US President William Howard Taft Timeline

Wrestler. Solicitor General. Appeal Court Judge. Peace activist. 27^th President of the United States.  10^th Chief Justice of the United States. The article below takes a chronological look at the major events in the life of William Howard Taft, 27^th President of the United States (1909 – 1913) and later 10^th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930).

1857: Born: Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15

1874: Begins his studies at Yale College

1878: Graduates second in his class from Yale

1880: Earns a Bachelor of Laws from Cincinnati Law School and proceeds to take the bar exams in Columbus, Ohio

January 1881 – January, 1882: Works as an assistant prosecutor for Hamilton County

1882–1883: Appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Ohio’s First District by President Chester A. Arthur

1884: Backs the presidential bid of Republican Party presidential nominee James G. Blaine.

1887: Appointed to a position in Cincinnati Superior Court

1888: Gets re-elected to a five-year term in the Superior Court of Cincinnati

1886: Marries Helen Herron (Nellie)

1890: Taft is appointed Solicitor General of the United States by President Benjamin Harrison

1892: Gets appointed as a judge to the US Court of Appeals Judge (1892-1900) by President Harrison

1896: Appointed dean and professor at the Cincinnati Law School

1901: President William McKinley appoints Taft Governor-General of the Philippines

1902: Turns down a seat in the Supreme Court because he believed that he had a lot more to do in the Philippines

1903: President Theodore Roosevelt appoints Taft Secretary of War

1904: Taft, as secretary of war, supervises the beginning stages of the construction of Panama Canal

1905: For the second time, Taft turns down a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court

1906: After the Cubans request for American support, Taft heads to Cuba and becomes the 1^st Provisional Governor of Cuba for about 14 days

1907: Made a trip to the Philippines to attend the opening ceremony of the first Philippine Assembly

1908: Gets Republican Party nomination for president; James S. Sherman, a conservative New York politician, is chosen as his running mate

1908: Wins the general election by defeating veteran Democratic Party politician William Jennings Bryan; Taft garnered 321 electoral votes against 162 pulled by Bryan

March 4, 1909: William Howard Taft is sworn into office as the 27^th President of the United States; the ceremony was held in the Senate Chamber owing to bad winter conditions

1909: Visited Mexico to meet up with longtime dictator Porfirio Díaz

1910: Issue of tariffs is heavily discussed in Washington; Taft incurs the anger of the progressives in his party who think he is siding too much with the conservatives.

1911: His administration filed an antitrust lawsuit against U.S. Steel

1912: William Taft’s administration filed an antitrust lawsuit against International Harvester Company

1912: Sends American troops to occupy Nicaragua

1912: Gets re-nominated by the Republican National Convention for the 1912 presidential election

1912: The fall out between Roosevelt and Taft heightens as Roosevelt left the Republicans to establish the Progressive Party, dooming Taft’s chances in the general election

1912: Loses his bid for a second term in the White House; Taft was defeated by Woodrow Wilson

1913: Term in the White House comes to an end and departs for Yale College

1913: Elected president of the American Bar Association

1921: Confirmed by the Senate as the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court

1930: Died at his Washington home on March 8 after close to a decade long battle with intermittent illness. His body was laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia