William Howard Taft

Notable people · President · Justice

William Howard Taft

Twenty-seventh president and tenth Chief Justice of the United States, born and trained as a lawyer and judge in Cincinnati.

Born September 15, 1857, Cincinnati (Mount Auburn, 2038 Auburn Avenue)
Died March 8, 1930, Washington, DC

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: September 15, 1857, Cincinnati (Mount Auburn, 2038 Auburn Avenue) (Hamilton County) source
Died: March 8, 1930, Washington, DC source
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, VA source
Also known as: Gentle Giant
Education: Woodward High School, Cincinnati, OH
: Yale College, New Haven, CT, 1874-1878, BA
: Cincinnati Law School, Cincinnati, OH, LL.B. 1880
Known as: President, Justice
Organizations: Yale University, University of Cincinnati

Life story

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati in 1857, son of Alphonso Taft, a judge who later served as Secretary of War and Attorney General. He attended Woodward High School and Yale, finishing second in his class in 1878.

He took his law degree at Cincinnati Law School in 1880 and worked as a prosecutor, then a judge on the Superior Court of Cincinnati from 1887. He married Helen Herron in 1886.

His career then moved out of Ohio: Solicitor General, federal appeals judge, head of the Philippines commission and governor-general, and Secretary of War. He became president in 1909 and lost the 1912 race.

In 1921 President Harding made him Chief Justice, the job he had long wanted, and he held it until a few weeks before his death in 1930. He is the only person to have led both the executive and judicial branches, and is buried at Arlington.

Ohio ties

Cincinnati (Mount Auburn) (1857-1899)
birthplace and boyhood home; Taft family owned the house from 1851 to 1899 Hamilton County · source
Cincinnati (Woodward High School; Cincinnati Law School) (1870s; 1878-1880)
high school; law degree 1880 Hamilton County · source
Hamilton County (1881-1883)
assistant prosecutor; collector of internal revenue for Ohio's 1st district Hamilton County · source
Cincinnati (1887-1890)
judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati Hamilton County · source
Cincinnati (1892-1900)
U.S. Sixth Circuit judge; dean and professor of property at Cincinnati Law School from 1896 Hamilton County · source
Cincinnati (Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike Street) (1908)
accepted the Republican presidential nomination from the portico of his half-brother's house Hamilton County · source

Timeline

1851 Alphonso Taft bought the Mount Auburn house and 1.82 acres for $10,100 on June 13. source
1857 Born September 15 in the Mount Auburn house. source
1878 Graduated from Yale College, second in a class of 121. source
1880 Earned a law degree at Cincinnati Law School and was named assistant prosecutor for Hamilton County. source
1882 Appointed collector of internal revenue for Ohio's 1st district by President Chester A. Arthur; resigned in March 1883. source
1886 Married Helen 'Nellie' Herron on June 19 at the Herron home. source
1887 Appointed by Governor Joseph B. Foraker to the Superior Court of Cincinnati; elected to a full term in 1888. source
1892 Became a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (served to 1900). source
1896 Became dean and professor of property at Cincinnati Law School. source
1899 The Taft family sold the Mount Auburn house. source
1908 Accepted the Republican presidential nomination from the portico of the Charles Phelps Taft house on Pike Street. source
1921 Appointed Chief Justice of the United States by fellow Ohioan Warren G. Harding. source
1930 Died March 8 in Washington; buried at Arlington, the first president interred there. source
1969 The Mount Auburn house became the William Howard Taft National Historic Site on December 2. source

What William is known for

27th US president
10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930)
Restructured the State Department into geographic divisions
Supported the Sixteenth Amendment (income tax)

Stories

Like father, like son on the Cincinnati bench

Alphonso Taft, a founder of Yale's Skull and Bones society, sat as a judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati from 1866 to 1872 before going back to private practice with two of his sons. In 1876 President Grant made him secretary of war and then attorney general. Fifteen years after Alphonso left the court, Governor Joseph B. Foraker appointed 29-year-old William Howard Taft to a vacancy on the same Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1887. William won a full term in 1888. Alphonso is buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery.

Source

Saving the house on Auburn Avenue

After the Tafts sold their Mount Auburn house in 1899, later owners changed it, replacing the veranda with a one-story porch. By 1961 it was in poor condition, and restoration was estimated at $92,500. The William Howard Taft Memorial Association used letters and diary entries by Taft's mother, Louise, to return the house to its look during his childhood. The association handed it to the National Park Service, and it became a National Historic Site in 1969. Five first-floor rooms are restored, including the room where Taft was born, though most furniture is period pieces rather than Taft family belongings.

Source

Honors and things named for them

William Howard Taft National Historic Site, Cincinnati
First president and first Supreme Court justice buried at Arlington

Family

father: Alphonso Taft
mother: Louise Torrey Taft
wife: Helen Herron Taft
son: Robert A. Taft
son: Charles Phelps Taft II
daughter: Helen Taft Manning

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 William Howard Taft National Historic Site, 2038 Auburn Avenue
Cincinnati Hamilton County · source
2 Taft Museum of Art (Charles Phelps Taft house), 316 Pike Street
Cincinnati Hamilton County · source

Places in Ohio to see

William Howard Taft National Historic Site (home)
2038 Auburn Ave, Cincinnati, Hamilton County ZIP 45219 · Cincinnati · Hamilton County · official page

Ohio places

Where William Howard Taft was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Cincinnati, Hamilton County (William Howard Taft National Historic Site, 2038 Auburn Ave) ZIP 45219 · Cincinnati · Hamilton County
School: Cincinnati, Hamilton County (University of Cincinnati law degree (Yale BA)) Cincinnati · Hamilton County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about William Howard Taft, and what the record shows.

Often said Taft got stuck in the White House bathtub and had to be pried out.

The record No documentary evidence supports it. The story first appeared about two decades after he left office, in White House usher Ike Hoover's 1934 memoir. Taft did use custom oversized tubs, including a porcelain tub over seven feet long built after his 1908 election for a Panama Canal trip and photographed with four men sitting in it, which makes getting stuck unlikely. source

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Three Presidents Under Whose Direction the Canal was Built Subject: Presidents--United States, Roosevelt, Theo...
Public domain
Adres wydawniczy: Cincinnati, Ohio : The Jones Brothers Publ. Company, cop. 1918Opis fizyczny: [2], 314 s., [1...
Public domain
No known restrictions
Title: New Roosevelt Cabinet group complete Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print.
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Title: NO CAPTION Abstract/medium: Harris & Ewing photograph collection Physical description: 1 negative :
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Title: President Taft's horse - "Surette" Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
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Title: Taft at Bryn Mawr Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
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Title: Taft at Commencement - Bryn Mawr College Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
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Title: Taft at desk Abstract/medium: 1 transparency : glass ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller
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Title: Taft at Trenton Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
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Title: Taft cottage, exterior, Augusta Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
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Title: Taft in auto Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
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