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SHORT, FAT AND THIN: PRESIDENTS ARE HUMAN, TOO! (PART 2)

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William Howard Taft never coveted the office of President of the United States. His lifelong dream was to serve as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. He achieved both. But, like Madison, his greatest achievements came from outside the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "Presidents come and go," he once said, "but the Court goes on forever."

Taft was born on September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Alphonso Taft was a lawyer who went on to serve as Secretary of War and Attorney General under Ulysses S. Grant. A few weeks after his birth, his mother wrote: "He is very large for his age and grows fat every day." As a child, he was called Big Lub, because of his weight. The young Taft graduated with distinction from Yale University in 1878, ranking second in his class. In 1880, he graduated from Cincinnati Law School and was admitted to the bar. Once as a young lawyer, Taft visited a small town on legal business. When he finished, he found it was hours before the next train was due. After inquiries at the station, however, he learned that an express train was due in an hour but did not stop at this particular town. Mindful of his more than 300 pounds, he sent a wire to the division superintendent: "Will No. 7 stop here for a large party?" When the train stopped, Taft climbed aboard and told the astonished conductor: "You go ahead, I am the large party."

Taft’s first public office was as assistant prosecuting attorney of Hamilton County from 1881 to 1883. He was briefly the collector of internal revenue for Cincinnati in 1882. He practiced law in Cincinnati from 1883 to 1887, but had already started yearning for a judicial post. His goal was achieved when he was appointed to an Ohio Superior Court vacancy in 1887. The next year, he was elected to a term of his own, and this was the only other office other than the presidency that he ever won by election.

Taft married Helen Herron in 1886. She was ambitious for her husband. As a teenager, she and her family were guests of President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes at the White House. From that point on, she envisioned herself to, someday, being mistress of the Executive Mansion.

In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed Taft to the post of US Solicitor General. Two years later, Harrison named him to the US Circuit Court for the 6th district. Taft’s record as a state and federal judge was honest and competent, and he was receptive to the problems of labor in a nation that was just beginning to emerge from the influence of the laissez faire philosophy.

President William Howard Taft (1909-1913)

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