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, and a leader of the conservative wing of the Republican party.
Taft served as Solicitor General of the United States, 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.
His presidency was characterized by trust-busting, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, expanding the civil service, and establishing a better postal system. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the 1912 Republican nomination in a bruising battle in 1912. In 1921, he became Chief Justice, becoming the only President to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Early life
Taft was born on September 15, 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother was Mount Holyoke graduate Louisa Torrey; his father was Alphonso Taft, a prominent Republican, who served as Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant. He was brought up in the Unitarian church, and would remain a faithful Unitarian his entire life. At age 18, he met his future wife Helen Herron in Cincinnati; she and Taft courted while he was away at college.
Education
Like his father, the younger Taft attended Yale College in New Haven. There, he was a member of Skull and Bones, the secret society co-founded by his father back in 1832, as well as the Beta chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. His college friends knew him by the nickname "Old Bill." Initially, given Taft's physical size, Yale's football coach wanted him 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". Instead, Taft rowed on the Yale crew team and was an accomplished wrestler. In 1878, Taft graduated from Yale, ranking second in his class out of 121. After college, he attended Cincinnati Law School, graduating with his LL.B in 1880. While in law school, he worked on the area newspaper The Cincinnati Commercial.
Career
After admission to the Ohio bar, he was appointed Assistant Prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio. Two years later, in 1882, was appointed local Collector of Internal Revenue. Taft married his longtime sweetheart, Helen Herron, in Cincinnati in 1886. In 1887 he was appointed as a judge of the Ohio Superior Court. His star rose quickly, and, in 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him Solicitor General of the United States. Bolstered by his acute legal knowledge, in 1892, President Harrison appointed him as an associate judge for the newly created United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, a post which he held until 1900. He eventually became the chief judge of the Sixth Circuit, and as chief judge, he wrote one of his most famous opinions in Addyston Pipe and Steel Company v. United States (1898). It was then that he met Theodore Roosevelt for the first time, who was, at the time, a United States civil service commissioner. In 1893, while still on the Sixth Circuit, Taft completed the legal dissertation on which he had been gradually working since becoming Solicitor General, thereby earning an LL.D. from Yale Law School. Due to his LL.D., between 1896 and 1900, Taft was - in addition to his judgeship -Dean and Professor of 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 had initially 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 both among Americans and Filipinos. For example, in 1902, Taft visited Rome to negotiate with Pope Leo XIII for the purchase of lands in the Philippines owned by the Catholic Church. Taft then induced the Congress to appropriate $7,239,000 to purchase the lands, which Taft then sold to Filipinos on easy terms. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt (who by then had become President) 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.
In 1904, however, Roosevelt appointed Taft as Secretary of War, and he returned to the United States. As Secretary of War during relative peacetime, Taft was a well-traveled spokesman for Roosevelt's administration. 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. In 1907, Secretary Taft helped supervise the beginning of construction on the Panama Canal.
Presidency 1908-1913
Handing off responsibility in 1909
- Main article: U.S. presidential election, 1908
Policies
After serving nearly two full terms, the popular Theodore Roosevelt refused to run in the election of 1908. Roosevelt certified Taft to be a genuine "progressive", in 1908, when Roosevelt pushed through the nomination of his Secretary of War for the Presidency. Taft easily defeated three-time candidate William Jennings Bryan. Taft sincerely considered himself a "progressive" because in his deep belief in "The Law" as the scientific device that should be used by judges to solve society's problems. Taft proved 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. When Roosevelt realized that lowering the tariff would risk severe tensions inside the GOP, pitting producers (manufacturers and farmers) against department stores and consumers, he stopped talking about the issue. Taft ignored the risks and tackled the tariff boldly, on the one hand encouraging reformers to fight for lower rates, then cutting deals with conservative leaders that kept overall rates high. 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 tariff ever. Again he had managed to alienate all sides.
Unlike Roosevelt, Taft never attacked business or businessmen in his rhetoric. However, he was attentive to the law, so he launched 90 antitrust suits, including one against the largest corporation, U.S. Steel, for an acquisition that Roosevelt had personally approved. The upshot was that 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 defeat the power of political bossism at the state level, and to replace Taft at the national level. More trouble came when Taft fired Gifford Pinchot, a leading conservationist and close ally of Roosevelt. Pinchot alleged that Taft's Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger was in league with big timber interests. Conservationists sided with Pinchot, as Taft alienated yet another vocal constituency.
tangles up in trouble, 1910
Throughout his presidency, Taft contended with dissent from more progressive members of the Republican Party, many of whom continued to follow the political lead of former President 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, expanded the civil service and promoted the enactment of two amendments to the Constitution. The 16th Amendment authorized the federal government to tax incomes; the 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, mandated the direct election of senators by the people, replacing the previous system whereby they were selected by state legislatures. Taft also signed The Organic Act of the Department of Labor, which created the United States Department of Labor. In addition, he actively pursued what he termed "dollar diplomacy" to further the economic development of less-developed nations through American investment in their infrastructures.
One of Taft's main personal goals while president was to promote world peace. Given his judicial sensibilities, he believed that international arbitration was the best means to effectuate the end of war on Earth. As such, he championed several reciprocity and arbitration treaties. In 1910, he convinced congressional Democrats to support a reciprocity treaty with Canada, but the Liberal Canadian government that negotiated the treaty was turned out of office in 1911 and the treaty collapsed. In 1910 and 1911, however, he secured the ratification of arbitration treaties that he had successfully negotiated with the United Kingdom and France, and was thereafter known as one of the foremost advocates of world peace and arbitration.
Despite his obvious achievements, progressives decried Taft's acceptance of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, which levied a tariff with protective schedules, his opposition to the entry of the state of Arizona into the Union because of its progressive constitution, and his growing reliance on the conservative wing of his party for political guidance. He was criticized for having too great an intimacy with conservative Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and Speaker of the House Joseph G. Cannon. By 1910, Taft's party was thoroughly divided between progressives and the Old Right.
Taft later broke off contact with Roosevelt in one of the most well-publicized political feuds of the 20th century. In the 1912 election, Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt and kept control of the Republican party. Roosevelt was forced to create Progressive Party ("Bull Moose") ticket, splitting the Republican vote and resulting in the election of Woodrow Wilson (Many historians argue Wilson would have won anyway, because the Republican factions would not support each other.). In 1912, when problems erupted in Nicaragua, Taft sent in the United States Marines to help restore order.
Administration and Cabinet
Supreme Court appointments
Taft appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
Notably, Taft's six appointments to the Court rank third only to those of Washington and FDR; his appointment of five new justices tie the number made by Jackson and Lincoln. Four of Taft's appointments were men of relative youth and vigor at ages 48, 51, 53 and 54.
Two of the appointments were quite unusual because he appointed his predecessor as chief justice, as well as his successor as chief justice, even though the latter resigned to run for the presidency.
States admitted to the Union
Post-presidency
Upon leaving the White House in 1913, Taft was appointed Kent Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School. The same year, he was elected President of the American Bar Association. He spent much of his time writing newspaper articles and books, most notably his series on American legal philosophy. He also continued to advocate world peace through international arbitration, urging nations to enter into arbitration treaties with each other and promoting the idea of a League of Nations even before the First World War began.
When World War I did break out in Europe in 1914, Taft founded the League to Enforce Peace. He was co-chair of the powerful National War Labor Board in 1917-18. Although continually advocating peace, he strongly favored conscription once the United States entered the conflict, pleading publicly that the United States not fight a "finicky" war. He feared the war would be long, but was for fighting it out to a finish, given what he viewed as "Germany's brutality."
Chief Justice of the United States
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1925. Taft is seated in the bottom row, middle.
In 1921, when Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, whom Taft appointed as chief justice while president, passed away, President Warren G. Harding became the only president to have nominated a previous president to the Supreme Court of the United States, by nominating Taft to succeed White, fulfilling Taft's lifelong ambition. Virtually no opposition existed to the nomination, and the Senate unanimously confirmed Taft by voice vote. He readily took up the position, and served until 1930. As such, he became the only president to serve as Chief Justice, and thus is also the only former president to swear in subsequent presidents, giving the oath of office to both Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. He remains the only person in the history of the United States to have led both the Executive and Judicial branches of the United States government, and is also the last President to hold a public office after his Presidential term ended.
Taft traveled to England, in 1922, to study the procedural structure of the English courts and learn how they disposed of a large number of cases expeditiously. 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.
While Chief Justice, Taft wrote the opinion for the Court in over 200 cases out of the Court's ever-growing caseload. Some of his more notable opinions include:
Medical condition
Evidence from eyewitnesses and from Taft himself strongly suggests he had severe obstructive sleep apnea during his Presidential term of office, a consequence of his 300 to 340 pound (136 to 159 kg) weight. His legendary tendency to fall asleep in almost any circumstance, an open secret and source of embarrassment for his intimates, is now understood to have been the most obvious manifestation of the disease. Within a year of leaving the Presidency Taft lost approximately 80 pounds (32 kg), dropping his weight from 335 pounds to 264 pounds. His somnolence resolved and, less obviously, his systolic blood pressure dropped 40-50 mmHg (from 210 mmHg). Undoubtedly, this weight loss saved his life.
