William Howard Taft Facts - 27th President of USA

The twenty-seventh president of the United States of America William Howard Taft facts. He was born near Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15, 1857.

William Howard Taft Life

His mother, Louisa Torrey, graduated from Mount Holyoke College, and his father, Alphonso Taft, opened a law practice in 1839 in Cincinnati. His father was a well known Republican who served as a Secretary of War under Ulysses S. Grant, president. Taft was raised Unitarian and remained so for his entire life.

William Howard Taft Education

Taft attended Woodward High School. For college, he attended Yale College in Connecticut. In 1878, he graduated from Yale, and he was the second-ranked student in a class of 121. After college, he went to Cincinnati Law School and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1880.

William Howard Taft Marriage

When he was eighteen, he met Helen Herron, his future wife, and she and Taft courted when he was in college. They were married on June 19, 1886, at the home of her parents in Cincinnati. They had two sons and one daughter, Robert Alphonso Taft, Helen Taft, and Charles Phelps Taft II.

President William Howard Taft Facts

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States, and he later became the 10th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 attempt to gain the presidency.

His domestic policy involved trust-busting, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, civil service reform, the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment, and improving the job of the postal service.

Also, he worked to improve the economic development of undeveloped nations in Asia and Latin America using "Dollar Diplomacy." He did not wish to use the authority of the federal government to enforce the 15th Amendment which allowed African Americans to vote.

There were lynchings on African Americans, and Taft did nothing about it. In fact, Taft publicly stated that African Americans were inferior to Whites. Taft lost his second attempt for the presidency in the election of 1912.

Post Presidency Life

After the presidency, Taft spent time searching for world peace and he had a self-founded League in order to Enforce Peace. He was appointed as Chief Justice of the United States by President Warren G. Harding. He served from 1921 to 1930 when he died. He was the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The Taft family continues in politics in Ohio today.

William Howard Taft was the heaviest president ever elected and weighed in at around 300 pounds.  He was also the last U.S. president to have facial hair while president.

Read William H. Taft Life

NICKNAME
Big Bill

BIRTH
William Howard Taft was born in September 15, 1857
in Cincinnati, Ohio

MOTHER
Louisa (Louise) Maria Torey

FATHER
Alphonso Taft

SISTER
Frances

BROTHERS
Henry Waters and Horace Dutton

MARRIAGE
Helen (Nellie) Herron

CHILDREN
Robert Alphonso, Helen Herron, and Charles Phelps

EDUCATION
Woodward Highschool, Cincinnati, Ohio
B.A. from Yale University
University of Cincinnati Law School, 1880

RELIGION
Unitarian

PRE-PRESIDENCY PROFESSION
Lawyer; Judge

MILITARY SERVICE
None

POLITICAL LIFE

The assistant prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio (1881-1882)
Internal Revenue collector of Ohio's First District (1882-1883)
Assistant solicitor of Hamilton county (1885-1887)
Cincinnati Superior Court judge (1887-1890)
US solicitor general (1890-1892)
US Sixth Circuit Court judge commissioner(1900-1901)
Governor-general (1901-1904)
Secretary of War (1904-1908)
US President, one term (1909-1913)
Supreme Court Chief Justice of the U.S (1921-1930)

POLITICAL PARTY
Republican

INAUGURATION
March 4, 1909, House of Representatives,
at the age of 51
William Howard Taft - Inaugural Address

William Taft Administration

PRESIDENCY
One term (March 4, 1909-March 4, 1913)

VICE PRESIDENT
James S. Sherman (1909-1912)

FIRST LADY
Helen Taft (1909-1913)
Facts about Helen Taft
Biography of Helen Taft

SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS
Horace H. Lurton (1910)
Charles Evans Hughes (1910)
Edward D. White (1910)
Willis Van Devanter (1911)
Joseph R. Lamar (1911)
Mahlon Pitney (1912)

STATES ADMITTED TO UNION
New Mexico (1912)
Arizona (1912)

AMENDMENDMENTS ENACTED
16th Amendment

William Taft Cabinet

SECRETARY OF STATE
Philander C. Knox (1909-1913)

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Franklin MacVeagh (1909-1911)

SECRETARY OF WAR
Jacob M. Dickinson (1909-1911)
Henry L. Stimson (1911-1913)

ATTORNEY GENERAL
George W. Wickersham (1909-1913)

POSTMASTER GENERAL
Frank H. Hitchcock (1909-1913)

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
George Von Lengerke Meyer (1909-1913)

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
Richard A. Ballinger (1909-1913)
Walter L. Fisher (1909-1913)

SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
James Wilson (1909-1913)

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR
Charles Nagel (1909-1913)

POST PRESIDENCY LIFE

Supreme Court Chief Justice of the U.S (1921-1930)

DEATH
March 8, 1930, in Washington, D.C. at the age of 72

BURIAL PLACE
Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

LANDMARKS
Cincinnati, Ohio (birthplace)
Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia