William Howard Taft (1857 - 1930)

Born 15 Sep 1857 in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Helen Louise (Herron) Taft — married 19 Jun 1886 in Bride's parents home in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Descendants

Died 8 Mar 1930 at age 72 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: US Presidents Project WikiTree [send private message] and Ed Burke [send private message]

William Taft was the President of the United States. Join: US Presidents Project Discuss: presidents

Preceded by 26th President Theodore Roosevelt Preceded by 41st Secretary Elihu Root

William Howard Taft 27th President of the United States 1909 – 1913 42nd United States Secretary of War 1904—1908

Succeeded by 28th President Woodrow Wilson Succeeded by 43rd Secretary Luke Edward Wright

Biography

William Taft is Notable.

William Taft was an Ohioan.

William Howard Taft 27th US President

William Howard Taft was the twenty-seventh president of the United States. He served from 1909 through 1913. Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but poor politician, William Howard Taft spent four uncomfortable years in the White House. Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between Progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration.

Born in 1857, the son of a distinguished judge, he graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study and then practice law. While attending Yale, "Big Lub" as he was called, was nominated to be a member of 'Skull and Bones', the most famous secret society in America. His father, and one-time Attorney General, Alphonso Taft, co-founded 'Skull and Bones' as a Yale student in 1832. The rumor is that Yale junior class members are tapped for membership each fall by measure of leadership, influence and breeding. Two other US Presidents (both George Bush) were members of this group as well as many senators, congressmen and business titans.

Taft rose in politics through Republican judiciary appointments, through his own competence and availability, and because, as he once wrote facetiously, he always had his "plate the right side up when offices were falling."

But Taft much preferred law to politics. He was appointed a Federal circuit judge at 34. He aspired to be a member of the Supreme Court, but his wife, Helen Herron Taft, held other ambitions for him.

His route to the White House was via administrative posts. President McKinley sent him to the Philippines in 1900 as chief civil administrator. Sympathetic toward the Filipinos, he improved the economy, built roads and schools, and gave the people at least some participation in government.

President Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and by 1907 had decided that Taft should be his successor. The Republican Convention nominated him the next year.

Taft disliked the campaign--"one of the most uncomfortable four months of my life." But he pledged his loyalty to the Roosevelt program, popular in the West, while his brother Charles reassured eastern Republicans. William Jennings Bryan, running on the Democratic ticket for a third time, complained that he was having to oppose two candidates, a western progressive Taft and an eastern conservative Taft.

Progressives were pleased with Taft's election. "Roosevelt has cut enough hay," they said; "Taft is the man to put it into the barn." Conservatives were delighted to be rid of Roosevelt--the "mad messiah."

Taft recognized that his techniques would differ from those of his predecessor. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did not believe in the stretching of Presidential powers. He once commented that Roosevelt "ought more often to have admitted the legal way of reaching the same ends."

Taft alienated many liberal Republicans who later formed the Progressive Party, by defending the Payne-Aldrich Act which unexpectedly continued high tariff rates. A trade agreement with Canada, which Taft pushed through Congress, would have pleased eastern advocates of a low tariff, but the Canadians rejected it. He further antagonized Progressives by upholding his Secretary of the Interior, accused of failing to carry out Roosevelt's conservation policies.

In the angry Progressive onslaught against him, little attention was paid to the fact that his administration initiated 80 antitrust suits and that Congress submitted to the states amendments for a Federal income tax and the direct election of Senators. A postal savings system was established, and the Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to set railroad rates.

In 1912, when the Republicans renominated Taft, Roosevelt bolted the party to lead the Progressives, thus guaranteeing the election of Woodrow Wilson.

Taft, free of the Presidency, served as Professor of Law at Yale until President Harding made him Chief Justice of the United States, a position he held until just before his death in 1930. To Taft, the appointment was his greatest honor; he wrote: "I don't remember that I ever was President." ,

William Howard Taft was born into the powerful Taft family September 15, 1857, near Cincinnati, Ohio as[3] the son of Louisa Torrey and Alphonso Taft. His paternal grandfather was Peter Rawson Taft, a descendant of Robert Taft I, the first Taft in America, who settled in Colonial Massachusetts. Alphonso Taft went to Cincinnati in 1839 to open a law practice,[4] and was a prominent Republican who served as Secretary of War and Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant.

After admission to the Ohio bar, Taft was appointed Assistant Prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio,[12] based in Cincinnati. In 1882, he was appointed local Collector of Internal Revenue.[13] Taft married his longtime sweetheart, Helen Herron (Nellie), in Cincinnati in 1886.[12]

President William H. Taft loved baseball, just like most everyone else. Baseball is still America's National Pastime! Even though so many younger folks love the action of football and there is the Super Bowl, Baseball still rules because of it's long history in America. President Taft helped with that in 1910, when he started the tradition of 'throwing the first pitch', now a presidential tradition.^[1]President Taft was definitely a baseball fanatic. During his four years in office he attended 14 games. One time the game was delayed, "not because of his entrance, but because of the applause!"^[2]

President Taft was a 'lover of music'. The Philippine Constabulary Band was formed on October 15, 1902 by Colonel Walter Loving upon the instructions of Governor-General Taft, who was known as a "music lover. The Philippines was famous abroad before the first world war for their 'Philippine Constabulary Band'. The 86-piece band toured the United States to great acclaim, leading the parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate President Taft's 1909 presidential inauguration. President Taft gets all the credit for establishing such incredible 'band sounds' for the country of the Philippines!^[3]

Personal details

Born: September 15, 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.[[1]]

Died: March 8, 1930 (aged 72), Washington, D.C., U.S., Resting place[[2]], Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

Spouse: Helen Herron(June 2, 1861 – May 22, 1943), married June 19, 1886, at the home of the bride's parents in Cincinnati

Children: Robert Alonso Taft(1889–1953) , Helen Taft(1891–1987, Charles Phelps Taft (1897–1983)

Political party: Republican

Alma mater: Yale University, University of Cincinnati

Profession: Lawyer, Jurist

Occupation: lawyer, Secretary of War , Chief Justice of the United States, 27th President of the United States

Religion: Unitarian

Freemasons: "William Howard Taft September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930 March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 Made a Mason at Sight on February 18, 1909 in Kilwinning Lodge No. 356, Cincinnati, Ohio"

Sources

• Wikipedia:William_Howard_Taft
• Freemasons
• Find A Grave: Memorial #1014
• a 2nd source for the Freemasons Kilwinning Lodge

Source: S133 Abbreviation: Chub, Methiable (David Cheney, Columbus) Title: Chub, Methiable (David Cheney, Columbus) Publication: David E. Cheney, Columbus, Ohio, descendant of Ebenezer Cheney and Sarah Jones. Paranthetical: Y

Source: S178 Abbreviation: The White House, www.whitehouse.gov Title: The White House, www.whitehouse.gov Text: The White House, www.whitehouse.gov, accessed March 13, 2007 Paranthetical: Y

The 15 Most Powerful Members Of 'Skull And Bones' (http://www.businessinsider.com/skull-and-bones-alumni-2011-2?op=1 : accessed 30 Aug 2014)

1. ↑ Event of Interest; April 14, 1910 President Taft begins a Tradition
2. ↑ Baseball Almanac; President William Taft Baseball Game Attendance Log
3. ↑ Philippine Constabulary; courtesy of Wikipedia

Acknowledgements

WikiTree profile Taft-79 created through the import of Cheney 21 Feb 2012.ged on Feb 21, 2012 by Deborah Mayes. See the [http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Taft-79.