Taft, William Howard

Taft, William Howard (b. 15 Sept. 1857, d. 8 Mar. 1930). 27th US President 1909–13 Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a wealthy local family, he was a gifted lawyer who became US Solicitor-General in the Harrison administration, a federal justice, High Commissioner of the Philippines, and Secretary of War. His reputation as a safe pair of hands led Theodore Roosevelt to nominate him as his successor, and Taft was elected President for the Republicans in 1908 with 51.6 per cent of the popular vote. The dynamic Roosevelt came to regret his support for the highly cautious, conservative Taft, who conceived of himself as an administrator, and believed in a strictly restricted interpretation of the presidency. When he called a special session of Congress to lower tariffs, he failed to engage in political persuasion or coalition-building, and tariffs ended up being raised to an all-time high. He abandoned the Roosevelt policy of governmental regulation of trusts in favor of regulation by specific lawsuit. Further disillusionment for Republican progressives came when Taft supported his Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, over the environmental campaigner Gifford Pinchot in the matter of the development of Alaskan land for the exploitation of oil. In the election of 1912 the radical and Progressive elements in his party broke away to support Theodore Roosevelt and Taft was left to come third in an election which Woodrow Wilson won with a plurality of votes. After 1912 he retired to the law, and was appointed Chief Justice of the United States by Warren Harding, in which capacity he presided very competently as a strict constitutionalist.