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Article: Taft, William Howard 1857-1930
- Article from:
- American Decades
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TAFT, WILLIAM HOWARD 1857-1930
Secretary of war, 1904-1908
President of the united states, 1909-1913
Reluctant Politician
Few Americans had heard of William Howard Taft when President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to replace Elihu Root as secretary of war in 1904. In 1908, when conservative Republicans championed him as their presidential candidate, Taft's family
and friends had to persuade him to run. He aspired to a seat on the Supreme Court, but his wife had greater ambitions for him. A large man given to lethargy, he did not have the drive or the skill to be a truly successful politician. "Politics, when I am in it, makes me sick," he exclaimed.
Background
Born on 15 ...