|
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was an American politician, the 27th President of the United States, serving from 1909 to 1913. He was also the 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930), 42nd Secretary of War (1904-1908) and scion of a leading political family, the Tafts, of Ohio, which included his son Senator Robert Taft.
During the 1912 election, the Republican Party split between Taft and the "Bull Moose" Progressives lead by former president Theodore Roosevelt. As a result of the split in the Republican vote, Democratic Party candidate Woodrow Wilson won the electoral vote in a landslide while Roosevelt carried second. Taft on the other, came in third and only carried eight electoral votes from Utah and Vermont. His defeat in the electoral vote makes him and 1936 candidate Alf Landon (both won eight electoral votes) the weakest preforming Republican presidential candidates in US history.
Taft was an avid golfer. He was overweight for much of his adult life. At around 340 pounds, Taft was the heaviest president in US history.
William Howard Taft in Southern Victory[]
William Howard Taft was a Democratic Congressman representing the state of Ohio in the United States House of Representatives. In the 1910s, he was Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, the first committee assignment of freshman Socialist Congresswoman Flora Hamburger. He found Hamburger exasperating, particularly for her opposition to the Great War, and the two quarreled from time to time.[1] He continued to do so after the Socialists won control of Congress in 1918 and he was stripped of his chairmanship.[2] In 1919, he opposed a resolution that she called for, which condemned the Freedom Party's violence against blacks in the Confederate States.[3]
Taft's son Robert followed in his political footsteps.
See Also[]
- William Howard Taft at the Leviathans wiki.
- References to Historical Figures in Turtledove's Work, for more minor references to Taft.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the Chief Justice in the 1920s in Southern Victory. In OTL, Holmes was an Associate Justice while Taft was Chief.
References[]
- ↑ See, e.g., Breakthroughs, pgs. 300-303.
- ↑ Blood and Iron, pg. 209.
- ↑ Ibid.
Titles and Succession | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|