biography
| name: |
Taft, William Howard
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1857–1930)
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| biography:
| US statesman and 27th president (1909–13), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Having studied at Yale and practised law in Cincinnati, he gravitated to Republican politics and held several appointments and a judgeship in Ohio. In 1890 he began two years as US solicitor general under President Benjamin Harrison, then became a federal circuit judge (1892). He left that position (1900) when President William McKinley sent him to the Philippines, where he became civil governor. In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him secretary of war and his chosen successor. An extremely large man, easy-going and conciliatory, he did not really want to be president, but he was elected in 1908. His tenure as president was uneasy, and though he pursued anti-trust prosecutions like his predecessor, he was perceived to be allied with conservative Republicans. That led to Roosevelt's party-splitting run in 1912, ensuring a victory for the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson. After some years of teaching at Yale Law (1913–21), he was named chief justice of the Supreme Court (1921), a position he enjoyed far more than being president. He served until one month before his death, and, though known more for his reform of court operations, he participated in several major decisions. |
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