“I am going to sit on the lid and it will take a great deal to pry me off”
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William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices.
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politics · President of the United States from 1909 to 1913 · judge · lawyer · prosecutor · pedagogue · university teacher · politician · statesperson · writer · jurist · also William Howard Taft, William H. Taft, W. Taft, William Taft, President Taft, W. H. Taft
Born 15 September 1857 · Died 8 March 1930 · Q35648
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2026· 6 entries
“There was nothing to criticize, except his not knowing or caring about the way the game of politics is played.”
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“we propose to banish this idea from their minds”
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American Banker: To fire Cook from the Fed, Trump looks to channel Taft
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Above the Law: John Roberts Uses William Howard Taft To Defend His Own Record, Fails
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In Pursuit | Substack: William Howard Taft by John G. Roberts, Jr.
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2023· 1 entry
PolitiFact rated the claim “Kari Lake called Trump the “fattest president since Taft” in a 2016 tweet.” False.
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1984· 1 entry
“The day is not far distant when three Stars and Stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal, and the third at the South Pole. The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally.”
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1973· 1 entry
“as the best method of saving the Republican party from the heretical dogmas of Roosevelt and his followers.”
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1930· 17 entries
Died 1930-03-08.
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At age 72, likely of heart disease, inflammation of the liver, and high blood pressure
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Taft had not returned to Washington, and two opinions were delivered by Van Devanter that Taft had drafted but had been unable to complete because of his illness
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“The publishers profess to be the agents of heaven in establishing virtue and therefore that they ought to receive some subsidy from the government. I can ask no stronger refutation to this claim … than the utterly unscrupulous methods pursued by them in seeking to influence Congress on this subject.”
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“Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.”
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“Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.”
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“Don't worry over what the newspapers say. I don't. Why should anyone else? I told the truth to the newspaper correspondents - but when you tell the truth to them they are at sea.”
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“I'll be damned if I am not getting tired of this. It seems to be the profession of a President simply to hear other people talk.”
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“Politics, when I am in it, makes me sick.”
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“If I run as the regular Republican nominee, I may go down to defeat if a bolt is started by Roosevelt, but I will retain the regular organization of the party as a nucleus about which the conservative people who are in favor of maintaining constitutional government can gather, both from the Democratic and Republican parties, and we will have two radicals and one conservative.”
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“There is nothing so despicable as a secret society that is based upon religious prejudice and that will attempt to defeat a man because of his religious beliefs. Such a society is like a cockroach — it thrives in the dark. So do those who combine for such an end.”
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“Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken with out developing new evils requiring new remedies.”
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“I have come to the conclusion that the major part of the work of a President is to increase the gate receipts of expositions and fairs and bring tourists to town.”
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“The intoxication of power rapidly sobers off in the knowledge of its restrictions and under the prompt reminder of an ever-present and not always considerate press, as well as the kindly suggestions that not infrequently come from Congress.”
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“If humor be the safety of our race, then it is due largely to the infusion into the American people of the Irish brain.”
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“The welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.”
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“Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.”
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1929· 2 entries
Taft recited part of the oath incorrectly, later writing, "my memory is not always accurate and one sometimes becomes a little uncertain", misquoting again in that letter, differently
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"I am older and slower and less acute and more confused
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1926· 1 entry
Taft wrote for a 6–3 majority in Myers v
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1925· 2 entries
The Taft Court laid the groundwork for the incorporation of many of the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to be applied against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment
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Taft began a fight to get the Court a building, and two years later Congress appropriated money to purchase the land, to the east of the Capitol
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1923· 1 entry
But became disillusioned with Coolidge's appointments to office and to the bench; he had similar misgivings about Coolidge's successor, Herbert Hoover
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1922· 1 entry
Taft ruled for a unanimous court in Balzac v
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1921· 2 entries
His health was starting to decline, and he carefully planned a fitness regimen, walking 3 miles (4
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Career landmark: Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930).
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1919· 1 entry
“Had he died in a hostile state of mind toward me, I would have mourned the fact all my life. I loved him always and cherish his memory.”
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1918· 1 entry
Struck down an attempt by Congress to regulate child labor in Hammer v
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1913· 1 entry
Taft was elected to a one-year term as president of the American Bar Association (ABA), a trade group of lawyers
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1912· 4 entries
Election lost: 1912 presidential campaign and election.
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Campaign: 1912 presidential campaign and election.
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And did not speak of himself as a candidate
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Impeached for corruption and removed by the Senate the following January
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1911· 2 entries
And more disturbances in 1912, Taft sent troops to begin the United States occupation of Nicaragua, which lasted until 1933
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Granted broad reciprocal rights to Japanese people in America and Americans in Japan, but were premised on the continuation of the Gentlemen's Agreement
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1910· 2 entries
Gave Taft a second opportunity to fill a seat on the high court; he chose New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes
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Stemmed from a Taft proposal for a specialized court to hear appeals from the Interstate Commerce Commission
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1909· 7 entries
And the Senate confirmed him by voice vote a week later
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Taft dismissed Glavis from government service, relying on a report from Attorney General George W
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After his election but before his inauguration, Taft was recognized as a Mason at sight at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Cincinnati
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Approved them, Glavis broke governmental protocol by going outside the Interior Department to seek help from Pinchot
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Career landmark: President of the United States (1909–1913).
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Praised Junípero Serra as an "apostle, legislator, [and] builder" who advanced "the beginning of civilization in California
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A British-led consortium began negotiations
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1908· 2 entries
And easily defeated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency in that November's election
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Career landmark: President-elect of the United States (1908–1909).
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1906· 3 entries
Under the terms of the Cuban–American Treaty of Relations of 1903, declared himself Provisional Governor of Cuba, a post he held for two weeks before being succeeded by Charles Edward Magoon
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Taft would not accept the seat although Roosevelt offered it, a position Taft held to when another seat opened in 1906
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Career landmark: Governor of Cuba (1906–1906).
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1905· 1 entry
Leading a delegation of congressmen, and again in 1907, to open the first Philippine Assembly
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1904· 6 entries
Urged that Philippine agricultural products be admitted to the U
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Roosevelt publicly declared that he would not run for reelection in 1908, a pledge he quickly regretted
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Viewing the canal site and meeting with Panamanian officials
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Taft gave a speech at the University of Notre Dame
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Career landmark: United States Secretary of War (1904–1908).
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President Theodore Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and he became Roosevelt's hand-picked successor
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1902· 1 entry
Clarence Cunningham, an Idaho entrepreneur, had found coal deposits in Alaska, and made mining claims, and the government investigated their legality
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1901· 3 entries
Taft became civilian governor
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President William McKinley appointed Taft civilian governor of the Philippines
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Career landmark: Governor-General of the Philippines (1901–1903).
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1898· 3 entries
An American company had gained a concession for a railroad between Hankow and Sichuan, but the Chinese revoked the agreement in 1904 after the company (which was indemnified for the revocation) breached the agreement by
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The only one under McKinley, the president named Joseph McKenna
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Was Cuba, but as freedom for Cuba had been a major purpose of the war, it was not annexed by the U
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1896· 1 entry
Taft became dean and Professor of Property at his alma mater, Cincinnati Law School, a post that required him to prepare and give two hour-long lectures each week
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1894· 1 entry
And 1895, writing "I cannot find anybody in Washington who wants him"
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1892· 1 entry
Career landmark: Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1892–1900).
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1891· 1 entry
Taft introduced a new policy: confession of error, by which the U
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1890· 2 entries
Career landmark: Solicitor General of the United States (1890).
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Harrison appointed him Solicitor General of the United States
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1889· 1 entry
And Governor Foraker suggested President Harrison appoint Taft to fill it
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1887· 1 entry
Taft, then aged 29, was appointed to a vacancy on the Superior Court of Cincinnati by Governor Joseph B
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1885· 1 entry
After an initial rejection, she agreed to marry him
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1884· 1 entry
Taft campaigned for the Republican candidate for president, Senator James G
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1878· 1 entry
Taft graduated second in his class of 121
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1874· 1 entry
The heavyset, jovial Taft was popular and an intramural heavyweight wrestling champion
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1866· 1 entry
And farm and fisheries interests in the United States were also opposed
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1857· 1 entry
Born 1857-09-15.
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