William Howard Taft, the son of a judge, wound himself up into politics soon after graduating from Yale College. He graduated from law, but preferred politics much more. He was made a Federal circuit judge when he turned 34. Taft was sent to the Philippines by President McKinley in 1900 as a chief civil administrator. President Roosevelt then made him Secretary of War. By 1907, President Roosevelt decided that Taft should be his successor. In 1908, the Republican Convention nominated Taft when Roosevelt decided not to be re-elected.
After winning the 27th presidential election, Taft realized his techniques would be much different from Roosevelt’s. Taft didn’t believe in stretching in of Presidential powers. Taft supported high tariffs, and this separated many liberal Republicans. Because of this, the Republicans formed a new party called the Progressives. Taft continued to antagonize the Progressives because he supported his Secretary of the Interior against accusations of failing to carry out Roosevelt’s conservation policies.
During Taft’s term as president, he emphasized trust-busting, civil service reform, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, improving postal service, and the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment. Taft also wanted to improve the economic development of undeveloped nations in Latin America and Asia. He called this movement Dollar Diplomacy.
While President, two of the biggest monopolies were broken - Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company. With Taft, the federal government began the regulation of the telephone and the telegraph industries for the first time ever. After his defeat in the election of 1912, Taft moved on, and became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He liked this position much more than Presidency.
I think President Taft did many things for us. He was a more status quo president. And although he didn’t really like being president, he did some really good things for us, AND other countries. I was excited to research this topic because I really didn’t know anything about him, and now I know most of the accomplishments he made as president.
http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/presidents/27WT.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft
http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/taft.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamhowardtaft/
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