign for the
nomination before he left for the trip around the world. The
campaign in Ohio became centred and active during the summer,
with Mr. Taft far in the lead among possible candidates, and all over
the country organisations were forming which demanded whole-
hearted and unremitting attention.
The busy man wrote to Mr. Roosevelt: “I am enjoying my
vacation,” but his vacation consisted in a release from constant social
formalities and a daily round of golf on the links of the Murray Bay
Club which he liked so much and over which he had played for so
many years,—nothing more.
Early in August he left for Washington with the understanding that
I should complete arrangements, and taking Charlie with me, should
meet him at the entrance of Yellowstone Park at the end of the
month. In the meantime he had one more long speech-making trip to
begin at Columbus on the 19th of August and to take him through
Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and to Denver.
His mother, to whom the whole family was strongly devoted, was
at this time very ill. It did not seem possible that she could be with us
for long, and all of her sons wished sincerely to be able to remain
near her. One of them, Horace, was able to do so, but when my
husband declared to her his desire to give up the trip to the
Philippines and stay in the United States until she recovered she said
to him:
“No Taft, to my knowledge, has ever yet neglected a public duty for
the sake of gratifying a private desire. You promised the Filipinos
that you would be present at the opening of their first Assembly, and
if you should break that promise and neglect your plain duty on my
account, it would give me no pleasure.”
This was the last serious thing she ever said to him, and it gave
him great comfort throughout the long trip as the reports of her
failing strength came to him. He never saw her again.
With my son Charlie, who was then nearly ten years old, I met my
husband and his party at Livingston Junction, on the Northern
Pacific Railroad in Montana, and we proceeded together to Gardiner
at the entrance to Yellowstone Park. There we were met by General
Young, the Superintendent of the Park, and Colonel Henry T. Allen,
and by the head of the Park transportation company and began at
once a wonderful three days’ trip, which included, among other
things, the business of inspecting the Army post with the purpose of
making recommendations for changes in the Park patrolling system.
As our time was very short we had to drive about fifty miles every
day, which meant hurrying on at top speed, with relays of Army
mules, and not much more than a how-d’ye-do and good-bye at every
place we stopped. In consequence we completely lost track of the
days of the week and made what I then thought would prove to be a
fatal error.
We got back to the Mammoth Springs Hotel one evening and
found the place quite gay with crowds of tourists. There being
nothing else to do, I suggested that after dinner we play bridge in the
lobby where all the people were and where everything seemed so
lively and entertaining. We did. Mr. Taft and I, General Clarence
Edwards and another member of our party sat there and played until
quite late, enjoying ourselves immensely. Everybody looked at us,
and I noticed a few persons taking special pains to pass close enough
for a really satisfactory inspection, but we were used to being gazed
at and paid no attention to it. It was not until the next morning that
every look that was cast upon us assumed for me a special meaning.
The next morning was Monday!
Under any circumstances it would have shocked us somewhat to
find that through forgetfulness we had played bridge during a whole
Sunday evening, but with Mr. Taft generally recognised as a probable
candidate for President, our shock was merged into serious concern
with regard to the effect the story might have on the millions of good
Sabbatarians throughout the country. And there was no possible
explanation that we could make. Playing cards was bad enough, but
to have forgotten Sunday altogether was a great deal worse, so we
were perfectly helpless. Up to the day Mr. Taft was elected I looked
for the story to rise up and smite us. I had visions of glaring
headlines: “Taft Plays Cards on the Sabbath Day.” Having been
brought up on strictly Sabbatarian principles myself, I knew what
good use could be made of the incident in the hands of our political
enemies. But we never heard a word from it, and I have a warm
regard for all those good people who failed to avail themselves of
such an opportunity for a bit of valuable gossip. Or had they all
forgotten it was Sunday, too?
On the way from Yellowstone Park to Seattle I had a taste of real
campaign work and always thereafter enjoyed a full realisation of its
difficulties. I got completely worn out as a mere onlooker, and as I
saw Mr. Taft encountering the throngs at every stopping place,
speaking until his voice was reduced to a hoarse whisper, and
shaking hands until he groaned with the ache of his muscles, my
political enthusiasm waned slightly, though temporarily, and I could
think of nothing to be more thankful for at the moment than the fact
that we were about to set out on a two weeks’ ocean voyage,
beginning a three months’ trip around the world.
(FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) MRS. JAIME DE VEYRA, MRS. TAFT,
GOVERNOR SMITH, MRS. SMITH, MR. TAFT, MR. SERGIO
OSMEÑA, SPEAKER OF THE PHILIPPINE ASSEMBLY, AND
MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY IN THE AYUNTAMIENTO,
MANILA
CHAPTER XV
A HURRIED TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
I have not the space to give a detailed account of this trip around
the world. After a pleasant voyage on the steamship Minnesota we
were given in Japan the same warm welcome that we had always had
there, and Mr. Taft and I were entertained at the Shiba Detached
Palace, one of the Imperial residences. We lunched with the Emperor
and also with Prince Fushimi, and we met the admirals and the
generals who had won such distinction in the Russo-Japanese War.
These included Admiral Togo and Field Marshal Prince Oyama. It
was explained to Mr. Taft by the Court Chamberlain that we were
regarded as personal guests of the Emperor. Marquis Saionji was
then Premier, but Prince Katsura, whom he had succeeded and who
was our old friend, was still powerful in the councils. Mr. Taft held a
number of interesting and useful interviews with these statesmen of
Japan, and also with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Hayashi,
and with Marquis Terauchi, the Minister of War, who has now
become Governor of Korea. He was able, from what they told him, to
understand the attitude of Japan toward the United States, and to
feel confident of her wish to remain in bonds of amity with us. At a
dinner in Tokyo, given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Taft
made a speech in which he pointed out the absurdity of a war
between Japan and the United States, and showed how the true
interests of both nations required a strengthening of the bonds of
friendship between them. This speech attracted much attention
throughout the Orient and was cabled back to the United States as an
expression of the Administration on the subject. The Japanese
residents of Yokohama presented to Mr. Taft and me on this visit a
very handsome silver tea set.
Our course took us by way of Shanghai and we stopped there for
just one busy day. In the morning Mr. Taft dedicated a Young Men’s
Christian Association building which had just been constructed and
to the cost of which a number of Chinese Mandarins, though not
Christians, had made substantial contribution. The afternoon was
devoted to shopping and to a most elaborate and picturesque
reception and tea which was given for us by the Chinese guilds of the
city. At this tea I was presented with a very curious and interesting
bowl of Chinese silver which is among my most valued possessions.
In the evening a great banquet was given by the leading citizens of
Shanghai at the Astor Hotel, where provision was made for the ladies
to hear the speaking from a platform erected at one end of the room.
Mr. Taft made a speech on the subject of the relations of the United
States to the development of China, which was long remembered as a
succinct and forcible presentation of the policy of the United States
toward that country, then in an interesting stage of its awakening
from a long lethargy.
In Manila, at the formal opening of the first Assembly, Mr. Taft
laid down the purposes of the Administration in the passage of the
Philippine Act, plainly saying to the Philippine people that
independence was not near at hand, and that it could only come after
a period of earnest effort on their part to fit themselves for complete
self-government. His candour and frankness did not please many of
the Assembly, but his view has always been that the only way in
which to deal with the Filipino people is to tell them the exact truth,
unpalatable though it may be, and to fulfil promises with the greatest
care. Filipinos may be very lax in discharging the full measure of
their own assurances, but the way to maintain influence over them is
to pursue a policy of clear and candid statement, full performance
and exact justice. They are prone to accept every declaration in the
same sense in which they would like to construe it, and the utmost
care must be taken to prevent their being misled. Demagoguery with
them is likely to be most pernicious in its ultimate results.
During this visit we were the guests of Governor-General Smith at
Malacañan Palace and I experienced a pleasant renewal of old
impressions and sensations. Mr. W. Cameron Forbes, who succeeded
Governor Smith, was then Secretary of Commerce and Police and, in
this capacity, was in charge of Public Works. He had built for himself
at Baguio a fine country residence which he called “Topside,” a name
which fits it exactly, since it stands, literally, at the “topside” of the
island of Luzon, at an elevation of more than five thousand feet, and
overlooks the broadest and most colourful stretch of mountain
scenery imaginable. We visited Mr. Forbes at “Topside” and were
able to see for the first time the splendid achievements in the
development of the summer capital which I anticipated in Chapter
IX. Mr. Taft assured an enthusiastic enquirer that he was not
surprised at the magnificence of the Benguet Road because he had
authorised the expenditure of a sufficient amount to produce
something unusual, and that he would, indeed, have been surprised
if it hadn’t been done. But he had to confess to a little surprise at the
improvement of the town of Baguio. The difference was so great that
it was almost impossible to recognise the place as the site of the
ragged little Igorrote village where I had spent such pleasant and
“uncivilised” days just before my husband’s inauguration as the first
governor of the Philippines.
It would be useless for me to attempt to detail the thousand and
one events of this visit to Manila. Upon our arrival we were handed a
printed schedule of dinners, luncheons, teas, receptions, balls,
meetings, celebrations, trips of inspection, and business conferences
which we had to do our best to carry out. Fortunately provision was
made for a few hours of rest which could be used for other things
when we got behind with the programme.
On a day in November, when blue Manila Bay lay sparkling in the
sun, we set sail for Vladivostok on the U. S. S. Rainbow, flying the
flag of Admiral Hemphill, and convoyed by two other naval vessels.
The most amusing incident of this trip, which was quite a
tempestuous one, was the gradual freezing up of our Filipino
orchestra. They left Manila clad in natty white uniforms, responding
with enthusiasm to the strains of the many bands on shore and on
the fleet of harbor launches which accompanied us down the bay.
They played for us at dinner that night and gave a concert on deck
the next day, but then began the rapid descent of the mercury in the
thermometers and the consequent undoing of our tropical musicians.
They first changed into heavy blue uniforms and tried their best to
look comfortable. Then they put on their overcoats and kept them
on. Finally they deserted the deck altogether and their rather
disconnected strains came up to us through a partly open hatch just
over the engine room. When we reached the forbidding harbour of
Vladivostok, where the temperature stood below zero, the poor
bugler was so thoroughly cold that he couldn’t adjust his lips to his
bugle to pipe distinguished visitors aboard. Our party on this trip
around the world was small, including only my son Charlie, Mr.
Taft’s secretary, Mr. Fred C. Carpenter, General Clarence R.
Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Egan and two other newspaper
correspondents.
Shortly before we reached Vladivostok there had been a mutiny on
one of the torpedo boats in the harbour, and a woman anarchist had
induced the crew to take the boat out into the stream and raise the
red flag. This outbreak was suppressed with a heavy hand, and a
number of those suspected of complicity in the plot were arrested. As
the Governor had power of life and death over them it was assumed
that the extreme penalty was visited on some of them at least, but no
publicity was given to the proceedings. The effect of the tragedy upon
our arrival, however, was marked. The town was in a most unquiet
state and there were vague rumours of danger to be met on every
hand. We were not permitted to go ashore without a heavy guard of
bristling Cossacks, and everywhere we went we were under the
closest and most careful protection. It was most exciting, though in
the midst of the cordial hospitality of our Russian hosts we could not
feel that there was the slightest cause for apprehension. As soon as
we dropped anchor in the harbour we were welcomed to Vladivostok
by the Governor and General Commanding. He assigned Prince
Bariatinski, Colonel of a regiment stationed at Vladivostok, to act as
Mr. Taft’s aide during our stay, and from Saturday until Tuesday he
and the Princess, both of whom spoke English, were with us
constantly, adding much to our enjoyment. Our visit concluded with
a dinner and ball given by the Governor, and the next morning we
bade good-bye to the Rainbow and Admiral Hemphill and made our
way, surrounded by Cossack guards, to the railway station where the
train waited to start on its twelve days’ trip across Siberia. The
government provided us with a large private car of the armoured
variety which contained a number of compartments that were fully
as spacious and comfortable as an average steamship cabin and we
settled ourselves in them quite as we would have done on a trans-
Pacific liner.
The trip across Siberia is exceedingly interesting. One anticipates
endless monotony, but only the landscape lacks variety. For days
together the train runs along through a country which looks exactly
like South Dakota or Nebraska and which is interesting only in its
wonderful possibilities. It is one of the world’s open spaces,
undeveloped but capable of producing anything. I had always
imagined Siberia as a country filled with sadness and I expected it to
depress me, but it arouses no such feeling. We met trainload after
trainload of happy Russian colonists on their way to the new
settlements, and at all the well built stations along the way we saw a
great number of sturdy peasant farmers and their families who
looked thoroughly comfortable and contented. We whiled away the
hours with bridge and books, and, though the train never made more
than two or three stops a day, the time passed quickly. Throughout
the journey our car was guarded by stalwart Russian soldiers in most
picturesque uniforms, stationed on both platforms, and each time
the train stopped this guard was changed with considerable
ceremony. Also at every station near an army post Mr. Taft was
greeted by the Commander of the District with strict military form,
all of which added colour and interest to the journey.
