The 27th U.S. President

 

William Howard Taft

Born: September 15, 1857

Died: March 8, 1930

Term in Office: 1909-1913

Poor Taft. It seems that people by and large remember this guy as by and large a large person. Yes, he tipped the scales at over 300 pounds (some reports show he once tipped the scales at a robust 350). And his White House breakfasts are legend. Depending on which account you read, you will learn that he either ate a 12-ounce steak first thing every morning (followed by one for lunch and another for supper) or he enjoyed a dozen eggs and a pound of bacon bright and early.

The reports of him getting stuck in the White House bathtub have been refuted by most people who care about such things. (But he did have a very large one – big enough to fit four people – installed in the mansion.)

It should also be noted that he lost 70 pounds after leaving office. 

A note on the politics of the day... Taft was hand-picked by Republican Teddy Roosevelt to succeed him, but it seems that Teddy did not approve of Taft's time in office and decided to run against him as a third-party (the Bull Moose Party) candidate. Splitting the GOP like that provided the opportunity for Democrat Woodrow Wilson to become the 28th president.

From www.worldstrides.com come these trivia tidbits:

• Taft was the first president to throw the first pitch of baseball season, beginning a tradition that continues today. The game was in 1910, between the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics. The Senators won 3-0.
• Taft was the first president to own a car. He actually converted the White House stables into a garage!
• Taft was the last president to keep a cow at the White House to provide fresh milk. Her name was Pauline.
• William Taft was the first president to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. John F. Kennedy is the only other president buried there.
• Taft was the only president to ever serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, making him the only person to ever hold a position in both the Executive and Judicial branches of the United States government. Taft considered his time as Chief Justice to be the highest point of his career. In fact, he once wrote, “I don’t remember that I ever was president.”