Foraker was initially convinced of the guilt of the men, but reconsidered after evidence obtained in a private investigation by progressive organizations was presented to him (the black attorney presenting it was denied an audience with Roosevelt). According to Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris, "Foraker had a passion for racial justice." Recalling Foraker's desire, as a soldier, to see slavery abolished and the black man given the same civil and political rights as the white man, Morris explains, "Senator Foraker merely felt the same about the Constitution in 1906 as Private Foraker had felt in 1862." In addition to his desire to see justice done, Foraker also saw political advantage in opposing Roosevelt over the Brownsville issue; he might boost his own presidential ambitions for 1908 by making both Roosevelt and his designated heir apparent, Secretary of War William Howard Taft, look bad.