William Howard Taft: The Really Big President
PragerU
William Howard Taft served as both the President of the United States and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court — the only man to ever do so. Richard Lim, host of the This American President podcast, recounts the unique career of America’s 27th president.
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Transcript:
You could argue that the two most powerful figures in America are the President and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Only one man has been both: William Howard Taft.
Unfortunately, our 27th president and 10th chief justice is mostly remembered for being…well, fat.
And that’s a shame because the focus on his weight has obscured a career that was as impressive as it was singular.
Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15, 1857. There was never any doubt that William would become an attorney. His grandfather, Peter Taft, was a prominent lawyer in Vermont and his father, Alphonso Taft, served as Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant.
To his father’s endless frustration, young William was a notorious procrastinator – a trait that lasted a lifetime. He would wait until the last minute to prepare his schoolwork and, later on, his law cases. But that’s all the time he needed because when it counted, he was always prepared.
In 1880, after graduating from Yale, Taft took a degree in law. With some help from his father, he got a job as an assistant prosecutor in Cincinnati.
He rose quickly to become a judge in 1887. He was only 29.
In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him as America’s solicitor general – serving in effect as the government’s lead attorney. Taft thrived in the position, winning 15 out of 18 cases before the US Supreme Court.
In 1892, he returned to Cincinnati as a federal judge.
His ultimate ambition, a seat on the High Court, seemed to be within his grasp. When
