William Howard Taft

President (1909–1913) and chief justice of the United States (1921–1930)

• Born: September 15, 1857
• Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Died: March 8, 1930
• Place of death: Washington, DC

Taft’s administration was responsible for the establishment of a postal savings bank, a tax on corporate income, further regulation of the railroads, the creation of a budget surplus, civil service reform, the establishment of a children’s bureau, and the admission of New Mexico and Arizona as states. As a conservative chief justice, a position in which he was most effective, he consistently supported the right of labor to organize, to bargain, and to strike, and also supported a minimum wage for women and children.

Early Life

William Howard Taft was the oldest son of Alphonso Taft and his second wife, Louise Torrey Taft. The Tafts were remarkably close; they all took a lively interest in Taft’s career, and his brother Charles provided the financial subsidy that made Taft’s public service possible. His father had served as secretary of war and as attorney general in the cabinet of President Ulysses S. Grant. Alphonso failed to win election as the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio but under President Chester A. Arthur was minister to Vienna and St. Petersburg.

The Puritan heritage of the Taft family emphasized hard work and the value of an education. Young Taft accepted these family values and, like his brothers, was a good student. He was graduated second in his class at Yale in 1878. He returned to Cincinnati to attend law school and in 1880 was appointed assistant prosecutor of Hamilton County (in which Cincinnati was situated). Not until 1913 did Taft leave the public service that he so enjoyed and for which he was so well-suited by temperament.

Taft was always large, and eventually obese. With his fair hair, blue eyes, and walrus mustache, the six-foot, three-hundred-pound Taft was a fine figure of a man. He was always good-natured and thoughtful, with an infectious chuckle that remained throughout his life as one of his most endearing characteristics. Though he described himself as lazy and a procrastinator, Taft was capable of prodigious effort and was always conscientious. Though he was a Unitarian, Taft was tolerant of the faiths of others. Like his father and most members of his social class, Taft was a staunch Republican, and he never deviated from a strong party loyalty and a belief that only the Republicans could keep the nation moving securely forward.

In 1885, Taft was appointed assistant county solicitor, not nearly as important to Taft as the fact that he had fallen in love. In 1886, he married Nellie (Helen) Herron, an attorney’s daughter who was intelligent and ambitious, and had strong convictions—qualities that Taft found admirable in a woman. After a European honeymoon, they built a home in Cincinnati. The following year, Taft was appointed judge of the superior court and in 1888 was elected to a full term. Already his judicial career had led Taft to cast his eyes and his hopes to the United States Supreme Court, a hope encouraged by his appointment as solicitor general in 1890 and to the federal circuit court in 1892. Taft’s family, meanwhile, had grown to include a son, Robert (later to become a distinguished US senator), a daughter, Helen, and six years later, their last son, Charles (later mayor of Cincinnati).

As a judge, Taft venerated the law and considered adherence to it a prerequisite for national stability. Though some of his decisions seemed antilabor, Taft was sympathetic to the workers and upheld their right to organize and to strike. He took a strong stand against the trusts, a position that drew him closer to one of his Washington friends, Theodore Roosevelt.

Life’s Work

In 1900, Taft was called to Washington, DC, where President William McKinley urged him to take on the responsibility of chair of the Philippine Commission, assuring him that it would not endanger his chances of elevation to the Supreme Court. Taft had originally opposed the United States’ acquisition of the Philippines, but once it was an American possession, Taft saw it as his duty to guide the Philippines toward eventual self-government. With the encouragement of his beloved Nellie, Taft accepted the chairmanship and set sail for Manila.

Taft was well-suited to his task; he was patient, tolerant, affectionate, and stubborn when necessary (which it often was as he clashed with military governor General Arthur MacArthur). Taft came to love and respect the people of the Philippines. His judicial mind and basic impartiality made him effective in his position, so much so that in 1901 he was sworn in as civilian governor of the island. The capture of Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the native insurgents, and his oath of allegiance to the US government made Taft’s job easier. Taft particularly concerned himself with organizing municipal government, establishing an honest judiciary, and finding sources of adequate revenue for the Philippines.