Mr. Willard D. Straight, then United States Consul at Mukden, met
us at Vladivostok with plans for our reception at Mukden. When we
arrived there we were welcomed by a company of Chinese soldiers
dressed in the old Mongolian custom, and by a squadron of Cossacks.
We were hurried in a carriage behind two fast trotting Orloff horses
to a hotel where all the consuls assembled greeted us with cakes,
champagne and very short speeches. There was considerable
excitement among the consuls with regard to the toasts to be drunk
and the order of precedence in which the rulers of the different
countries were to be named, but Mr. Straight was diplomatic enough
to mention every proper name in right order and the result was a
round of congratulation and merriment. In the meantime the
leisurely and accommodating train was waiting, so we hurried back
to the station at the terrific pace usual to the Russian with his
beautiful horses. No people not inherently fine could ever produce
the kind of horses one sees in Russia. And the Russians love them. I
can think of nothing more pleasing than the picture of a great,
shaggy, gruff-voiced Russian coachman on the box of his carriage or
droshky, gently urging his well-kept horse on to his best speed in
terms of endearment. “On, Little Brother!” says he.
At Moscow we were right royally entertained by the Governor-
General of the city who did everything possible to make our visit
memorable. We arrived late Saturday night and on Sunday the
Kremlin was opened for our especial benefit and we were given full
opportunity to see every part of that ancient and interesting home of
Russian autocracy with all its collections of priceless treasures. A
hurried round of entertainments, which included a special ballet
performance at the Opera, ended with a dinner given by the
Governor-General, and we left on the midnight train for St.
Petersburg. We had not been there more than an hour or so the next
morning when we received a telegram announcing that a woman
Nihilist had thrown a bomb at the Governor’s sleigh which had
exploded under the horses, killing them and the coachman and
throwing the Governor and his aide backward into the snow
unharmed. As these gentlemen had both been very kind to us it
brought home in a startling way the danger that attends high
position in Russia.
In St. Petersburg we dined with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M.
Iswolski and Madame Iswolski, and with them received the
Diplomatic Corps. Mr. Taft and General Edwards had an audience
with the Czar and attended the annual Saint’s day celebration of a
famous regiment numbering about 3,200, no man of which measures
less than six feet two. They were also present at a luncheon which the
Czar gave to the officers of this regiment at the Czar-KoeSelo Palace.
In the Czar’s suite there were two or three gentlemen who
remembered Mr. Taft’s father as Minister to Russia, so he very
greatly enjoyed the experience of meeting them.
Our visit was a hurried one, and after a stay of three days we left
for Berlin. Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Root were not disposed to have Mr.
Taft visit any of the courts of Europe except at St. Petersburg and
that only for the purpose of conveying his grateful acknowledgment
of the courtesies shown us in our long trip across Siberia. Nor in the
state of his mother’s health, which we knew to be precarious, was he
disposed to accept the invitations which he received from the
German Emperor, the King of Belgium, the President of France and
others, to visit their countries and become their guest. At Berlin we
had just time to dine with the American Ambassador and Mrs.
Tower, and to meet a few American friends whom they had invited
in, then Mr. Taft and the other members of the party went to
Hamburg to take the Steamship General Grant at that port, while I,
with Mrs. Post Wheeler, rushed down to Paris to do a few hours’
shopping, planning to join the Grant at Boulogne the next evening.
In the meantime a terrible storm began to rage along the coast, and
when we reached Boulogne there was some question about our being
able to get to the Grant which lay at anchor just outside the
breakwater. However, we boarded the little tender and she started
for the very wild looking open channel. She had no sooner struck the
heavy seas before she had broken her rudder and was being buffeted
about in a really terrifying manner. We managed in some way to get
back inside the breakwater where some repairs were made, then we
started out again. We repeated this performance several times,
listening meanwhile to generally voiced predictions that nothing on
earth could save us from going to the bottom, and, although it was
only nine o’clock in the evening when we boarded the little vessel, it
was four o’clock in the morning before she came alongside the Grant
and discharged her dilapidated and exhausted passengers.
Mr. Taft had waited up for us and had seen the tender come out of
the harbour and go back, and, assuming from what was told him that
no attempt would be made to transfer the passengers before
morning, he went to bed. When I got aboard the steamer, filled with
excitement over the dangers through which I had passed, and found
him peacefully sleeping in his cabin, I declined to accept any
explanation. A French sub-prefect, who had been sent out by the
Minister of the Interior of France with greetings and compliments,
and who had come in his full regimentals with a cocked hat, was
waiting to see Mr. Taft and I was cruel enough to insist that he
should get up and receive him. Throwing a long fur coat over his
pajamas the Secretary of War of the United States walked out into
the salon to meet the polite representative of the politest of peoples,
but after a grave exchange of formal salutations the situation proved
too much for their gravity. They burst out laughing at each other, to
the immense enjoyment of the bystanders, and the gloom of the wee
sma’ hour was lifted.
When we touched at Plymouth that afternoon we received a
despatch announcing the death of Mr. Taft’s mother. The funeral
took place in Cincinnati, at the home of Mr. Charles Taft, several
days before we could reach New York.
On our return to the United States we found that my husband’s
rivals for the Republican nomination had been making great
headway. Mr. Roosevelt was quite impatient at the loss of ground
that Mr. Taft’s candidacy had suffered and he urged him to take a
more active interest in the situation. He insisted that Mr. Taft should
change the subject of a speech which he had agreed to deliver in
Boston from the Philippine problem to a discussion of the financial
situation which was then acute after the depression which had taken
place during our absence. Mr. Roosevelt’s forcible expression was
that the business and political public had no more interest in the
Philippines than in the subject of “nature faking.”
I cannot go into the details of the preliminary convention fight. My
husband’s brother Charles devoted a full year to it, established
headquarters in Ohio and Washington, and bore the brunt of the
contest. The afternoon of the convention when the voting came, we
all assembled at my husband’s office in the War Department and
received the news over the telephone as it came in. I have a series of
photographs, taken by a friend, of the expressions on my husband’s
face as the results of the voting were being announced. Soon after the
nomination was made, on the first of July Mr. Taft resigned from the
Cabinet, and we established ourselves at Hot Springs, Virginia,
where he spent some weeks preparing his address of acceptance.
This he submitted to Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Root before he went to
Cincinnati to deliver it. Mr. Charles Taft made elaborate preparations
to receive and entertain the Committee of Announcement, and on a
platform in front of his fine old house, in Pike Street, on one of the
hottest days of the summer, my husband delivered his acceptance.
We then returned to Hot Springs and spent another month in
preparation for the campaign. From Hot Springs we went to Middle
Bass Island on Lake Erie to spend a week or more there. We then
went to Cincinnati. Upon this latter trip Mr. Taft made a good many
speeches from the platform of our car. In September Mr. Bryan’s
campaign looked very hopeful. The opposition of Mr. Gompers and
organised labour seemed formidable. Mr. Taft determined to meet
this issue fully and frankly. He was attacked because he had
delivered a number of labour decisions supposed to be against the
interest of labour. He had sent to jail, for six months, the chief
lieutenant of Debs in the Debs railway rebellion of 1894, breaking it
up in Cincinnati and the vicinity. He did not apologise in any way for
the action he had taken. A meeting of the railway trade organisations
was called in Chicago at Orchestra Hall, and there he explained his
action, defended it, and avowed that were the same questions
presented to him again, he would do the same thing he had done,
and that he had no excuses to offer. From that point he made a long
trip in the West, upon which I did not accompany him. I remained in
Cincinnati with Mrs. Charles Taft and my sister Mrs. Anderson. It
was the first political campaign in which Mr. Taft was a candidate
before the people. The reports that came indicated that he had lost
his voice, and I was greatly concerned lest he might break down in
his strenuous labours and new experience. The ups and downs of
such a campaign, the prophecies, the hopes, the fears aroused by
favourable and opposing newspapers were all new and trying to me,
and in a way I think I was under as great a nervous strain as my
husband was, without the steadying help of the hardest kind of work.
However as the campaign drew near to a close, the Republican
confidence grew stronger and stronger, so when we were assembled
finally under the hospitable roof of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Taft, with a
company of friends to receive the dispatches on election night, the
news of the great success that came did not surprise us.
CHAPTER XVI
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES