William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft


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  • Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 United States Reports 298 (1922) (opinion for the Court)
    • Ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply the criminal provisions of the Bill of Rights to overseas territories. This was one of the more famous of the Insular Cases.
  • Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 United States Reports 20 (1922) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding the 1919 Child Labor Tax Law unconstitutional.
  • Hill v. Wallace, 259 United States Reports 44 (1922) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding the Future Trading Act an unconstitutional use of Congress's taxing power
  • Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 United States Reports 525 (1923) (dissenting opinion)
    • Disapproving of the Court's upholding of Lochner v. New York. In 1937, the Supreme Court agreed with Taft and overruled this decision permanently.
  • Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. Olsen, 262 United States Reports 1 (1923) (opinion for the Court)
    • Upholding the constitutionality of the Grain Futures Act under the Commerce Clause
  • Ex Parte Grossman, 267 United States Reports 87 (1925) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding that the President's pardon power extends to pardoning people held for criminal contempt. While the Supreme Court rules provide for issuing writs of habeas corpus within the Court's original jurisdiction, Taft's opinion in Grossman was the last time the Court did so.
  • Carroll v. United States, 267 United States Reports 132 (1925) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding that police searches of automobiles without a warrant do not violate the Fourth Amendment when the police have probable cause to believe that contraband would be found in the automobile
  • Samuels v. McCurdy, 267 United States Reports 188 (1925) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding that a prohibition on an item formerly possessed legally is not an ex post facto law, because its possession is an ongoing condition.
  • Myers v. United States, 272 United States Reports 52 (1926) (opinion for the Court)
    • Ruling that the President of the United States had the power to unilaterally dismiss Executive Branch appointees who had been confirmed by the Senate.
  • United States v. General Electric Co., 272 United States Reports 476 (1926) (opinion for the Court)
    • Ruling that a patentee who has granted a single license to a competitor to manufacture the patented product may lawfully fix the price at which the licensee may sell the product.
  • Lum v. Rice, 275 United States Reports 78 (1927) (opinion for the Court)
    • Ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment did not prohibit Mississippi's prevention of Asian children attending white schools during racial segregation. The Supreme Court overruled this opinion in 1954.
  • Olmstead v. United States, 277 United States Reports 438 (1928) (opinion for the Court)
    • Ruling that the judicial practice of excluding evidence obtained without a warrant was based on the Fourth Amendment's proscription on unreasonable search and seizure but did not apply to telephone wiretapping.
  • Wisconsin v. Illinois, 278 United States Reports 367 (1929) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding that the equitable power of the United States can be used to impose positive action on the states in a situation where non-action would result in damage to the interests of other states.
  • Old Colony Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 279 United States Reports 716 (1929) (opinion for the Court)
    • Holding that where a third party pays the income tax owed by an individual, the amount of tax paid constitutes additional income to the taxpayer.
Medical conditions and weight

Taft is often remembered as being the most obese president. He was 5 feet, 11.5 inches tall; his weight peaked at 335–340 pounds (150 kg) toward the end of his presidency. The truth of the often-told story of Taft getting stuck in a White House bathtub is unclear.

Evidence from eyewitnesses, and from Taft himself, strongly suggests that during his presidency he had severe obstructive sleep apnea. His chief symptom was somnolence. While President, he fell asleep during conversations, and at the dinner table, and even while standing. He was also strikingly hypertensive, with a systolic blood pressure over 200.

Within a year of leaving the presidency, Taft lost approximately 80 pounds (36 kg). His somnolence problem resolved and, less obviously, his systolic blood pressure dropped 40–50 mmHg (from 210 mmHg). Undoubtedly, this weight loss extended his life.Soon after his weight loss, he had a revival of interest in the outdoors; this led him to explore Alaska. Beginning in 1920, Taft used a cane; this was a gift from Professor of Geology W. S. Foster, and was made of 250,000-year-old petrified wood.

Death and legacy

Taft's headstone at Arlington National Cemetery

Taft retired as Chief Justice on February 3, 1930, because of ill health. Charles Evans Hughes, whom he had appointed as an Associate Justice while President, succeeded him as Chief Justice.

Five weeks following his retirement, Taft died on March 8, 1930, the same date as Associate Justice Edward Terry Sanford's unexpected death. As it was customary for members of the court to attend the funeral of deceased members, this posed a "logistical nightmare", necessitating cross-country travel. The house at which Taft died is now the diplomatic mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United States.

Three days following his death, on March 11, he became the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.James Earle Fraser sculpted his grave marker out of Stony Creek granite. Taft is one of two presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and is one of four Chief Justices buried there. Taft was the only Chief Justice to have had a state funeral.

