William Howard Taft
president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913. He was the only president who also served on the Supreme Court; he was Chief Justice. He was 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed over 350 pounds (160 kg) at the end of his presidency.
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Early life
Taft was born on September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alphonso Taft and Louise Torrey. His father was a notable person who served as the Secretary of War and Attorney General for President Ulysses S. Grant. However, the Tafts were not that rich, living in a small suburb. While Taft's parents tried their best to make their children successful, he was not that smart when he was young. However, he was a very hard worker.
At Yale College, William Howard Taft was a wrestling champion. A secret society in Yale, Skull and Bones, was co-founded by Taft's father, which prompted the wrestling superstar William to join the club. George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush later joined the secret society. Even though William used to be not that bright, he by 1878 had graduated second in his college class out of 121 students. He then attended Cincinnati Law School and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1880. He later passed the bar exam.[1]
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Rise in government
Taft was appointed as Hamilton County's assistant prosecutor in October 1880. When President Chester Arthur appointed Taft as a Collector of Internal Revenue for Ohio's first district in 1882, Taft resigned from his poistion.
He resigned from his new position in 1883. In 1884, Taft campaigned for James Blaine in the 1884 election. In 1887, Taft was suddenly hired to fulfill a vacancy for a position in Cincinnati's Superior Court, and in 1888, he won his first public election and served for another five years. Sometime in 1880 or earlier, Taft met Helen Herron, who would later be the First Lady. She agreed to marry Taft in 1885 after regularly meeting him the year prior. They officially got married on June 19, 1886. They would have three children, with Robert Taft later becoming a notable U.S. Senator.
In 1889, a Supreme Court vacancy needed to be filled by President Benjamin Harrison. Ohio Governor Joseph Foraker had requested for Harrison to nominate Taft for the position. Though the Supreme Court was Taft's goal, Harrison ended up nominating Taft as the Solicitor General instead. Since the position was vacant, a lot of work needed to be done.
Taft started in February 1890. Even though Taft was good at his job, he gladly resigned in March 1892 to be a judge on the Sixth Circuit of the United States Courts of Appeas. Unlike his previous job, this job was his for life unless he resigned or was impeached. Taft then felt great with his life and his job. He was a man who supported employees over employers, as seen by his many workers' rights cases. He was more liberal than people had thought. Taft became a professor at Cincinnati Law School in 1896 and was committed to it. Also in 1896, William McKinley sought the presidency. Taft was not fond of McKinley and disagreed with things like free silver. In 1898, one year into McKinley's presidency, Taft was upset because McKinley named a different person from him Taft on the Supreme Court.
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Political career
Taft then served as a federal judge, governor of the Philippines, and Secretary of War before he was nominated for president in 1908 by the man who preceded him, Theodore Roosevelt. As a Republican president, Taft was most notable for trust-busting in which he broke up large businesses that had too much control over the economy. Taft also expanded the civil service, improved the United States Postal Service, and promoted world peace. Taft also started the tradition of the president pitching the first ball of the baseball season.[2] Early in life, Taft had played baseball. He was a good second baseman and could hit with power.[3]
1908 election
In 1908, with Roosevelt's support, Taft was nominated as the Republican candidate for president. He easily won against the Democratic candidate, William Jennings Bryan, in the general election and became president.
1912 election
During Taft's presidency, his relationship with Roosevelt became bad because Roosevelt thought Taft was not doing a good job and taking too little action against the trusts. Taft was also more conservative and he did not continue all of Roosevelt's progressive policies. As a result, in 1912, Roosevelt came back into politics and ran for president against William Taft. Many Republicans split their votes between Taft and Roosevelt, and the Democratic opponent, Woodrow Wilson, won the election.
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Later life
In 1921, Taft was appointed by Warren Harding to be the 10th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, making Taft the only former president to become Chief Justice.[4] He retired from the job on February 3, 1930 due to bad health.
Bathtub
Taft was the most obese president.[5] He was 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall, and he weighed between 325 pounds (147 kg) and 280 pounds (130 kg) toward the end of his presidency.[6] He had difficulty getting out of the White House bathtub, on June 10, 1909 and so he had a tube installed that was 7 ft (2.1 m) long and 41 in (1.0 m) wide. The tub could accommodate four normal-sized people. It was replaced in 1951 with a modern tub of a similar size.[7]
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Death
Taft died on March 8, 1930 from heart disease. Three days later, he became the first president and the first Supreme Court justice to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[8]
Other websites and links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William Howard Taft
- Taft's White House biography Archived 2021-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
References
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