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Taft, William Howard
(b. Sept. 15, 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.--d. March 8, 1930, Washington, D.C.), 27th president of the United States (1909-13) and tenth chief justice of the United States (1921-30). 
The son of Alphonso Taft, secretary of war and attorney general (1876-77) under Pres. Ulysses S. Grant, Taft graduated from Yale (1878), was admitted to the bar in Ohio (1880), and held local political offices until 1887, when he became a judge of the superior court of Ohio. He then served as solicitor general of the United States (1890-92), and judge of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (1892-1900). In cases relating to labour-management disputes, Taft's opinions aroused protests because of their emphasis upon the illegality of the secondary boycott and upon the obligation of the court to restrain violence through the power of the injunction; but he did uphold the legal rights of unions, and he extended the power of the injunction to enforce anti-trust laws. 
In 1900 Taft was persuaded by Pres. William McKinley to give up his judgeship to serve as chairman of the second Philippine Commission, charged with organizing civil government in the islands following the Spanish-American War (1898). Having achieved the end of military rule, he became the first civilian governor in 1901 and thereafter concentrated on the economic development of the islands. He served with great distinction and became very popular with the Philippine people. When, in 1904, he was named secretary of war by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, he left with the stipulation that he could continue to supervise Philippine affairs. 
When Roosevelt declined to run for reelection in 1908, he threw his support behind Taft, who won the Republican nomination and went on to an easy victory at the polls over the Democratic candidate, William Jennings Bryan </elections/micro/89/96.html>. Taft's lack of political astuteness was soon revealed in his indifference toward the growing rift between conservatives and progressives within Republican ranks; in fact, the split was encouraged by his failure to appoint any of the liberal wing to his Cabinet. His unspectacular administration nevertheless served the cause of honest government for four years. He took steps toward the formation of an annual budget, established the federal postal-savings system, gave impetus to conservation of natural resources, and vigorously enforced anti-trust legislation. The last months of his administration were clouded by a growing breach with Roosevelt, whose increasing radicalism alienated the incumbent. When Taft reluctantly ran for a second term in 1912 against Roosevelt, who ran as a Progressive, the Democrat Woodrow Wilson took advantage of the split and won. 
Taft then served as professor of law at Yale University and on the National War Labor Board (1918); he also promoted the League to Enforce Peace and became a strong supporter of U.S. participation in the League of Nations. In 1921 he reached the pinnacle of his career with his appointment as chief justice of the United States. He found the tribunal far behind in its work and promptly took steps to improve the efficiency of the judicial machinery. His influence was decisive in securing passage of the Judges Act of 1925, which enabled the Supreme Court to exercise wider discretion in its acceptance of cases and allowed it to give precedence to those of national importance. 
Though Taft's opinions were regarded as traditionally conservative by most, they were actually middle-of-the-road; for instance, his approval of the use of court injunctions was limited by his insistence that injunctions could not be employed to interfere with the rights of workers to organize and strike. His most important contribution to constitutional law was his opinion in Myers v. U.S. (1926) upholding the authority of the president to remove federal officials. 
In declining health, Taft resigned early in 1930 and died a month later. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Biographies include Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft, 2 vol. (1939, reissued 1986); and Bill Severn, William Howard Taft: The President Who Became Chief Justice (1970). Allen E. Ragan, Chief Justice Taft (1938); and Alpheus Thomas Mason, William Howard Taft, Chief Justice (1965, reprinted 1983), focus specifically on his Supreme Court years. Judith Icke Anderson, William Howard Taft (1981), a psychobiography, covers up to the conclusion of his term as president. 
Taft's administration is appraised in Paolo E. Coletta, The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973). Donald F. Anderson, William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency (1973), analyzes Taft's theory and application of presidential power. David H. Burton, The Learned Presidency: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson (1988), advances the concept that the philosophies of these three presidents helped transform the passive presidencies of the 19th century into the dynamic presidencies of the 20th century. William Manners, TR and Will: A Friendship that Split the Republican Party (1969), focuses on the personal relationship between Taft and Theodore Roosevelt and emphasizes their arguments over public policy. Paolo E. Coletta, William Howard Taft: A Bibliography (1989), is a useful resource. 
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