US statesman and 27th president (190913), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Having studied at Yale and practised law in Cincinnati, he gravitated to Republican politics and held several appointments and a judgeship in Ohio. In 1890 he began two years as US solicitor general under President Benjamin Harrison, then became a federal circuit judge (1892). He left that position (1900) when President William McKinley sent him to the Philippines, where he became civil governor. In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him secretary of war and his chosen successor. An extremely large man, easy-going and conciliatory, he did not really want to be president, but he was elected in 1908. His tenure as president was uneasy, and though he pursued anti-trust prosecutions like his predecessor, he was perceived to be allied with conservative Republicans. That led to Roosevelt's party-splitting run in 1912, ensuring a victory for the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson. After some years of teaching at Yale Law (191321), he was named chief justice of the Supreme Court (1921), a position he enjoyed far more than being president. He served until one month before his death, and, though known more for his reform of court operations, he participated in several major decisions.
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| 27th President of the United States | |
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In office March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 |
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Vice President(s) Sherman, (1909-1912) None (1912-1913) |
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| Preceded by | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Succeeded by | Woodrow Wilson |
| 10th Chief Justice of the United States | |
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In office July 11, 1921 – February 3, 1930 |
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| Preceded by | Edward Douglass White |
| Succeeded by | Charles Evans Hughes |
| Born |
September 15, 1857 Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Died |
March 8, 1930 Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Helen Herron Taft |
| Religion | Unitarian |
| Signature | |
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was an American politician, the 27th President of the United States, the 10th Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the Republican Party in the early twentieth century, a chaired professor at Yale Law School, a pioneer in international arbitration, and a staunch advocate of world peace that verged on pacifism (although the pacifists of his time did not call him one of their own).
Taft served as Solicitor General of the United States, a federal judge, Governor-General of the Philippines, and Secretary of War before being nominated for President in the 1908 Republican National Convention with the backing of his predecessor and close friend Theodore Roosevelt. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the Republican nomination in a bruising battle in 1912 that forced Roosevelt out of the GOP and left Taft people in charge for decades.
Early life
Taft was born on September 15, 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second of five children. His father, Alphonso Taft, came to Cincinnati in 1839 to open a law practice. Alphonso Taft was a prominent Republican and had served as Secretary of War under President Ulysses S.
Taft was brought up in the Unitarian church and remained a faithful Unitarian his entire life. she and Taft courted while he was away at college.
The William Howard Taft National Historic Site is the Taft boyhood home.
Education
In 1874, Taft graduated from Cincinnati's Woodward High School. Yale's football captain, Walter Camp, wanted Taft to join the college squad, but Taft's father refused to give him permission, citing both concern for his son's safety and his personal opinion that football was "not a gentleman's sport."
Career
After admission to the Ohio bar, Taft was appointed Assistant Prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio, based in Cincinnati.
In addition to his judgeship, between 1896 and 1900 Taft also served as the first Dean and a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Cincinnati.
In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Taft as the chairman of a commission to organize a civilian government in the Philippines, which had been ceded to the United States by Spain following the Spanish-American War and the 1898 Treaty of Paris. Although Taft initially had been opposed to the annexation of the islands and told McKinley that his real ambition was to become a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he reluctantly accepted the appointment when McKinley suggested that he would be "the better judge for this experience."
From 1901 to 1903, Taft served as the first civilian Governor-General of the Philippines, a position in which he was very popular among both Americans and Filipinos. In 1903, President Roosevelt offered Taft the seat on the Supreme Court to which he had for so long aspired, but he reluctantly declined when native Filipino groups begged him to remain in Manila as Governor-General.
Secretary of War, 1904-1908
In 1904, Roosevelt appointed Taft as Secretary of War. Roosevelt made the basic policy decisions regarding military affairs, using Taft as a well-traveled spokesman who campaigned for Roosevelt's re-election in 1904. In 1906, Roosevelt sent troops to restore order in Cuba during the revolt led by General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, and Taft temporarily became the Civil Governor of Cuba, personally negotiating with General Castillo for a peaceful end to the revolt. Taft repeatedly had told Roosevelt he wanted to be Chief Justice, not President (and not an associate justice), but there was no vacancy and Roosevelt had other plans. For a while, Taft was Acting Secretary of State. When Roosevelt was away, Taft in effect was the Acting President. Roosevelt certified Taft as a genuine "progressive", in 1908, pushing through the nomination of his Secretary of War for the presidency. Taft considered himself a "progressive" because of his deep belief in "The Law" as the scientific device that should be used by judges to solve society's problems. Taft proved a less adroit politician than Roosevelt and seemed to lack the energy and personal magnetism of his mentor, not to mention the publicity devices, the dedicated supporters, and the broad base of public support that made Roosevelt so formidable. The resulting Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909 was too high for most reformers, but instead of blaming this on Senator Nelson Aldrich and big business, Taft took credit, calling it the best bill to come from the Republican Party.
Unlike Roosevelt, Taft never attacked business or businessmen in his rhetoric. As a result, Taft lost the support of antitrust reformers (who disliked his conservative rhetoric), of big business (which disliked his actions), and of Roosevelt, who felt humiliated by his protégé. Progressives within the Republican party began agitating against Taft. Senator Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin created the National Progressive Republican League to replace Taft at the national level; More trouble came when Taft fired Gifford Pinchot, a leading conservationist and close ally of Roosevelt.
