Passed Chief Justices - # 10 – William Howard Taft

Bust of Justice Taft, U.S. Supreme Court,

Washington, D.C. (14 November 2008)

When I introduced the magnificent United States Supreme Court building in 2019, I also announced my intent to visit the last resting places of the sixteen men who served as the Chief Judicial Officer of this nation…which is fewer than half the number of presidents we’ve had.

This first one is a ‘gimme’…since we already told the man’s story in 2014 and showed his grave site then. The nation’s tenth Chief Justice was also the twenty-seventh president.

Taft Grave, Arlington National Cemetery (14 November 2013)

After Woodrow Wilson defeated William Howard Taft in the election of 1912, Taft taught law at Yale for eight years before President Warren Harding appointed him to the Court…the job he really wanted all his life…one hundred years ago this year. I can count on two fingers the number of presidents who took public service jobs after leaving the nation’s highest office…unheard of in this age of book deals and lucrative speaking gigs.

I took some liberties with Bill and his career trajectory by suggesting an imaginary dialogue with his wife who wanted to live in the White House since she was a teenager. Bill’s strength was the law and most agree he was happiest as a judge. After a mediocre presidency, his final act was at the pinnacle of his profession.

By Bureau of Engraving and Printing; Imaging by

Gwillhickers – U.S. Post Office, Public Domain,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10960943

This four-cent postage stamp was issued 

a few months after the Chief Justice died.

Taft’s eight-year term as Chief Justice was marked by conservative decisions…which by today’s thinking should not be confused with ‘reactionary.’ I suspect it was more about narrow interpretations of the law.

He also should be remembered for getting Congress to create what is now the Judicial Conference of the United States, the national policy-making body of the federal courts. He also greatly improved the Court’s procedures and efficiency and then initiated the building of the current Supreme Court building…which he did not live long enough to see completed.

Our heaviest president (and Chief Justice) struggled with ill health his entire term on the Court. When he was no longer able to work, he resigned on February 3, 1930 and died a month later when his heart gave out at the age of 72. He was the first president to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Taft Grave, Arlington National Cemetery (8 August 2005)

Name – William Howard Taft

Born – 15 September 1857

Died – 8 March 1930; Age 72

Appointed by – Warren G. Harding

Preceded by – Edward Douglas White

Succeeded by – Charles Evans Hughes

Served as Chief Justice – 11 July 1921 to 3 February 1930

(8 years, 207 days)

Resting Place – Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia

Dates Visited – Many

I was surprised to read that the guy stayed on the job longer because he didn’t want the Republican Herbert Hoover to appoint his replacement on the Court. Called him a Bolshevik…Herbert Hoover?!? I understand Taft was conservative, but jeez. Good thing he didn’t live to see President FDR.