#27 William Howard Taft- The President Who Became Chief Justice

#27 William Howard Taft- The President Who Became Chief Justice

 Taft served as a Solicitor general of the U.S. (1890-1892), Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (1892-1900), Governor of the Phillipines (1901-1903), Secretary of War (1904-1908)  and Governor of Cuba (1906).

1909;

• Taft becomes the 27th President of the U.S. at the age of 51. James Sherman was his V.P.
• Taft calls for the use of diplomatic and military action to further foreign business interests in what is known as the Dollar Diplomacy.
• Taft’s administration continues Roosevelt’s Antitrust policy, designed to keep markets open and competitive.
• Crazy Snake Rebellion kicks off between the Creek Indians and settlers in Oklahoma
• Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act is signed, lowering tariffs on certain goods entering the U.S.
• The Ballinger-Pinchot scandal takes place, in which Richard Ballinger is accused of conspiring to defraud the public domain in the Alaskan Coal field while the Taft administration was complicit in his actions.

1910;

• Postal Savings System is established after the Postal Savings Depository Act of 1910
• Angel Island Immigration station is opened in the San Francisco Bay, California

ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION

• Mexican Revolution starts with an uprising led by Francisco Madero against Porfirio Diaz

1911;

• The Battle of Kelley Creek occurs where a small group of Bannock and Shoshone killed four men in an incident known as the Last Massacre

LAST MASSACRE

• Taft starts to back away from his efforts to tame the trusts
• Titanic is almost complete, April of 2012 is set as the maiden voyage

TITANIC

1912;

• New Mexico becomes the 47th state of the U.S.
• Arizona becomes the 48th state of the U.S.
• Titanic sinks off the coast of Newfoundland, on its first voyage

1913;

• Sixteenth Amendment is ratified, authorizing Congress to collect income taxes
• Seventeenth Amendment is ratified stating that people will now elect Senators, whereas, before it was done by legislators.

Unhappy with Taft, Roosevelt ran against him in the Republican primary, Taft barely won but the damage done from the party split, cleared the way for Democrat victory.

Taft went on to teach at Harvard, followed by serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930) before resigning due to health concerns. He passed a month later and became the first President and first Supreme Court Justice to be laid to rest in Arlington national Cemetery.

Famous quotes;

“Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.”

“Don’t write so that you can be understood, write so that you can’t be misunderstood.”

“We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.“