United StatesWho was William Howard Taft?
William Howard Taft (1857-1930), son of a prominent Cincinnati family, was a judge, U.S. solicitor general, the first civilian governor-general of the Philippines and Theodore Roosevelt's secretary of war. Roosevelt chose him as his successor, and Taft won the presidency in 1908. In office he pursued antitrust cases, backed the income tax amendment and expanded railroad regulation, but his acceptance of a high tariff and his dismissal of the chief forester Gifford Pinchot alienated progressives. Roosevelt challenged him in 1912, splitting the Republican vote and allowing Woodrow Wilson to win. In 1921 President Harding appointed Taft chief justice, the post he had always wanted, and he served until 1930.
Political views
Brought antitrust suits against the sugar trust and U.S. Steel, angering Roosevelt, who had approved the steel merger.
Source: millercenter.orgPushed the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment authorizing a federal income tax.
Source: millercenter.orgSigned the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which made only modest reductions, and called it the best tariff bill the party had passed.
Source: millercenter.orgSigned the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, which empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission to suspend railroad rate increases.
Source: millercenter.orgUrged a free trade accord with Canada in 1910 and negotiated arbitration treaties with Britain and France that the Senate weakened.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgPursued dollar diplomacy to encourage U.S. investment in Latin America and sent 2,700 marines to Nicaragua in 1912.
Source: millercenter.org
Legacy
Historians often describe Taft as a capable administrator and jurist who was ill suited to the political demands of the presidency. Admirers point to his record on antitrust prosecutions, the income tax amendment, railroad regulation and the reorganization of the executive branch, and to a long tenure as chief justice in which he modernized the federal courts. Progressives of his day, led by Roosevelt, accused him of siding with business interests on the tariff and conservation, and the split helped elect Woodrow Wilson. Critics in Latin America and at home viewed dollar diplomacy and the Nicaragua intervention as economic imperialism. His earlier tenure in the Philippines also tied him to the colonial administration that followed the Philippine-American War.