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.

            

Biographical Sketch © 2002 Damon Leigh (ASCAP)

Presidential Portrait © 2002 Chas Fagan