William Howard Taft was born on September 15, 1857 in
Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was Judge Alphonso Taft and his
mother was Louisa Maria Torrey Taft. He was a graduate of Yale
College and Cincinnati Law School. He served as our nation’s
27th President from March 4, 1909 to March 3, 1913.
Mr. Taft was a lawyer. He was also a judge in the Ohio
Superior Court and later became United States
Solicitor-General. He then served as a judge on the U.S.
Circuit Court. After the Spanish-American War, he was
appointed to be Governor of The Philippines. He was later
Theodore Roosevelt’s Secretary of War. Long after he retired
from the Presidency, he was appointed to be Chief Justice of
the United States Supreme Court (1921-1930).
William Howard Taft married Helen Herron in 1886. They had
three children: Robert, Helen and Charles. Mr. Taft was the
“hand-picked” political successor of Theodore Roosevelt.
Mr. Roosevelt expected Mr. Taft to continue the progressive
policies of the Roosevelt Administration. When Mr. Taft failed
to do that, Mr. Roosevelt became so upset with his protégé
that he bolted the Republican Party and ran against Taft in
1912 under the banner of the “Bull Moose” Party. That
split the Republican vote. Democrat Woodrow Wilson was thus
able to win the election.
President William Howard Taft died on March 8, 1930 in
Washington, D.C. He was 72 years old. |