- Born:
- September 15, 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
- Died:
- March 8, 1930, Washington, D.C. (aged 72)
- Political Affiliation:
- Republican Party
- Notable Family Members:
- spouse Helen Taft
- son Robert A. Taft
William Howard Taft
-
Who was William Howard Taft?
William Howard Taft (1857–1930) served as both the 27th president (1909–13) and the 10th chief justice (1921–30) of the United States.
Taft, chosen by Theodore Roosevelt to succeed him, alienated progressives, causing a Republican split in 1912 and his defeat in his bid for a second term. As president, Taft aligned with conservative Republicans, but he also launched twice as many antitrust prosecutions as Roosevelt and backed conservation. His foreign policy, known as Dollar Diplomacy, aimed to ensure financial stability in regions while protecting U.S. commercial interests.
After leaving the White House, Taft became a professor of constitutional law at Yale. In 1921, he was appointed chief justice, a role he found most fulfilling. Taft improved the Supreme Court's efficiency and influenced the Judge’s Act of 1925, giving the court more discretion in choosing cases.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What important job did Taft have in the United States government?
William Howard Taft held two significant positions in the U.S. government: as the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later as the 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930).
As president, Taft aimed to continue Theodore Roosevelt's progressive Republican agenda but ultimately alienated progressives, contributing to a split in the Republican Party. After his presidency, Taft became a professor of constitutional law at Yale. In 1921, he was appointed Chief Justice by President Warren G. Harding, a role in which he found great satisfaction. Taft improved the Supreme Court's efficiency and played a crucial role in the passage of the Judge’s Act of 1925, which allowed the court to focus on important constitutional issues.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Which years did Taft serve as President of the United States?
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States. He served one term, from 1909 to 1913. Although he was Theodore Roosevelt's hand-picked successor, Taft's presidency saw him siding with the Republican Party's more conservative members, which disappointed progressives. In the 1912 election, Taft's bid for a second term was unsuccessful, and he only won in two states.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What was special about Taft’s career after being president?
After his presidency, William Howard Taft became a professor of constitutional law at Yale. Following the US entry into World War I, he served on the National War Labor Board and advocated for American participation in the League of Nations.
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft as chief justice of the United States, a role he found to be the happiest period of his career. Taft improved the efficiency of the Supreme Court and played an important role in the passage of the Judge’s Act of 1925, which allowed the Supreme Court to focus on issues of national importance and constitutional questions. Although generally conservative, Taft insisted that injunctions should not interfere with workers' rights to organize and strike. Taft resigned as chief justice on February 3, 1930, due to heart disease and died a little over a month later.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How was Taft different from other U.S. presidents in his government service?
William Howard Taft stands out from other U.S. presidents because he uniquely served as both president (1909–1913) and Chief Justice (1921–1930).
Before his presidency, Taft was a judge on the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and held several minor political offices. After serving as president, Taft became a professor of constitutional law at Yale. Later, Warren G. Harding appointed him Chief Justice of the United States in 1921.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What were some major accomplishments of Taft as President and as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
William Howard Taft served as both the 27th President (1909-1913) and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930).
As President
Though he launched twice as many antitrust prosecutions as his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft's presidency saw him align with the Republican Party's more conservative members, which disappointed progressives.
As Chief Justice
Taft improved the Supreme Court's efficiency and was decisive in securing passage of the Judge’s Act of 1925, which gave the Supreme Court more discretion in choosing its cases to focus on constitutional questions and other issues of national importance. Although generally conservative, he insisted that court injunctions could not interfere with workers' rights to organize and strike. Taft's most important contribution to constitutional law was his opinion in Myers v. United States (1926), which upheld the president's authority to remove federal officials.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
William Howard Taft (born September 15, 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died March 8, 1930, Washington, D.C.) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–13) and 10th chief justice of the United States (1921–30). As the choice of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt to succeed him and carry on the progressive Republican agenda, Taft as president alienated the progressives—and later Roosevelt—thereby contributing greatly to the split in Republican ranks in 1912, to the formation of the Bull Moose Party (also known as the Progressive Party), and to his humiliating defeat that year in his bid for a second term.
