The former first lady lived in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, and in Japan during Taft’s appointment who had gone on a goodwill tour. Helen Taft had traveled extensively with William Taft, who was Secretary of War under president Theodore Roosevelt. The first 3,000 cherry trees, and cherry trees thereafter along the Tidal Basin, would not be there today without the influence of former first lady Helen Taft. Although the first 2,000 trees were diseased and were burned on the National Mall, in 1910 the city of Tokyo gifted more than 3,000 saplings, which arrived in 1912. The proposal developed with a Japanese general consul and the trees became a formal gift from the mayor of Tokyo, Japan. at the time of the first lady’s idea, and he proposed to donate 2,000 of the cherry trees from Japan. Scidmore had known Japanese chemist Jokichi Takamine, who was visiting Washington D.C.
The cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin are known today as symbol of a unity between the United States and Japan.
Scidmore wrote to First Lady Helen Taft and the former first lady supported the journalist’s passion for the planting of the cherry trees. Fairchild had planted 100 cherry trees on his estate in Maryland, and the vision for the agricultural land in the heart of D.C. Her intuitive idea for the evolving National Mall landscape was in agreement with David Fairchild, a U.S.
These mudflats, or tidal wetlands, were located behind the then incomplete Washington Monument and currently West Potomac Park. Scidmore first visited Japan in 1885, and later wrote, “the blooming cherry tree is the most ideally, wonderfully beautiful tree that nature has to show, and its short-lived glory makes the enjoyment the keener and more poignant.” For 24 years, Scidmore proposed the cherry trees to be planted along the Potomac flats that were dredged at that time until 1890. The iconic Japanese cherry trees on the National Mall would not be here today without the provocation of travel journalist Eliza Scidmore – who became the first female board member of National Geographic Society in 1880.
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