Taft was distressed by news of the death of President McKinley but rejoiced at the elevation of his dear friend Roosevelt to the presidency. Taft suffered from overwork and the debilitating climate and briefly returned to the United States after two operations. He next traveled to Rome to settle the ongoing dispute over land that had once belonged to the Spanish friars but that the native insurgents claimed as captured lands. Once again he brought order out of chaos and obtained a settlement satisfactory to both sides before returning to the Philippines. Taft was deeply committed to the Philippines and the development of a stable government there. On two separate occasions he declined appointment to the Supreme Court. For Taft, duty came always first, and he believed that his major responsibility at that time was in the Philippines. At last, however, President Roosevelt laid greater claim to Taft’s abilities, and in 1903, he was named secretary of war in Roosevelt’s cabinet. Roosevelt valued Taft’s legal mind and often used him to act as president pro tempore while he was away. Taft’s service in the Philippines lent great prestige to the 1904 campaign. As secretary of war, Taft traveled widely again to the Philippines, to Japan, to Mexico, to CubaCuba, and to the Panama Canal. He briefly acted as provisional governor of Cuba in 1906 and used his influence to reestablish local government under new election laws. Again Taft was offered appointment to the Supreme Court, and again he declined, this time to pursue the presidency itself. He seemed more and more likely to be the party’s choice to succeed Roosevelt (who had earlier announced that he would not be a candidate). He was indeed nominated and, with vigorous support from Roosevelt, was elected in 1908. He prepared to complete the work of reform begun by Roosevelt.

Taft and Roosevelt, however, differed in political experience, in style of government, and, most important, in their interpretation of the Constitution. Roosevelt had always believed that he and the government could do anything not specifically forbidden; Taft, with his legal background, was a strict constructionist who believed that he and the government ought to act only in those areas specifically authorized by the Constitution. Although Taft was as genuine a reformer as Roosevelt, his more limited view of presidential activism made him appear to his contemporaries as far more conservative than he really was.

In the area of foreign policy, Taft followed dollar diplomacy both in Asia and in Latin America. He supported Japan rather than China in the Pacific and stood aside while Mexico endured a series of revolutionary upheavals. Taft was devoted to the idea of peace and supported arbitration treaties among the nations as an alternative to war.

In his four years as president, Taft gained more than adequate Progressive credentials. He brought antitrust suits against ninety corporations, compared with only fifty-four in the nearly eight years of Roosevelt’s administration. Taft, however, had none of Roosevelt’s political skill, nor was he able to use the press to publicize his accomplishments. In an era in which support for Progressive reform still ran strong, Taft was seldom credited for what he did. His administration was responsible for the establishment of a postal savings bank, a tax on corporate income, further regulation of the railroads, the creation of a budget surplus, civil service reform, the establishment of a children’s bureau, and the admission of New Mexico and Arizona as states.

All these accomplishments, however, were overshadowed by major crises, or blunders, which together alienated Taft from Roosevelt and lost him much of the Progressive support necessary for successful reelection. The first crisis occurred when reformist congressional insurgents determined to reduce the extensive powers of Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon. Though largely in sympathy with this purpose, Taft remained aloof from the fight, believing in the separation of the executive and legislative branches of government. His private letters reveal his support for reform, but he was publicly identified with the conservative leadership. The second crisis occurred over the issue of tariff reform (a politically divisive issue that Roosevelt had avoided for eight years). Again, although Taft supported reform, the measure that he supported did not go far enough to satisfy Progressive reformers. The mixed rates of the heavily amended Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 were unwisely supported by Taft in such glowing terms that, once again, he alienated reformers who had hoped for more.

Specifically alienating not only Progressive reformers but also Roosevelt were Taft’s actions in the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy and the United States Steel case. Interior Secretary Richard Achilles Ballinger was heavily criticized by Roosevelt’s protégé Gifford Pinchot who served under Ballinger and accused him of corruption and misuse of federal lands in connection with territory in Alaska that had been set aside for government use but was later released for sale to the public. Pinchot’s criticism continued publicly after Ballinger was exonerated of any wrongdoing, and Taft had no alternative but to fire him for insubordination. Roosevelt saw this as a personal affront. Similarly, Roosevelt viewed as a personal attack Taft’s antitrust suit against the United States Steel Corporation for an earlier purchase of another steel company. Taft was unaware that in the economic crisis of 1907 Roosevelt had approved the purchase and given his word that there would be no government antitrust suit.

By 1912, Roosevelt had decided to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination, and Taft prepared to fight him for it, convinced that Roosevelt had become so radical that he was a danger to the nation. Taft controlled the party machinery and was renominated by the Republicans. Roosevelt turned to the Progressive Party and became their nominee. The bitter split between these two men made it all the easier for Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson to be elected president. Taft ran a poor third, carrying only the states of Utah and Vermont. Taft was a gracious loser, and in his remaining months in office, he regained much of the personal popularity that he had enjoyed when he was first elected president.

When he left the White House, Taft accepted a position as a law professor at Yale University. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he traveled widely and gave many speeches and wrote numerous articles to supplement his income. He also chaired the Lincoln Memorial Commission. By 1916, he had become reconciled with Roosevelt (in public at least) and ardently supported Hughes in opposition to Wilson, who by now was bitterly disliked by both Taft and Roosevelt.

When war broke out, Taft was eager to preserve neutrality but rallied to the nation’s support after the United States entered the war in 1917. He supported the League of Nations as a logical successor to the League to Enforce Peace, which Taft had chaired in 1915. During the war, Taft was joint chair (with Frank P. Walsh) of the National War Labor Board and its successor, the War Labor Conference Board. Once again, his judicial mind was a great asset as was his realistic approach to the needs of labor.

Taft rejoiced in the election of Republican Warren Harding as president in 1920. His lifelong ambition was at last fulfilled when he was appointed chief justice of the United States in 1921. Taft was a hardworking member of the court, finally damaging his health by overwork. His tendency toward conservatism had grown more pronounced, especially in the areas of social legislation. Taft’s radiant warmth and sincere desire for harmony did much to improve the efficiency of a court often divided on the issues. Taft was especially close to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and relied on the intelligence of Louis D. Brandeis, in spite of their great differences on social issues.

The court, under Taft, faced a heavy work load, primarily as a result of cases carried over from the war years, cases arising under the income tax laws, and cases involving Prohibition. Taft remained a conservative but was surprisingly sympathetic to labor. He consistently supported the right of labor to organize, to bargain, and to strike, but accorded labor no special privileges. He also supported a minimum wage for women and children. Taft supported a fairly broad interpretation of federal power to regulate business in the public interest, especially in cases under the Interstate Commerce Act. He was concerned as well over the general disrespect for the law engendered by the disregard of the Prohibition laws. As chief justice, Taft worked to preserve the harmony of the court, seldom dissenting from the majority decision.

Taft was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1922, and he and his wife enjoyed the associations with royalty that the trip to England involved. He maintained a good Republican’s interest in politics and privately supported the election of both Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. Gradually, however, Taft’s health failed, and he resigned from the Supreme Court in February 1930. He died on March 8 and was buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Significance

Taft was a monumental man whose imprint on the United States was felt in many ways. He was a superb administrator of the Philippines, where his genuine affection for the people did much to assuage their dislike for a colonial overlord. He served well as secretary of war and was a valuable asset to Roosevelt’s administration. As president, however, his weaknesses were more apparent. His judicial mind and temperament were ill-suited to the turbulent world of politics, particularly in the era of Progressive reform in which he governed. The public was never aware of Taft’s concern and support for reform, and Taft never perceived the importance of public opinion or the value of publicity. He was inclined to let his accomplishments speak for themselves; thus, it has been posterity that has most accurately valued his contributions.

Bibliography

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