Early political career
The son of Alphonso Taft, secretary of war and attorney general (1876–77) under Pres. Ulysses S. Grant, and Louisa Maria Torrey, Taft graduated second in his Yale class of 1878, studied law, and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1880. Drawn to politics in the Republican Party, he served in several minor appointive offices until 1887, when he was named to fill the unfinished term of a judge of the superior court of Ohio. The following year he was elected to a five-year term of his own, the only time he ever attained office via popular vote other than his election to the presidency. From 1892 to 1900 he served as a judge of the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, where he made several decisions hostile to organized labor. He upheld the use of an injunction to stop a strike by railroad workers, and he declared illegal the use of a secondary boycott. On the other hand, he upheld the rights of workers to organize, to join a union, and to strike, and he extended the power of the injunction to enforce antitrust laws.
Taft resigned his judgeship on March 15, 1900, to accept appointment by Pres. William McKinley to serve as chairman of the Second Philippine Commission. Charged with organizing civil government in the islands following the Spanish-American War (1898), Taft displayed considerable talent as an executive and administrator. In 1901 he became the first civilian governor of the Philippines, concentrating in that post on the economic development of the islands. Fond of and very popular among the Philippine people, Taft twice refused to leave the islands when offered appointment to the Supreme Court by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. In 1904 he agreed to return to Washington to serve as Roosevelt’s secretary of war, with the stipulation that he could continue to supervise Philippine affairs.
Although dissimilar in both physique and temperament, the rotund, easygoing Taft and the muscular, almost-manic Roosevelt nonetheless became close friends; the president regarded his secretary of war as a trusted adviser. When Roosevelt declined to run for reelection, he threw his support to Taft, who won the 1908 Republican nomination and defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the electoral college by 321 votes to 162. Progressive Republicans, who had found their champion in Theodore Roosevelt, now expected Roosevelt’s handpicked successor to carry forward their reform agenda.
At a glance: the Taft presidency
Presidency
However, progressives soon found abundant reason to be disappointed with Taft. Temperamentally, he lacked Roosevelt’s compelling leadership qualities, which had inspired people to charge into battle against all that was wrong in American society. Politically, Taft offended progressives when he failed to appoint any from their ranks to his cabinet. He further angered progressives when he backed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909, a highly protectionist measure that ironically was the product of a special session of Congress called (by Taft) to revise tariff rates downward. Progressives, who favored lower tariffs, expected a veto. When Taft not only signed the tariff but called it “the best bill that the party has ever passed,” the rupture in Republican ranks seemed unlikely to be mended.
Despite his close relationship with Roosevelt, Taft as president aligned himself with the more conservative members in the Republican Party. He did prove to be a vigorous trustbuster, however, launching twice as many antitrust prosecutions as had his progressive predecessor. He also backed conservation of natural resources, another key component of the progressive reform program. But when he fired Gifford Pinchot—head of the Bureau of Forestry, ardent conservationist, and close friend of Roosevelt—Taft severed whatever support he still had among Republican progressives.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
Roosevelt returned from an African safari in 1910, and progressives quickly urged him to come out publicly in opposition to his political protégé. At first Roosevelt declined to criticize Taft by name, but by 1912 a breach between the former friends was clearly evident. When Roosevelt decided to challenge Taft for the Republican presidential nomination, the two attacked each other mercilessly in the Republican primary elections. The primary results proved beyond doubt that Republican voters wanted Roosevelt to be the party’s standard-bearer in 1912, but Taft’s forces controlled the convention and secured the nomination for the incumbent. Believing that the convention had been rigged and that their man had been cheated out of the nomination he deserved, Republican progressives bolted their party to form the Bull Moose (or Progressive) Party and nominated Roosevelt as their presidential candidate.
The split in Republican ranks assured the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt came in a distant second, and Taft, capturing less than a quarter of the popular vote, won just two states—Utah and Vermont. In the electoral college, Taft set a record for the poorest performance by an incumbent president seeking reelection: He won a mere 8 electoral votes compared with 88 for Roosevelt and 435 for Wilson.
As president, Taft frequently claimed that “politics makes me sick.” Never eager for the office, he had been prodded to pursue it by his wife, Helen Herron Taft, whom he had married in 1886. As first lady, she was a key political adviser to her husband.