# William Howard Taft *27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and 10th chief justice of the United States (1921–1930)* William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and as the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. No other person has occupied both posts.[^1] A Republican from Cincinnati, Ohio, he held a series of appointed offices before the presidency. He was a state judge in his twenties, then solicitor general and a judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. President William McKinley named him civilian governor of the Philippines in 1901, and President Theodore Roosevelt made him Secretary of War in 1904. In those years he turned down repeated offers of a seat on the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].[^1] Roosevelt backed him, and Taft won the 1908 Republican nomination and defeated William Jennings Bryan that November. As president he gave East Asia more attention than Europe and intervened repeatedly to support or remove Latin American governments. Disputes over conservation and over his administration's antitrust suits divided him from Roosevelt, who challenged him in 1912. Taft carried only Utah and Vermont in losing to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.[^1] After leaving office Taft taught at Yale and worked against war through the League to Enforce Peace. In 1921 President Warren G. Harding, a Republican, appointed him chief justice, an office Taft had long wanted.[^1] ## Early life and education Taft's parents were Alphonso Taft and Louise Torrey, and the family made its home in Mount Auburn, a Cincinnati suburb.[^2] His father was a judge and an ambassador, and held the posts of Attorney General and Secretary of War in the Grant administration.[^2] Taft went to Woodward High School in Cincinnati. He entered Yale College in 1874 and won its intramural heavyweight wrestling championship.[^2] He joined Skull and Bones, the society his father had helped found. George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are the two other future presidents among its members.[^2] He finished second of 121 in the Yale class of 1878. He then took a Bachelor of Laws from Cincinnati Law School in 1880.[^2] During law school he covered the local courts for *The Cincinnati Commercial*, a paper edited by Murat Halstead, and read law in his father's office. Shortly before graduating, he passed the bar examination in Columbus.[^2] ## Rise in government (1880–1908) After his admission to the Ohio bar, Taft worked full-time at the *Commercial*. Halstead offered him a permanent post at higher pay if he gave up law, and Taft declined.[^3] He was appointed assistant prosecutor for Hamilton County in October 1880, took up the post in January 1881, and served about a year. He left it in January 1882, after President Chester A. Arthur appointed him Collector of Internal Revenue for Ohio's First District, which was centered on Cincinnati.[^3] As collector he refused to remove capable employees who had fallen out of political favor. His resignation took effect in March 1883, and he told Arthur he intended to open a private practice in Cincinnati.[^3] In 1884 he campaigned for the Republican presidential nominee, Senator James G. Blaine of Maine, who lost to New York governor Grover Cleveland.[^3] In 1887 Governor Joseph B. Foraker named Taft, aged 29, to fill a vacancy on the Superior Court of Cincinnati. The appointment ran a little over a year.[^3] In April 1888 Taft won a full five-year term. It was the first of the three elections he contested in his life; the other two were both for the presidency.[^3] About two dozen of his opinions from the state bench survive. *Moores & Co. v. Bricklayers' Union No. 1* (1889) arose from bricklayers who refused to work for any firm that dealt with Parker Brothers. Taft held that the union's action was an illegal secondary boycott, and the ruling was used against him in the 1908 presidential campaign.[^3] ## Presidential election of 1908 On election night in 1904, Roosevelt pledged not to seek another term in 1908, and he treated the pledge as binding. He regarded Taft as his logical successor, although Taft was at first reluctant to run.[^4] Roosevelt put the party machinery behind Taft. Political appointees who wanted to keep their jobs had to back Taft or stay silent.[^4] Treasury Secretary George Cortelyou weighed a run but stayed out. New York Governor [[Charles Evans Hughes]] did enter the race. On the day Hughes gave a major policy speech, however, Roosevelt sent Congress a special message warning against corporate corruption, and coverage of that message pushed Hughes to the back pages.[^4] Assistant Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock left his post in February 1908 to run the Taft campaign. In April Taft went on a speaking tour that reached as far west as Omaha, before he was called back to deal with a contested election in Panama.