William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (15 September 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio; d. 8 March 1930 in Washington, D.C.) was the twenty-seventh President of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1921 to 1930.
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Life
Taft was born in Cincinnati in 1857 into a prominent Republican family. His father, Alphonso Taft, served briefly in Grant's cabinet and later as ambassador to Austria-Hungary and Russia under President Chester A. Arthur. His mother, the daughter of a Boston merchant, later advised her son against seeking the presidency. He studied at Yale University and Cincinnati Law School. While at Yale, he was initiated into the university's student fraternity, Skull & Bones. He practiced law and legal reporting for a short time before embarking on a longer career in various senior legal positions. He initially worked as an assistant district attorney in Hamilton County and as a lawyer in Cincinnati, among other roles, before finally being appointed a judge of the Cincinnati Superior Court. From 1890 to 1892, he served as United States Solicitor General. Subsequently, until 1900, he was a judge at the Federal Court of Appeals of the Sixth Judicial District, which is located in Cincinnati.
Taft was a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration and staunch advocate of world peace verging on pacifism, and scion of a leading political family, the Tafts, of Ohio. Taft served as the Solicitor General of the United States, a federal appellate 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.
His presidency was characterized by trust-busting, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, expanding the civil service, establishing a better postal system, and promoting world peace. Roosevelt broke with Taft in 1911, charging Taft was too reactionary. Taft and the conservatives were alarmed at Roosevelt's attacks on the judiciary, and took control of the party machinery. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the Republican nomination in a bruising battle in 1912 that forced Roosevelt out of the GOP and left Taft's people in charge for decades. William Howard Taft remains the only U.S. President to finish third in a bid for reelection to a second consecutive term.
During World War I, he helped set national labor policy that reduced strikes and generated union support for the national cause. In 1921, he became the Chief Justice of the United States. As the President and the Chief Justice he helped make the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court, much more powerful in shaping national policy. To date he is the only former President to serve on the Supreme Court.
Family
In 1886, Taft married his fiancée Helen Louise Herron (1861–1943). They would have three children: Robert, Helen and Charles II.