Death and legacy
Taft retired as chief justice on February 3, 1930, due to ill health, and was succeeded by Charles Evans Hughes, whom he had appointed to the court while president. Taft died on Saturday, March 8. During the last summer of his life, Taft weighed about 244 pounds, one pound more than his average weight in college. Three days later, on March 11, he became the first American president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Helen, was reported to have said that his service as Secretary of War was what qualified him for burial there while, in fact, anyone who serves as president is entitled to burial at Arlington, since they were Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He is one of two presidents (the other being John F. Kennedy) and one of four chief justices buried at Arlington (the others being Earl Warren, Warren Burger, and William Rehnquist). He was the first chief justice not to have died in office since Oliver Ellsworth and the only chief justice to have been honored with a state funeral, since he served as president.
A third generation of the Taft family entered the national political stage in 1938. The former president's oldest son, Robert A. Taft I, was elected to the United States Senate. A vociferous critic of the New Deal, Robert Taft was a Republican leader in the Senate from 1939-1953. 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; the President's great-grandson, Robert A. Taft II, is the current Governor of Ohio. William Howard Taft III was U.S. ambassador to Ireland. William Howard Taft IV is a high official in the United States Department of State. President Taft's maternal cousin once removed was National Geographic editor Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor {a son-in-law of Alexander Graham Bell}.
When asked about his time on the Supreme Court and as President, Chief Justice Taft famously said "I don't remember that I ever was President."
Trivia
- Taft was severely overweight to the point that he became stuck in the bathtub in the White House several times, prompting the installation of a new bathtub capable of holding all of the men who installed it- a truth the White House denied until it was torn out years later. At 6 feet, and weighing over 350 pounds (159 kg), Taft was the heaviest President.(Jefferson, Lincoln, Johnson and Clinton were taller) There is some evidence that his mother started calling him "my pudgy-wudgy boy" before his fifth birthday. This may have led to his disdain for the word "pudgy." In fact, it was said that an aide blacked out "pudgy" from his morning newspaper.
- Taft was a member of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC
- In Manila, Philippines, an avenue is named after him, Taft Avenue. It is one of the busiest streets in the city and one of 2 major streets that the Light Rail Transit (LRT) passes through.
- Taft was the last US President to have had facial hair (in this case, a moustache) as of 2006.
- Taft was the first US President to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.
- Taft was the first US President to golf as a hobby.
- Taft was the first president to occupy the Oval Office when it was opened in October 1909.
- Taft was the first US President to own a presidential automobile. He converted the White House stables into a four-car garage in 1909. [1]
- Taft owned a cow, Pauline, which he let graze freely on the White House lawn. Pauline was the last cow to live at the White House, and provided milk for the president and his family. [2]
- Despite the fact that politics destroyed Taft's friendship with Teddy Roosevelt by 1912, the gracious Taft attended Roosevelt's private funeral in 1919 and reportedly wept mournfully at the passing of his one-time friend.
- A member of the Taft Court went on to serve as chief justice: Harlan Fiske Stone.
Media
See also
References
Primary sources
- Butt, Archie. Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt (1930)
- Taft, William Howard
- Liberty Under Law Yale University Press, 1922.
- Popular Government Yale University Press, 1913.
- Present Day Problems
- The Anti-Trust Act and the Supreme Court Harper and Row, 1914.
- The President and His Powers. Columbia University Press, 1924.
Secondary sources
- Anderson, Donald F. William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency (1973)
Anderson, Judith Icke. William Howard Taft: An Intimate History (1981).
- Burton, David H. Taft, Holmes, and the 1920s Court: An Appraisal (1998)
- Burton, David H. William Howard Taft, Confident Peacemaker (2005)
- Chace, James. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs -The Election that Changed the Country (2004)
- Coletta, Paolo Enrico. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973)
- Conner Valerie. The National War Labor Board' '(1983)
- Friedman, Leon, ed. The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Vol 3,
- Hechler, Kenneth S. Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft Era 1940.
- Manners, William. TR and Will: A Friendship that Split the Republican Party 1969.
- Minger Ralph E. William Howard Taft and United States Diplomacy: The Apprenticeship Years. 1900-1908 (1975)
- Mowry George E. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt (1958)
- Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography 2 vol (1939)
- Renstrom, Peter G. The Taft Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy ABC-CLIO, 2003
- Scholes, Walter V. and Marie V. Scholes. The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration 1970.
- Wilensky, Norman N. Conservatives in the Progressive Era: The Taft Republicans of 1912 (1965).
Primary Sources
- Butt, Archibald. Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt, Military Aide. 2 vols. (1930)
- Taft, William Howard. The Collected Works of William Howard Taft. Edited by David H. Burton. Ohio University Press, 2001-. 6 of 8 volumes have appeared.
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