[^4] At the Republican National Convention in Chicago that June he faced no serious opposition and won on the first ballot. Taft had hoped for a midwestern progressive running mate, such as Iowa senator Jonathan Dolliver. The delegates instead chose Congressman James S. Sherman of New York, a conservative.[^4] Taft left the War Department on June 30 to campaign full-time,[^4] and in November he defeated William Jennings Bryan.[^1] ## Presidency (1909–1913) ### Inauguration and appointments An ice storm in Washington forced Taft's March 4, 1909, swearing-in indoors, to the Senate Chamber. The ceremony is customarily held outside the Capitol.[^5] In his inaugural address he said he had been honored to be "one of the advisers of my distinguished predecessor." He committed himself to maintaining and enforcing Roosevelt's reforms.[^5] He also called for lowering the 1897 Dingley tariff, for antitrust reform, and for moving the Philippines further toward full self-government. Roosevelt then left on a year-long hunting trip to Africa, arranged to keep him out of Taft's way.[^5] Only two members of Roosevelt's cabinet stayed on. Agriculture Secretary James Wilson kept his post, and Postmaster General George von Lengerke Meyer moved to the Navy Department.[^5] Philander Knox, who had been Attorney General under McKinley and Roosevelt, became Secretary of State. Franklin MacVeagh took over the Treasury.[^5] ### Administration and the 1912 election Taft gave interviews and posed for photographs less often than Roosevelt had, and his dealings with the press were less easy.[^5] He sought tariff reductions. The Wikipedia account describes the resulting bill as heavily influenced by special interests.[^1] The [[Republican Party (United States)]] was divided at the time. Taft often leaned toward its conservative wing, while Roosevelt moved increasingly toward its progressive wing. Conflicts over conservation and over antitrust suits brought by Taft's administration widened the gap between the two men.[^1] Roosevelt contested Taft's renomination in 1912. Taft used his control of the party apparatus to secure a narrow majority of delegates, and Roosevelt left the party, which turned the race into a three-way contest.[^1] The split left Taft little chance of reelection. He won only Utah and Vermont, and the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson, won the presidency.[^1] ## Return to Yale (1913–1921) Taft could expect no government pension after leaving office, so he considered returning to law practice. He had appointed many federal judges, however, including a majority of the Supreme Court, so every appearance in federal court would have raised conflict-of-interest questions.[^6] Yale Law School offered him the Kent Professorship of Law and Legal History instead. He accepted and arrived in New Haven on April 1, 1913.[^6] That May he gave eight lectures, *Questions of Modern Government*. In 1916 he published the treatise *Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers*.[^6] Paid speeches and magazine articles meant that he ended his eight years out of office with larger savings than he had at the start.[^6] While still president, Taft had been made president of the Lincoln Memorial Commission. The architect, Henry Bacon, wanted Colorado-Yule marble, while southern Democrats pressed for Georgia marble. Taft lobbied for the western stone.[^6] The Commission of Fine Arts sided with Taft and Bacon, and Taft, by then chief justice, dedicated the memorial in 1922.[^6] In 1913 he was elected to a one-year term as president of the American Bar Association.[^6] During these years he also worked against war through the League to Enforce Peace.[^1] ## Chief Justice (1921–1930) ### Appointment In 1920 Taft supported the winning Republican ticket of Senator Warren G. Harding and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge. On December 24, 1920, he met Harding at the president-elect's home in Marion, Ohio, to advise him on appointments.[^7] By Taft's later account, Harding casually asked whether he would accept a Supreme Court appointment. Taft replied that he could accept only the chief justiceship, because he had been president, had appointed two of the sitting associate justices, and had opposed Brandeis.[^7] Harding did not respond, and Taft repeated the condition in a thank-you note. In January 1921 Taft learned through intermediaries that Harding planned to appoint him if given the chance.[^7] Chief Justice White, whom Taft had appointed to the center seat, was ill but still working. He did not resign when Harding took office on March 4, 1921. Taft visited him on March 26, and White died in office on May 19, 1921.