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Quick Facts
- NAME: William Howard Taft
- OCCUPATION: Academic, Supreme Court Justice, U.S. President
- BIRTH DATE: September 15, 1857
- DEATH DATE: March 08, 1930
- EDUCATION: Yale College, University of Cincinnati College of Law
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Cincinnati, Ohio
- PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.
- Full Name: William Howard Taft
- AKA: William H. Taft
- Nickname: "Big Lub"
- AKA: William Taft
- Nickname: "Old Bill"
Best Known For
William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, fulfilled a lifelong dream when he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, becoming the only person to have served as both a U.S. chief justice and president.
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Theodore Roosevelt - Bull Moose Party
After promising the American people he would not run for re-election in 1908, Roosevelt kept his word and hand picked his successor, William Howard Taft. Yet Taft began to undo Roosevelt's work, prompting him to run for office again.
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Play NowWilliam Howard Taft. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:30, May 18, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184.
William Howard Taft. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184 [Accessed 18 May 2013].
"William Howard Taft." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 18 2013, 04:30 http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184.
"William Howard Taft," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184 [accessed May 18, 2013].
"William Howard Taft," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184 (accessed May 18, 2013).
William Howard Taft [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 18] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184.
William Howard Taft, http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184 (last visited May 18, 2013).
William Howard Taft. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184. Accessed May 18, 2013.
Taft became a law professor at Yale University, but took time after the outbreak of WWI to co-found the League for Enforced Peace the League to Enforce Peace -- a precursor to the League of Nations -- with Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans. In the summer of 1921, Taft finally achieved his long-desired position: He was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court by President Warring G. Harding,
becoming the only president to hold a seat on the Supreme Court.
Death and Legacy
William Howard Taft died on March 8, 1930, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was the first president to be buried in Arlington Cemetery, and the first to have a funeral broadcast on the radio. In fact, President Taft's presidential career included a broad range of "firsts": He was the first president to have a presidential automobile, converting the White House stables into garages; the first to occupy the Oval Office, which was operational as of October 1909; the first to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game; and the first to play golf as a hobby. Along with all of his "firsts," Taft was the last American president to have facial hair.
Taft's presidency is often thought of as lackluster, but following a flashy personality like Theodore Roosevelt is no easy feat. Few are aware that Taft, the 27th U.S. president, actually busted more trusts over his four years in office than Roosevelt did during his eight-year administration (Taft and Roosevelt eventually reconciled not long before Roosevelt's death in 1919). Of his presidential term, Taft once wrote, "I don't remember that I ever was president."
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