mar 15, 1909 - The Senate confirms all of Taft's cabinet nominations. These included Richard Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior. Ballinger's selection was a disappointment to conservationists who had hoped for the reappointment of Roosevelt's Interior Secretary, James R. Garfield. Garfield was closely linked to Gifford Pinchot, chief of the Forestry Service in the Department of the Interior and a friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Ballinger becomes the focus of controversy