William Taft's Life

William Howard Taft was born on September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was a judge and William was a great student. He entered Yale College in 1874 and graduated 4 years later in 1878. In 1881 he was appointed assistant prosecutor in a county court. He went on to become an official in the Bureau of the Internal Revenue Service. He did not like his occupation in the Bureau and resigned from it. William Taft married Helen Herron in 1886 and together they had three kids, Robert, Helen, and Charles. The following year, 1887, Taft was named a judge in the Ohio Superior Court. In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison offered William the post of Solicitor General of the US, the second largest job of the Department of Justice. In 1892 he resigned to become a federal circuit judge. President William McKinley picked Bill to become head of a special commission to overlook the government of the Philippines. In 1904, President Teddy Roosevelt appointed Taft Secretary of War. He was nominated by the Republicans for President and won. He helped establish the sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which allows Congress to collect income tax. He served one term and in 1912 he went against former President Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. He lost to Wilson. He was appointed Chief Justice in 1921 by President Warren Gamaliel Harding. His administrative work as a Supreme Court justice is considered his greatest contribution to public. He retired nine years later due to poor health and died the same year on March 8, 1930. Note: Taft was President from 1909 to 1913 and the Vice President was James Schoolcraft Sherman.