Taft, William Howard, 1857–1930, 27th President of the United States (1909–13) and 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921–30), b. Cincinnati.

Early Career

After graduating (1878) from Yale, he attended Cincinnati Law School. He received his law degree in 1880. He became a Cincinnati lawyer and soon had political posts as assistant prosecuting attorney for Hamilton co. (1881–83), assistant county solicitor (1885–87), and judge of the superior court of Ohio (1887–90). He became nationally prominent as a figure in Republican politics in 1890, when President Benjamin Harrison Harrison, Benjamin, 1833–1901, 23d President of the United States (1889–93), b. North Bend, Ohio, grad. Miami Univ. (Ohio), 1852; grandson of William Henry Harrison .
..... Click the link for more information. chose him as U.S. Solicitor General.

After service as a federal circuit judge (1892–1900) and as dean of the Cincinnati law school (1898–1900), he was appointed (1900) head of the commission sent to organize civil government in the Philippines, and he was named first civil governor of the Philippine Islands; he did much to better relations between Filipinos and Americans. In 1904 his friend President Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919, 26th President of the United States (1901–9), b. New York City.

Early Life and Political Posts

Of a prosperous and distinguished family, Theodore Roosevelt was educated by private tutors and traveled widely.
..... Click the link for more information. appointed Taft Secretary of War. Taft became a close adviser to the President and was prominent in Latin American affairs, conducting the delicate negotiations attending U.S. intervention in Cuba in 1906.

Presidency

Roosevelt chose Taft as his successor, and the Republican party named him as presidential candidate in the election of 1908, in which he defeated William Jennings Bryan Bryan, William Jennings (brī`ən), 1860–1925, American political leader, b. Salem, Ill.
..... Click the link for more information. . He was expected to continue Roosevelt's policies, and to a large extent he did. Trusts were vigorously prosecuted under the Sherman Antitrust Act Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890, first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts; it was named for Senator John Sherman . Prior to its enactment, various states had passed similar laws, but they were limited to intrastate businesses.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the Interstate Commerce Commission was strengthened by the Mann-Elkins Act (1910); and Taft's Latin American policy, known as "dollar diplomacy," was to an extent only an enlargement of Roosevelt's Panama policy and the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine Monroe Doctrine, principle of American foreign policy enunciated in President James Monroe's message to Congress, Dec. 2, 1823. It initially called for an end to European intervention in the Americas, but it was later extended to justify U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. . The emphasis in all these policies had, however, changed. In Latin America, for instance, the accent was on protection of property and interests of Americans abroad rather than on national interest. Members of the Republican party who favored progressive policies were increasingly restive, and the Insurgents Insurgents, in U.S. history, the Republican Senators and Representatives who in 1909–10 rose against the Republican standpatters controlling Congress, to oppose the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the dictatorial power of House speaker Joseph G. Cannon .
..... Click the link for more information. movement grew strong.

The administration made positive achievements in the inauguration of the postal savings bank (1910) and the parcel-post system (1912), and the creation of the Dept. of Labor (1911). Nevertheless, Taft was generally at odds with the progressive elements in his party: he failed to support the Insurgents' attempt to oust the dictatorial speaker of the House of Representatives, Joseph Cannon Cannon, Joseph Gurney, 1836–1926, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1903–11), b. Guilford co., N.C. A lawyer in Illinois, Cannon served as a Republican in Congress from 1873 to 1923, except for the years 1891–93 and 1913–15, when
..... Click the link for more information. ; he favored the Payne-Aldrich tariff Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, 1909, passed by the U.S. Congress. It was the first change in tariff laws since the Dingley Act of 1897; the issue had been ignored by President Theodore Roosevelt.
..... Click the link for more information. , a high-tariff measure that was denounced by progressive Republicans; and he supported Richard Ballinger Ballinger, Richard Achilles (băl`ĭnjər), 1858–1922, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1909–11), b.
..... Click the link for more information. against Gifford Pinchot Pinchot, Gifford (pĭn`shō), 1865–1946, American forester and public official, b. Simsbury, Conn.
..... Click the link for more information. in the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy.

Meanwhile, Taft's relations with Roosevelt deteriorated, and the former President joined the opposition to Taft. In 1912, Roosevelt fought vigorously for the Republican presidential nomination. When he failed and Taft got the nomination, Roosevelt headed the Progressive party Progressive party, in U.S. history, the name of three political organizations, active, respectively, in the presidential elections of 1912, 1924, and 1948.

Election of 1912

..... Click the link for more information. and ran in the election as the Progressive (popularly called the Bull Moose) candidate. The Republican vote was split, and the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson Wilson, Woodrow (Thomas Woodrow Wilson), 1856–1924, 28th President of the United States (1913–21), b. Staunton, Va.

Educator

He graduated from Princeton in 1879 and studied law at the Univ. of Virginia.
..... Click the link for more information. , won.

Later Life

Taft retired from public life and taught law (1912–21) at Yale. He was cochairman (1918–19) of the War Labor Conference in World War I. In 1921, President Harding appointed him Chief Justice. His chief contribution to the Supreme Court was his administrative efficiency.

Bibliography

Taft's writings include The United States and Peace (1914) and Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers (1916). See Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt (1930, repr. 1971); biographies by H. F. Pringle (1939, repr. 1964), J. I. Anderson (1981), and J. C. Casey (1989); A. T. Mason, William Howard Taft, Chief Justice (1965); P. E. Coletta, The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973).

Taft, William Howard

William Howard Taft, 1909.

(credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born Sept. 15, 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died March 8, 1930, Washington, D.C.) 27th president of the U.S. (1909–13). He served on the Ohio superior court (1887–90), as U.S. solicitor general (1890–92), and as U.S. appellate judge (1892–1900). He was appointed head of the Philippine Commission to set up a civilian government in the islands and was the Philippines' first civilian governor (1901–04). He served as U.S. secretary of war (1904–08) under Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, who supported Taft's nomination for president in 1908. He won the election but became allied with the conservative Republicans, causing a rift with party progressives. He was again the nominee in 1912, but the split with Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party resulted in the electoral victory of Woodrow Wilson. Taft later taught law at Yale University (1913–21), served on the National War Labor Board (1918), and was a supporter of the League of Nations. As chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1921–30), he introduced reforms that made the court more efficient. His important opinion in Myers v. U.S. (1926) upheld the president's authority to remove federal officials.

Taft, William Howard (1857–1930) twenty-seventh U.S. president; born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Having studied at Yale and practiced law in Cincinnati, he gravitated to Republican politics and held several appointments and a judgeship in Ohio. In 1890 he began two years as U.S. solicitor-general under President Benjamin Harrison, then became a federal circuit judge (1892). He left that position in 1900 when President William McKinley sent him to the Philippines, where he became civil governor. In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt made Taft the secretary of war and his chosen successor. An extremely large man, easy-going and conciliatory, Taft did not really want to be president but he was elected in 1908. He had an uneasy tenure as president; although he pursued antitrust 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 (1913–21), Taft was named chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1921, a position he enjoyed far more than being president. He served until one month before his death, and although known more for his reform of court operations, he participated in several major decisions.