By, Kaitlyn, Kaylee and Matt

Birth: September 15, 1857 Death: March 8, 1930 Term of Office: March 4, 1909-March 3, 1913 Number of Terms Elected:1 term We have William Taft

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. From a prominent political family, he followed his forebears into law and was on track to be a career jurist, well on his way to his dream job of sitting on the Supreme Court, when he was sidetracked for a term as the 27th U.S. president by his wife and Theodore Roosevelt. Taft finally achieved his dream of being elected chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1921

William Howard Taft, was one of six children of Louisa Maria Torrey and Alphonso Taft. Many Taft ancestors, who could be traced back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had gone into law, including William's father, Alphonso Taft. Alphonso Taft had served under President Ulysses S. Grant as both secretary of war and attorney general, and as an ambassador under President Chester A. Arthur.

Taft went to private school and, like his father, attended Yale College. There, he joined the now-notorious secret society Skull and Bones, which his father co- founded in Taft graduated from Yale in Departing from tradition, he went on to attend the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and was admitted to the Ohio State Bar Association in 1880.

Taft did evince some political aspirations, joking that if he ever made it to Washington, it would be because his wife was secretary of the treasury, but he had always said his lifelong dream was to sit on the Supreme Court.

As a young lawyer from a politically prominent family, Taft rose swiftly through the ranks, as county prosecutor, state judge, then at 32, in 1890, he became the youngest appointee as U.S. Solicitor General by President Benjamin Harrison, which moved the family to Washington for two years.

Several other posts followed back in Cincinnati, but a decade later, President William McKinley appointed Taft governor general of the Philippines. The portly judge then took his wife and three children to Southeast Asia, where they lived for four years.

Back in Washington, D.C. by 1904, Taft became President Theodore Roosevelt's secretary of war. Two years later, when Roosevelt offered him the choice to serve as either president or chief justice, Taft naturally chose his dream job. However, following a private meeting between Nellie and Roosevelt, Taft was swayed into running for the U.S. presidency instead.

Taft had an easy victory in the November 1908 election, sliding in on the popularity and endorsement of predecessor Theodore Roosevelt. He assumed the office of president on March 4, 1909, but the rest of his single-term presidency was not as easy.

A stickler for the law, Taft was less inclined to push the envelope of presidential power as Roosevelt had done; he was more of a jovial academic than a savvy party politician, and did not easily curry favor with possible political allies.

Taft created a "policy of harmony" with Congress, which helped him move though much of his legislative agenda, but misunderstandings about his stance on big business, and a murky approach to tariff proposals on goods entering the United Statesresulting in the Payne-Aldrich Actfrustrated both supporters and opponents of the policy. It also further fractured the rift within the Republican Party between conservatives and progressives. In the midterm elections, he lost the Republican majority in Congress.

Taft did impose a corporate income tax, however, which raised national revenue more than $13 million. Under the Taft Administration, the terms "shirt sleeve diplomacy," "open door policy" and dollar diplomacy" were created in regard to negotiations with China and Latin Americathe latter involving

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.

He was a lawyer, judge, law reporter, and dean of law school before he became President of the United States at age 51. His place of primary affiliation was Ohio. William Howard Taft became president on Thursday, March 4, 1909 and left the office on Tuesday, March 04, President William Howard Taft was a member of the Republican Party and his vice president was James S. Sherman. William Taft's nicknames include Big Lub, Big Will, Sleeping Beauty and Big Chief. President William Howard Taft is the only president who also has been head of the Supreme Court. President William Howard Taft weighed more than 300 pounds and got stuck in the White House bathtub. William Howard Taft was 72 years old when he died on March 8, 1930.

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