William Howard Taft Timeline

With Roosevelt's endorsement, Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan decisively, winning 321 electoral votes and becoming the 27th President of the United States.

Image source: 1908 United States presidential election

A dispute over conservation policy between Interior Secretary Richard Ballinger and Forest Service chief Gifford Pinchot split the Republican Party and deepened tensions between Taft and Roosevelt's allies.

Image source: Pinchot–Ballinger controversy

Taft's foreign policy emphasized using American economic power and investment abroad, particularly in Latin America and East Asia, to extend U.S. influence peacefully while protecting American business interests.

Image source: Dollar diplomacy

Taft was inaugurated on a snowy day in Washington, D.C., taking the oath of office administered by Chief Justice Melville Fuller. He pledged continuity with Roosevelt's Progressive policies.

Image source: Inauguration of William Howard Taft

Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which reduced tariffs only modestly. The act angered Progressive Republicans who had hoped for deeper cuts and damaged Taft's standing with reformers.

Image source: Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act

The Mann-Elkins Act strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission's authority over railroad rates and extended regulation to telephone and telegraph companies, advancing Progressive reform.

Image source: Mann–Elkins Act

Under Taft, the Justice Department pursued more antitrust cases than Roosevelt had, leading to Supreme Court decisions breaking up Standard Oil and American Tobacco under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Image source: Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States

Theodore Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination, declaring himself fit for another term. The bitter primary fight fractured the GOP ahead of the general election.

Image source: 1912 United States presidential election

Taft signed legislation creating the Children's Bureau within the Department of Labor, a landmark federal agency dedicated to child welfare and maternal health.

Divided between Taft and Roosevelt's Bull Moose ticket, Republicans lost badly to Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Taft won only 8 electoral votes, one of the worst showings by an incumbent president.

After leaving the White House, Taft became a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School, teaching and writing while remaining active in public affairs.

Taft was elected president of the American Bar Association, using the position to advocate for judicial efficiency and reforms to the federal court system.

Image source: American Bar Association

Taft helped found the League to Enforce Peace, advocating international arbitration and collective security, ideas that influenced the later creation of the League of Nations.

Image source: League to Enforce Peace

During World War I, President Wilson appointed Taft to the National War Labor Board, which mediated labor disputes to keep wartime production running smoothly.

Though supportive of international cooperation, Taft backed reservations to the Treaty of Versailles that would limit American obligations under the League of Nations covenant.

President Warren Harding nominated Taft to be Chief Justice of the United States, fulfilling his lifelong dream. The Senate confirmed him the same day with little opposition.

Taft became the only person in American history to serve as both President and Chief Justice, presiding over the Supreme Court until 1930.

Image source: Chief Justice of the United States

Taft successfully lobbied for the Judiciary Act of 1922, which created the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges (later the Judicial Conference), modernizing federal court administration.

During Taft's tenure, the Court decided Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), striking down Oregon's compulsory public schooling law and protecting private education rights — part of a broader expansion of substantive due process.

Taft authored the majority opinion holding that wiretapping did not violate the Fourth Amendment, a controversial decision later overturned by Katz v. United States in 1967.

Suffering from heart disease and increasingly frail, Taft resigned from the Supreme Court, ending a judicial career he considered his greatest achievement.

Taft died at his home in Washington, D.C., just weeks after resigning. He received a state funeral and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, the first president interred there.

Image source: Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan