This speech marked Washington's status as one of the most influential black leaders and educators in the United States. Washington served as an advisor to U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, both men with deep racial biases. Washington was able to help Roosevelt and Taft select black candidates for nominal, traditionally black political positions. Washington also advised rich industrialists on how best to direct their money to support black education in the South and controlled the funding of most black southern schools.