Taft fought for the prosecution of trusts (eventually issuing 75 lawsuits), further strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission, established a postal savings bank and a parcel post system, and expanded the civil service.
Foreign policy
Taft actively pursued what he termed "dollar diplomacy" to further the economic development of less-developed nations of Latin America and Asia through American investment in their infrastructures. Throughout the early part of his presidency, Taft had difficulties with Nicaragua.
One of Taft's main goals while President was to further the idea of world peace.
16th Amendment
To solve one impasse during the 1909 tariff debate, Taft proposed income taxes for corporations and business.
Party schism
Despite his obvious achievements, progressives decried Taft's acceptance of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, which lowered the tariff on the farm products of the western states, whose citizens desired lower rates on Eastern factory products. Taft opposed to the entry of the state of Arizona into the Union because of its judicial features. By 1910, Taft's party was deeply divided between progressives and conservatives.
On his return from Europe, Roosevelt broke with Taft in one of the most dramatic political feuds of the 20th century. To the surprise of observers who thought Roosevelt had unstoppable momentum, Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt and LaFollette, seized control of the GOP, and forced both out of the party. Most lawyers in the GOP supported Taft, including many of Roosevelt's key supporters like Elihu Root, Henry Stimson, and Roosevelt's own son-in-law, Nicholas Longworth. In lining up delegates for the 1912 nomination, Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt, who had started much too late, and kept control of the Republican party. Taft won a mere eight electoral votes, making it the single worst defeat for a President seeking re-election.
Administration and Cabinet
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| President | William Howard Taft | 1909–1913 |
| Vice President | James S. Sherman | 1909–1912 |
| Secretary of State | Philander C. Knox | 1909–1913 |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Franklin MacVeagh | 1909–1913 |
| Secretary of War | Jacob M. Stimson | 1911–1913 |
| Attorney General | George W. Wickersham | 1909–1913 |
| Postmaster General | Frank H. Hitchcock | 1909–1913 |
| Secretary of the Navy | George von L. Meyer | 1909–1913 |
| Secretary of the Interior | Richard A. Fisher | 1911–1913 |
| Secretary of Agriculture | James Wilson | 1909–1913 |
| Secretary of Commerce and Labor | Charles Nagel | 1909–1913 |
Supreme Court appointments
During his presidency, Taft appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
Horace Harmon Lurton - 1910 Lurton had served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit with Taft, and Taft's attorney general said that at 66 he was too old to become a Supreme Court justice, but Taft had always admired Lurton. According to the Complete Book of U.S. Presidents (2001 edition), Taft later said that "the chief pleasure of my administration" was the appointment of Lurton. Charles Evans Hughes - 1910 Even though Hughes resigned in 1916 to run in the presidential election that year, he became Taft's successor as Chief Justice. Taft succeeded White as Chief Justice in 1921. Willis Van Devanter - 1911 Joseph Rucker Lamar - 1911 Mahlon Pitney - 1912Notably, Taft's six appointments to the Court rank (in number) third only to those of George Washington and Franklin D.
The appointments of Edward Douglass White and Charles Evans Hughes also are notable because Taft essentially appointed both his predecessor and successor Chief Justices, respectively. President Herbert Hoover renominated Hughes to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice following Taft's retirement.
States admitted to the Union
New Mexico: January 6, 1912 Arizona: February 14, 1912Post-presidency
Upon leaving the White House in 1913, Taft was appointed Kent Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School.
When World War I did break out in Europe in 1914, however, Taft founded the League to Enforce Peace. Harding nominated Taft to take his place, thereby fulfilling Taft's lifelong ambition to become Chief Justice of the United States.
In 1922, Taft traveled to England to study the procedural structure of the English courts and learn how they disposed of such a large number of cases in such an expeditious manner. During the trip, King George V and Queen Mary received Taft and his wife as state visitors. With what he had learned in England, Taft advocated passage of the 1925 Judges Act, which empowered the Supreme Court to give precedence to cases of national importance, thereby allowing the Court to work more efficiently. Taft was also the first Justice to employ two full time law clerks.
In 1929, Taft successfully argued for the construction of the Supreme Court Building, reasoning that the Court needed to distance itself from Congress as a separate branch of government.
While Chief Justice, Taft wrote the opinion for the Court in 256 cases out of the Court's ever-growing caseload.
Medical condition
Evidence from eyewitnesses and from Taft himself strongly suggests that he had severe obstructive sleep apnea during his presidency, a consequence of his 300 to 340 pound (136 to 159 kg) weight. Within a year of leaving the Presidency, Taft lost approximately 80 pounds (32 kg).
Death and legacy
Taft retired as Chief Justice on February 3, 1930, because of ill health. Taft died on Saturday, March 8, 1930, due to heart complications. A third generation of the Taft family entered the national political stage in 1938. Taft I, was elected to the United States Senate from Ohio. His other son, Charles Phelps Taft II, served as mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1955 to 1957. Two more generations of the Taft family later entered politics. The President's grandson, Robert Taft Jr., served a term as a Senator from Ohio from 1971-1977; William Howard Taft III was U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 1953 to 1957. William Howard Taft IV was a high official in the United States Department of State from 2000 to 2006, but now is in private law practice.
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