William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th
president of the United States, serving from 1909 to 1913, and the tenth
chief justice of the United States, serving from 1921 to 1930, the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected president
in 1908, the chosen successor of
Theodore Roosevelt, but was defeated for reelection
in 1912byWoodrow Wilson after Roosevelt
split the
Republican vote by running as a
third-party candidate. In 1921, President
Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice, a position he held until a month before his death.
Photograph credit: Pach Brothers; restored by Adam Cuerden