In 1938, a third generation of the Taft family entered the national political stage with the election of the former President's oldest son Robert A. Taft I to the Senate, where he became a leader of the conservative Republicans. President Taft's other son, Charles Phelps Taft II, served as the mayor of Cincinnati from 1955 to 1957.

Two more generations of the Taft family later entered politics. The President's grandson, Robert Taft, Jr., served a term as a Senator from Ohio from 1971 to 1977, and the President's great-grandson, Robert A. "Bob" Taft II, served as the Governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007. William Howard Taft III was the U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 1953 to 1957.

William Howard Taft IV was the general counsel in the former United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the 1970s, was the Deputy Secretary of Defense under Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci in the 1980s, and acted as the United States Secretary of Defense during its vacancy from January to March 1989. In addition, he served as Legal Adviser at the Department of State from 2000 to 2006.

President Taft's enduring legacy includes many things named after him. The William Howard Taft National Historic Site is the Taft boyhood home. The house in which he was born has been restored to its original appearance. It includes four period rooms reflecting family life during Taft's boyhood, and second-floor exhibits highlighting Taft's life. Others include the courthouse of the Ohio Court of Appeals for the First District in Cincinnati; streets in Cincinnati, Arlington, Virginia; and Taft Avenue in Manila, Philippines; a law school in Santa Ana, California; and high schools in San Antonio, Texas; Woodland Hills, California; Chicago, Illinois; and The Bronx. Taft, Eastern Samar, a town in the Philippines was named after him. After a fire burned much of the town of Moron, California, in the 1920s, it was renamed Taft, California, in his honor.

George Burroughs Torrey painted a portrait of him. Taft is the last President to have sported facial hair while in office.

Media

Collection of video clips of the president

Speech: "The Farmer and the Republican Party", Kansas City, Missouri, 1908

See alsoNotes
  1. Finkelman, Paul (2006). Encyclopedia of American civil liberties. CRC Press. p. 1601. ISBN 978-0-415-94342-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=YoI14vYA8r0C&pg=PA1601. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
  2. Arnold, Peri. "William Howard Taft: Campaigns and Elections". American President: An Online Reference Resource. University of Virginia. http://millercenter.org/president/taft/essays/biography/3. Retrieved December 8, 2010. "His victory was overwhelming. He carried all but three states outside the Democratic Solid South and won 321 electoral votes to Bryan's 162."
  3. Blassingame, Wyatt (2001). The Look-It-Up Book of Presidents. New York: Random House. p. 92. ISBN 0-679-80358-0.
  4. "Alphonso Taft, Answers.com". http://www.answers.com/topic/alphonso-taft.
  5. Anderson (1973), p.6.
  6. "Taft Once Unitarian Fairy". August 4, 1908. p. A3. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00A13FA395A17738DDDAD0894D0405B888CF1D3.
  7. "William H. Taft". Ohio History Central. July 1, 2005. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=369. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  8. "William Howard Taft". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/580223/William-Howard-Taft. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  9. "Obituary: Taft Gained Peaks in Unusual Career". March 9, 1930. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0915.html.
  10. O'Brien, Cormac; Monica Suteski (2004). Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Productions. p. 155. ISBN 1-931686-57-2. http://books.google.com/?id=x21e_pt0ClIC&pg=PA155.
  11. "Wrestling in the USA". The National Wrestling Hall of Fame. http://www.wrestlinghalloffame.org/History/WrestlinginUSA.html. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  12. "William Howard Taft". National Park Service. January 22, 2004. http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/Presidents/bio27.htm. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  13. Herz, Walter (1999). "William Howard Taft". Unitarian Universalist Historical Society. http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/williamhowardtaft.html. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
  14. Cannon, Carl. "Solicitor general nominee likely to face questions about detainees". GovernmentExecutive.com. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0405/042505nj1.htm. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
  15. "William Howard Taft (1857–1930)". U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/lib_hist/courts/supreme/judges/taft/taft.html. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
  16. "Against the Cowles Company, Decision in the Aluminium Patent Infringement Case (article preview)". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. January 15, 1893. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9904E3DE1731E033A25756C1A9679C94629ED7CF. Retrieved October 28, 2007. and Rosenbaum, David Ira (1998). Market Dominance: How Firms Gain, Hold, or Lose It and the Impact on Economic Performance. Praeger Publishers via Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 56. ISBN 0-275-95604-0. http://books.google.com/?id=htQDB-Pf4VIC. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  17. Healy, Gene (February 7, 2012). "Never Let Law Profs Near the Oval Office". http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/07/never-let-law-profs-near-the-oval-office/singlepage.
  18. "William Howard Taft". University of Virginia. 2008. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/taft/essays/biography/2. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  19. Anderson (1973), p.7.
  20. Anderson (1973), p.11.
  21. Anderson (1973), p.8.
  22. Anderson (1973), p.9.
  23. Anderson (1973), p.12.
  24. See Raymond A. Esthus, "The Taft-Katsura Agreement – Reality or Myth?" Journal of Modern History 1959 31(1): 46–51 in JSTOR; and Jongsuk Chay, "The Taft-Katsura Memorandum Reconsidered," Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Aug. 1968), pp. 321–326 in JSTOR
  25. Anderson (1973), p.16.
  26. Anderson (1973), p.13.
  27. Anderson (1973), p.17.
  28. Anderson (1973), p.14.
  29. Anderson (1973), p.20.
  30. Anderson (1973), p.37.
  31. Anderson (1973), p.40.
  32. DeGregorio, William (1993). The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. New York: Wings Books. p. 398.
  33. Anderson (1973), p.38.
  34. Anderson (1973), p.43.
  35. Anderson (1973), p.45.
  36. Anderson (1973), p.50.
  37. Anderson (1973), p.57.
  38. Anderson (1973), p.58.
  39. ↑ Rouse, Robert (March 15, 2006). "Happy Anniversary to the first scheduled presidential press conference – 93 years young!". American Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. http://archive.is/frOZ.
  40. Anderson (1973), p.60.
  41. Anderson (1973), p.62.
  42. Jonathan Lurie (2011). William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative. Cambridge University Press. pp. xviii, 82–83. http://books.google.com/books?id=rfLdjV92yx0C&pg=PR13.
  43. Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer, The Reader's Companion to the American Presidency (2000) p 314-15
  44. Anderson (1973), p.291.
  45. Morton Keller (2007). America's Three Regimes:A New Political History. Oxford U.P.. p. 171. http://books.google.com/books?id=t63cHM1XWN8C&pg=PT171.
  46. Anderson (1973), pp. 118–122
  47. Coletta, Presidency of William Howard Taft ch 3
  48. Anderson (1973), p.122.
  49. Anderson (1973), p. 146
  50. Anderson (1973), pp.78–79.
  51. Anderson (1973), p.79
  52. Anderson (1973), p. 80.
  53. Anderson (1973), p.130.
  54. Verini, James (July/August 2010). "Show Him the Money". Washington Monthly. Washington Monthly. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.verini.html. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
  55. Anderson (1973), pp. 83–84.
  56. Anderson (1973), p. 168.
  57. Anderson (1973), p.177.
  58. Anderson (1973), p.86.
  59. Anderson (1973), p.90.
  60. Anderson (1973), p. 135.
  61. "President Taft speech of June 16, 1909". http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=68517.
  62. Coletta, Presidency of William Howard Taft pp 28–30.
  63. Anderson (1973), p.65.
  64. Anderson (1973), p.68.
  65. Anderson (1973), p.71.
  66. Anderson (1973), p.248.
  67. Anderson (1973), pp. 250–255.
  68. Anderson (1973), pp.260–263.
  69. Anderson (1973), p.264–265.
  70. Anderson (1973), p.276.
  71. Anderson (1973), p.278.
  72. Anderson (1973), pp. 136–144.
  73. Anderson (1973), p.139
  74. Anderson (1973), p.144.
  75. Anderson (1973), p.265.
  76. Anderson (1973), p.267.
  77. Anderson (1973), p.271.
  78. Anderson (1973), p.178
  79. Anderson (1973), p.180.
  80. Anderson (1973), p.183
  81. Anderson (1973), p.185
  82. Anderson (1973), p.192
  83. Anderson (1973), p.192.
  84. Anderson (1973), p.193
  85. Anderson (1973), p.199.
  86. Anderson (1973), p.203.
  87. Anderson (1973), p.204.
  88. Anderson (1973), p.210.
  89. Anderson (1973), p.200.
  90. Coletta, Presidency of William Howard Taft pp 139–40
  91. Hayostek, Cindy (2006). "Douglas Delegates to the 1910 Constitutional Convention and Arizona's Progressive Heritage". pp. 347–366.
  92. David R. Berman (1998). Arizona Politics & Government: The Quest for Autonomy, Democracy, and Development. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 35. ISBN 978-0-8032-6146-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=LHYBFuW9B34C.
  93. Burton, Baker, Taft, Time Magazine (October 15, 1928).
  94. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter T". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterT.pdf. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  95. ↑ Schwartz, Bernard (1993). A History of the Supreme Court. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 213. ISBN 0-19-508099-8.
  96. Report on Supreme Court nominees 1789–2005, Congressional Research Service, p. 41.
  97. "Painter, Judge Mark. From Revolution to Reconstruction William Howard Taft biography". http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/P/wt27/about/taftbio.htm.
  98. Hack, Peter (2003). "The Roads Less Traveled: Post Conviction Relief Alternatives and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996". p. 171.
  99. Carnes, MC William Howard Taft. McPherson, JM eds. To the best of my ability: the American Presidents 2000, 188–194 Dorling Kindersley. New York, NY:
  100. ↑ Sotos, John G. (September 2003). "Taft and Pickwick". Chest. pp. 1133–1142. Digital object identifier:10.1378/chest.124.3.1133.
  101. Clearing up the William Howard Taft bathtub myth - Yahoo! News
  102. Sotos, John G. (2006). "President Taft's blood pressure". Mayo Clin Proc. pp. 1507–1508.
  103. "William Howard Taft and Sleep Apnea". http://www.apneos.com/taft_intro.html.
  104. "Gislason Erick, A Brief History of Alaska Statehood (1867–1959)". http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/BARTLETT/49state.html.
  105. The Edmonton Journal, July 10, 1920.
  106. Christensen, George A. (1983) Here Lies the Supreme Court: Gravesites of the Justices, YearbookSupreme Court Historical Society at Internet Archive.
  107. Christensen, George A., Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited, Journal of Supreme Court History, Volume 33 Issue 1, Pages 17 – 41 (Feb 19, 2008), University of Alabama.
  108. "Biography of William Howard Taft, President of the United States and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court". Historical Information. THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/historical_information/william_taft.html. Retrieved January 4, 2007.See also,William Howard Taft memorial at Find A Grave.
  109. William Howard Taft Home, National Park Service.
  110. Taft University system,William Howard Taft University and Taft Law School (Witkin School of Law).
References
  • Abraham, Henry J. (1992). Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3.}
  • Anderson, Donald F. (1973). William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801407864.
  • Anderson, Judith Icke (1981). William Howard Taft: An Intimate History. W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era (2005)
  • Bromley, Michael L. William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency (2003)
  • Burton, David H. Taft, Holmes, and the 1920s Court: An Appraisal (1998)
  • Burton, David H., Taft, Roosevelt, and the Limits of Friendship (2005)
  • Burton, David H. William Howard Taft, Confident Peacemaker (2005)
  • Chace, James. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs – The Election that Changed the Country (2004)
  • Coletta, Paolo Enrico. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973), standard survey
  • Conner Valerie. The National War Labor Board' '(1983)
  • Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books). ISBN 1-56802-126-7; ISBN 978-1-56802-126-3.
  • Duffy, Herbert S (1930). William Howard Taft. ISBN 9781888213263.
  • Frank, John P.; Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors (1995). The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7910-1377-9.
  • Gould, Lewis L. The William Howard Taft Presidency(2010)
  • Hall, Kermit L., ed (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-505835-2.
  • Hechler, Kenneth S. Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft Era 1940.
  • Korzi, Michael J. Our chief magistrate and his powers: a reconsideration of William Howard Taft's "Whig" theory of presidential leadership (2003)
  • Lurie, Jonathan (2011). William Howard Taft: Progressive Conservative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521514217.
  • Manners, William. TR and Will: A Friendship that Split the Republican Party 1969.
  • Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0-87187-554-3.
  • Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0-87187-554-3.
  • Minger Ralph E. William Howard Taft and United States Diplomacy: The Apprenticeship Years. 1900–1908 (1975)
  • Mowry George E. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt (1958)
  • Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography 2 vol (1939); Pulitzer prize; the standard biography
  • Renstrom, Peter G. The Taft Court: Justices, Rulings and Legacy ABC-CLIO, 2003
  • Scholes, Walter V. and Marie V. Scholes. The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration 1970.
  • Solvick, Stanley D. (December 1, 1963). "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff". pp. 424–442. Digital object identifier:10.2307/1902605. ISSN 0161-391X. JSTOR 1902605.
  • Sternberg, Jonathan (2008). "Deciding Not to Decide: The Judiciary Act of 1925 and the Discretionary Court". pp. 1–16. Digital object identifier:10.1111/j.1540-5818.2008.00176.x.
  • Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. p. 590. ISBN 0-8153-1176-1; ISBN 978-0-8153-1176-8.
  • Warren, Charles. (1928) The Supreme Court in United States History, 2 vols. at Google books.
  • Wilensky, Norman N. Conservatives in the Progressive Era: The Taft Republicans of 1912 (1965).
  • William Howard Taft at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
External links
Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

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