William Howard Taft Howard was the last name of his paternal grandmother, Sylvia Howard

Born: September 15, 1857 Cincinnati, Ohio
Died: March 8, 1930 (aged 72) Washington, D.C.
Father: Alphonso Taft
Mother: Louisa Maria Torrey Taft
Spouse: Helen Herron (1861-1943), on June 19, 1886
Education: Graduated from Yale College (1878); Cincinnati Law School (1880)
Occupation: Lawyer, Jurist
Religion: Unitarian
Took office: March 4, 1909
Left office: March 4, 1913
Party: Republican
Presidential Salary: $75,000/year
Vice President: James S. Sherman, (1909–1912); None (1912–1913)
Preceded by: Theodore Roosevelt
Succeeded by: Woodrow Wilson

Other Government Positions

• Judge in Ohio Superior Court, 1887-90
• U.S. Solicitor General, 1890-92
• U.S. Circuit Court Judge, 1892-1900
• Governor of the Philippines, 1901-04
• Secretary of War, 1904-08 (under T. Roosevelt)
• Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1921-30

Presidential Nicknames

• Big Bill: Taft was a very fat man — the heaviest president ever. A poster for his first election campaign showed Taft and his running mate James S. Sherman, with the slogan, "Big Bill and Smilin' Jim — A Winning Combination". He was normally known as, ‘William Howard Taft’ or, informally, as ‘Bill Taft’. He was never called ‘William Taft’ or ‘William H. Taft’
• Peaceful Bill
• Old Bill: His nickname at Yale University
• Big Lub: Boyhood nickname
• Godknows Taft: In 1912, reporters asked him, “What is a man to do who is out of work and starving?” His answer (criticized by some people as clueless or heartless) was, “God knows. I don’t.”

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