Origins
William Howard Taft was born on September 15, 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a family with established political connections and professional achievement. His father, Alphonso Taft, served as Secretary of War and Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant, later becoming a diplomat. This patrician background provided young William with access to educational opportunities and political networks that would shape his career. Taft attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati before enrolling at Yale College, where he graduated second in his class in 1878. He subsequently earned his law degree from Cincinnati Law School in 1880, embarking on a legal career that would define his professional identity far more than electoral politics.
Taft’s path to the presidency was distinctly judicial rather than legislative. He served as a judge on the Ohio Superior Court (1887-1890), as Solicitor General of the United States (1890-1892), and as a federal circuit court judge (1892-1900). His administrative abilities led President William McKinley to appoint him as the first civilian Governor of the Philippines in 1901, where he oversaw the American colonial administration. President Theodore Roosevelt subsequently appointed Taft as Secretary of War in 1904, making him Roosevelt’s closest cabinet ally and eventual chosen successor. Roosevelt’s enthusiastic endorsement proved decisive in securing Taft the Republican nomination in 1908, and he defeated Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan by a comfortable margin, winning 321 electoral votes to Bryan’s 162.
Presidency
Taft’s domestic agenda continued Progressive Era reforms but with a more legalistic approach than his predecessor’s activist style. His administration initiated more antitrust prosecutions than Roosevelt’s, including suits against Standard Oil and American Tobacco Company. Taft supported the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, establishing the federal income tax, and the Seventeenth Amendment, providing for direct election of senators. However, his presidency became mired in controversy over tariff reform. The Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909, which Taft defended despite its failure to substantially lower rates, alienated Progressive Republicans. His dismissal of Gifford Pinchot, the popular chief of the Forest Service, during the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy further fractured the Republican coalition and deepened the rift with Roosevelt.
In foreign affairs, Taft pursued what historians term “Dollar Diplomacy,” seeking to substitute economic investment for military intervention in protecting American interests abroad. His administration encouraged American bankers to invest in Central America and the Caribbean to stabilize those regions and reduce European influence. Taft also promoted American commercial interests in China through participation in international banking consortiums. While this approach avoided significant military entanglements, critics argued it subordinated foreign policy to corporate interests. Taft successfully negotiated arbitration treaties with Britain and France, though the Senate modified them substantially before ratification, limiting their effectiveness.
Historical Significance
Taft left office in March 1913 having finished third in the 1912 election, behind both Democrat Woodrow Wilson and Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. The Republican split enabled Wilson’s victory and ushered in eight years of Democratic governance. Taft’s single term represented a transitional moment in Progressive Era politics, demonstrating the tensions between conservative and insurgent Republican factions that would continue shaping the party’s identity. His administration’s trust-busting record and support for constitutional amendments nonetheless contributed to lasting structural changes in American governance.
Historical assessments of Taft have generally placed him in the middle ranks of American presidents. Scholars note that his judicial temperament ill-suited the increasingly activist expectations of the modern presidency that Roosevelt had cultivated. Taft himself found greater fulfillment in his subsequent appointment as Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930), the only person to have led both the executive and judicial branches. His tenure on the Supreme Court, where he modernized federal judiciary administration and authored significant opinions, has received more favorable scholarly treatment than his presidency. Taft’s career thus illustrates how individual temperament and institutional context interact to shape presidential effectiveness, and how historical reputation may diverge from contemporary political success.
Key Developments
- September 15, 1857: Born in Cincinnati, Ohio
- June 19, 1886: Married Helen Herron in Cincinnati
- 1901: Appointed first civilian Governor of the Philippines
- 1904: Named Secretary of War under President Theodore Roosevelt
- November 3, 1908: Elected twenty-seventh President of the United States
- March 4, 1909: Inaugurated as President
- August 5, 1909: Signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act
- January 1910: Dismissed Gifford Pinchot, sparking the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy
- May 1911: Supreme Court ordered dissolution of Standard Oil under Sherman Antitrust Act
- November 5, 1912: Finished third in presidential election behind Wilson and Roosevelt
- June 30, 1921: Appointed Chief Justice of the United States by President Harding
- March 8, 1930: Died in Washington, D.C.