William H. Taft

U.S. President / Jurist

William Howard Taft was the son of Alphonso Taft, Secretary of War and Attorney General in the cabinet of President Grant. William grew up to be a respectable Republican jurist and administrator, serving under Teddy Roosevelt as the first civilian governor of the Philippines, Secretary of War and a provisional governor of Cuba. He was Roosevelt's successor to the presidency, elected in 1908; he lost a re-election bid in 1912 when Roosevelt ran against him and both were defeated by Woodrow Wilson. By his own admission, Taft wasn't much of a president, and historians tend to attribute his political rise to the ambitions of his wife, Helen "Nellie" Taft. Nonetheless, he was by all accounts a likable fellow with a great legal mind. In 1921 Taft became Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, resigning just before his death in 1930. Taft's son Robert A. Taft was a powerful senator known as "Mr. Republican" in the mid-1900s.

Extra credit: Taft was indeed large, weighing over three hundred pounds... He was the 27th president.

For a complete list of U.S. presidents, please go to Easy Reference for U.S. Presidents.