Taft was a passionate defender of private enterprise in domestic policy as well as non-intervention in foreign affairs. This made him oppose the New Deal policies adopted under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945).

Before FDR's presidency, most Americans embraced a general preference for  limited government and personal freedom, including the pursuit of economic opportunity. Over the FDR years, Taft watched as public opinion pivoted to view big government as the solution to the supposed problems of capitalism.

Taft's speech "Equal Justice Under Law" was delivered on October 5, 1946. It was a plea for business and industry to return to the "American Way of Life," which rested on liberty and equal justice under law.