[^7] Harding made no quick announcement. Meanwhile Taft lobbied privately, especially among the Ohio politicians in Harding's inner circle. It later emerged that Harding had also promised former Utah senator [[George Sutherland]] a seat on the Court.[^7] Harding appointed Taft chief justice in 1921. On the Court, Taft was a conservative on business issues.[^1] ## Declining health and death Taft stood 5 feet 11 inches tall. His weight peaked at 335–340 pounds near the end of his presidency, and he weighed 244 pounds by 1929.[^8] His health was already declining when he became chief justice in 1921. As part of a planned fitness regimen, he walked 3 miles from his home to the Capitol each day. After his death, the Rock Creek crossing he used on his walk home was named the Taft Bridge.[^8] He kept a daily record of his weight, food and exercise. For more than twenty years he corresponded with N. E. Yorke-Davies, a British doctor he had hired as a dietary advisor.[^8] At Herbert Hoover's inauguration on March 4, 1929, Taft got part of the oath wrong.[^8] He worried that if he retired, Hoover, whom he considered too progressive, would choose his successor. In 1929 he wrote to his brother Horace that he was "older and slower and less acute and more confused," but that "I must stay on the court in order to prevent the Bolsheviki from getting control".[^8] His brother Charles died on December 31, 1929, and Taft insisted on travelling to Cincinnati for the funeral. He had not returned to Washington when the Court reconvened on January 6, 1930.[^8] He died on March 8, 1930.[^1] ## Legacy and historical view Lurie argued that Taft never received the public credit his policies deserved. Few trusts were broken up under Roosevelt. Taft, with less publicity, brought many more cases and rejected the idea that there was such a thing as a "good" trust.[^9] According to Lurie, Taft "was boring—honest, likable, but boring". Writing for the National Constitution Center, Scott Bomboy observed that Taft is now chiefly remembered for the story that he got stuck in the White House bathtub, which is untrue. He is also remembered as the last president with facial hair.[^9] Mason described Taft's White House years as "undistinguished".[^9] Coletta credited Taft with a solid record of legislation passed by Congress, but judged that greater political skill would have achieved more. Coletta concluded that "in troubled times in which the people demanded progressive change, he saw the existing order as good."[^9] Anderson pointed out that all of Taft's federal service before the presidency was in appointed posts. He had never run for an important executive or legislative office that would have taught him to shape public opinion, and in Anderson's words "the presidency is no place for on-the-job training".[^9] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead section — offices and dates, appointed posts, 1908 and 1912 elections, foreign policy and tariff, Yale and League to Enforce Peace, chief justiceship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^2]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Early life and education* — parents, schooling, Yale, Skull and Bones, Cincinnati Law School, bar examination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^3]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Rise in government (1880–1908)* — Hamilton County prosecutor, collector of internal revenue, 1884 campaign, Superior Court of Cincinnati, *Moores* ruling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^4]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Presidential election of 1908* — Roosevelt's support, Hughes, Hitchcock, convention, running mate, resignation as Secretary of War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^5]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Presidency (1909–1913)* — inauguration, inaugural address, cabinet appointments, press relations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^6]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Return to Yale (1913–1921)* — Kent professorship, lectures and treatise, Lincoln Memorial Commission, American Bar Association. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^7]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Chief Justice (1921–1930)* — Marion meeting, Taft's condition, White's death, Sutherland promise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^8]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Declining health and death* — weight, walking regimen and Taft Bridge, Yorke-Davies, 1929 oath and letter, 1930 absence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft [^9]: Wikipedia, *William Howard Taft* (revision 1379665306, retrieved 2026-10-26), section *Legacy and historical view* — Lurie, Bomboy, Mason, Coletta and Anderson assessments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft